The Waiting Game

Transferring is not a fun process if you really don’t know where you stand. I believe many students find themselves in this situation because they come from lower tiered schools and they really don’t know where they have a shot at. From my experience, if you take a logical guess, you’re probably right. Don’t get me wrong, crazy things have happened. I’ve heard stories about people jumping from tier 4’s to Georgetown and similar experiences but all I’m saying is that it isn’t likely.

Apply to reach schools, but remember to apply within your means. It’s good to leave your options open but don’t apply to a bunch of schools you know you really won’t go to. I did this and it really complicated things toward the end because I applied to a few easy schools to get my confidence up and it really confused me about where I wanted to go.

If you are a in the top hundred already, I would shoot for the stars. If you are in a tier 4 school, I would be more reasonable. Much of it is really based on need, and if you do some research you will realize that some really good schools take a lot of transfers. Florida State is one that takes over 50 transfers a semester. Some schools seem to be feeder schools for tier 4’s in the area. I’m not saying don’t apply to your dream school. I’m only saying that you shouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that a school that you thought was over your head is actually over your head. But, hey, it’s your money.

More on Constructing Your Transfer Personal Statement

A beautiful personal statement will probably not get you into your transfer school unless you have the grades to back it up, but it might leave an impression on an admissions officer. The first thing you have against you as a transfer is that you already seem indecisive. You write this confident, strong personal statement, but if you are so confident why are you transferring in the first place? You have to provide an answer to this question in your personal statement and it needs to be very specific.

Your transfer personal statement needs to be very specific and targeted at the law school that you want to transfer to. They know that you want to go to law school. Now the question is, why do you want to go to a different law school? Of course (at least most of the time) you just want to go to a “better” school. They know that and you know that. I would strongly advise you against saying that.

Whether or not you believe or feel it, we are all supposed to pretend that we are in law school to change the world and make it a better place. Law schools love public interest and they love putting in their brochures that their law school had an effect on some change in the community or the country. You will find something about this in every law school’s mission statement. A good way to turn an admission’s officer off of your application is to tell them that you want to come to that school because, in turn, you want to make more money down the road.

If you don’t have a specific reason for going to that school other than going to a better school, make one up. Find a program that they specialize in and say that you have dedicated your life to being the best you can in that specific program. Should you lie? No, but you are training to be a lawyer, you’ll figure out a way to make it work. Finally, another way to help your essay is to look at the law school’s mission statement. As I said before, many of them will contain the same elements, but you will often find what the school deems to be important contained within that statement. Try to incorporate some of the words and ideas they use within your own statement.

If you are really having trouble getting started, I don’t mind sending mine over for you to get an idea of where to start. I’m not guaranteeing it to be perfect or even the right way to approach it, but it incorporates the ideas that I have expressed above. Shoot an email to lawschooldrivel@gmail.com if you would like to see it. There's also some books that can provide great templates to use. One of my favorites is Great Personal Statements for Law School. If I can figure out how to do it, I might put a download link to mine on the site. It goes without saying, but remember to be very specific in your statement. The last thing you want to do is sound like everyone else. Good luck.

Supplements…should I use them?

Everyone starts law school briefing every case and reading every word on every page. Then, it seems that these magical commercial outlines keep popping up and before long students are looking at their laps during class when the have to brief cases. Most people in law school rely on supplements like baseball players rely on steroids. If you think about it, most people in law school don’t finish in the top twenty percent of the class. We could be finding a correlation here.

There are purists out there who do not believe in supplements whatsoever. They believe that you should read the cases, find the trends, and craft your own outlines. I fall somewhere in the middle. I think its very important to read everything you are assigned to read unless you are extremely confident that it is a waste of time. I’m not a big believer in extending myself to do extra reading that a teacher thinks might be of interest. I want the cold hard facts of what’s going to be on a final and how I can absorb that knowledge just long enough to put it out.

Personally, I hate commercial outlines. I don’t even like outlines that are keyed to the specific book that I am using. They don’t help me because I don’t actually learn anything from them. To do well on a law school essay you really have to have a grasp on the big picture. Usually supplements or outlines alone without doing assigned reading will not (in my opinion) give you a grasp on the big picture.

That’s why I use supplements for their exact purpose, which is to supplement the reading that I’m already doing. If I didn’t have the Examples and Explanations books in my first year of law school, I have no idea how my grades would have came out. I would always back up my reading of cases with Examples and Explanations and I feel that they really give me the big picture in addition to the individual cases I was taking in.

I’ve met many people who do not like E & E’s (that’s what we call them on the street) because it doesn’t just throw out the answer for you. It makes you work for it, but it is in layman terms that are very easy to process and understand. Then, it allows you to apply the knowledge with, you guessed it, examples and explanations at the end of every chapter. I’ve included links on the left to many of the first year courses. You can usually find them used on Amazon for much cheaper than your law school bookstore. Final answer: use supplements but make sure you use them the right way and for the right reasons.

Transferring to California

Email Question:

I'm a 1L at a mid-30's school outside of California. I really want to get back to California for personal reasons unrelated to school. I've seen a ton of information about transferring to highly ranked schools, T14, etc; but not much about transferring to lower ranked schools.

If I get the grades I'd love to transfer to the top schools in CA. But I'm willing to transfer to some lower ranked schools just to get back there. I've been thinking Loyola, Pepperdine, San Diego, Santa Clara, etc. might be good targets. What kind of class ranking do you think this might take? I assume I'd be good most places with a very high ranking. But what's the minimum I would need to make? top 30%? top 50%?

Any information you can provide would be great. I'm kind of interested in doing some work in a non-legal field as well, any details on that?


My Answer:

I’m going to try to institute a little more brevity in my upcoming posts. The one yesterday got a little out of hand. I shared the same problem as the questioner in that much information exists about transferring to Harvard and top 30 schools but not much about tier 2 or tier 3 schools. A lateral transfer (on paper) should be much easier than moving up in status. Doing very well at a mid-thirties school should put you at least in contention at some of the higher ranked schools.

The kicker comes from higher ranked schools in California. Almost everyone wants to transfer to California or NYC so it makes it a little more competitive. Loyola and Pepperdine were the two schools that I wanted and neither worked out but granted I was coming from a tier 4 school. I get the impression that Pepperdine thinks that they are the best school in the nation, and on average they’ve taken less than 10 transfers a year. Loyola takes over thirty and it usually seems that many of the people who get into Loyola also get into UCLA or USC. So it kind of screws over the people that really wanted Loyola and knew they didn’t have a chance at the higher ranked schools. Definitely go over to lsac, click on the school you want to transfer to, and go to ABA data. There they will have the number of transfers in and out of each school. It should give you an idea of how many people they usually take. Click on the link in the sidebar to take you there.

As far as the minimum you need to make, there’s really no good answer to that. I would venture to say that the two biggest factors in transfer are the prestige of the school you are coming from and your ranking in that school. The better you do the more your chances go up, but you are already ahead of the game by being in a mid thirties school to begin with. If those personal reasons that you need to be back in California are something that would seem to provide a legitimate need to an admission officer, I would definitely address them in your personal statement.

I’m going to do a post eventually on non-legal careers, but the best thing to remember for now is that you have to do the work yourself. Career service offices are bad enough with assisting to get legal jobs so you can only imagine their level of assistance at a non-legal job.

Transfer Personal Statement

See Original Question in Post Below
I'm going to do a lengthy post about personal statements, but I'll throw out a little information here. Personal statements are one of those things that you can never really tell how much it weighed in, but I can tell you what I focused on in my own. I'm a believer that a personal statement (like a cover letter) needs to be very specific and fact saturated. You don't want to use fluffy, ambiguous promises like "I know I can do well at a better school" or "I am very passionate about the law." I really think that ever transfer personal statement should have something that says, "Although I had a great experience at my first school school, I know that it is time for a change because......." This is very common knowledge, but do not EVER say anything negative about your current school in your personal statement.

If you are transferring, law schools know that you want to be a lawyer. Don't tell them that you've dreamed about being a lawyer ever since you were three years old. I think you have two ways to go with a personal statement. The first and probably the most effective (from what I've read) is based on need. This is probably not going to get you a big jump in status but it might help if you want to transfer laterally. I wouldn't suggest making it up either because you don't want that hanging over your head once bar admissions come around. By need, I mean you have a sick family member, need to be closer to a spouse, or you have a business you are running and need to be closer. I wouldn't search for these things, but I would definitely include it if you think reasonable. Personally, I would never mention anything about saving money but going back to an in state school or anything like that.

The second way to go is to pick a specialty. My personal statement focused on intellectual property, and many of the schools I applied to were known for that program. I am interested in intellectual property but it's not my life's passion. But is sounds better than saying, "I'm anxious to find out what kind of law I want to practice." An employer wants someone who knows what he or she wants and I believe that law schools are the same way. Pick something and stick to it and emphasize why that school will help you get there. Also, indicating a need to be in the area with this should help out. But don't simply put, I want to work in NYC. Learn how to make things sound better than your (and mine) instinctive desire to make lots of money, go to the best school, and work in the best market. Disguise your desire to by in NYC by saying something like, "New York City has a thriving job market, and I feel a need to attend law school in the area to give myself the best possible chance to succeed in civil litigation."

As far as your classmates, learn to embrace them. Like it or not, you're going to be working for them and against them in some form or another. I learned quickly in law school that even the annoying kid that asks all the questions serves a purpose. They all have outlines, football tickets, insider tips from professors, and many other assets to you. You may want to be separated from your classmates but don't let them know it. You never know when you might need something.

Transferring...what to do what to say.

Emailed Question
I am currently enrolled at Cooley Law School. I finished very close to the top of my class after the first term. (3.67, prob top 4%) I am looking to transfer to a school closer to my girlfriend and family in NY and Western CT.

Cooley is infamous for making this process impossible. The professors keep you at arms length which makes recommendations very difficult. Do you have any suggestions or insight which could help me make this process a little easier?

I am also very concerned on what I will in write my personal statement. Sure, I want to be back near my family but the real reason is that I don’t want to graduate from this school. It sounds terrible, but I feel I work too hard and I’m too good to be associated with my classmates.


My Answer:
I want to put a disclaimer out there that I am making no guarantee that anything that worked for me will also work for you. I am just a second year law student trying to help out and if you disagree with something, then DO NOT take my advice. Since this is a law school site, feel free to post your angry rebuttal. Before I try my best to tackle this question, let me give you a little background about my transfer experience. I was enrolled at a tier 4 school down in Florida. There is nothing wrong with being at a tier 4 school and wanting to graduate from that school. I was never a "big firm" guy, and I am not a believer in the "don't go to law school unless you're in the top 30 philosophy." Don't ever regret staying at your current school especially if you've done well at that school.

I'm going to do my best to be very honest and real on this blog, and that probably won't always involve saying the proper things. I knew that I wanted out of my school. I loved the city, the people, and even the school but I knew wanted to move to a more prestigious school. I targeted seven schools ranging from top 20 down to tier three. I got into four out of the seven schools I applied to, and the information that I'm going to share is based on what worked for me. I got into two out of the thirteen schools I applied to before entering law school.

Concerning letters of recommendation, many law schools will make it hard on you to get them. I can only say from experience about my previous school, but I really don't think this is embedded in the school policy. Law professors are extremely busy people, and writing a transfer student a letter of recommendation is not on the top of their priority list. To make sure that you get yours on time and get the letter you want you have to develop an action plan. Develop relationships with the professors before you ever ask them for a letter. Something I employed in my first semester was to ask questions that I really didn't need to know the answers to. You can usually tell what a professor is interested in by listening in class. Bring this up, and remember that people love to talk about themselves. Ask them about an achievement or a research paper you are working on. If you can establish a relationship, they are going to care about helping you as a person and you won't just be another letter they have to write.

Next, remember these professors (no matter what school they teach at) have very distinguished backgrounds. They know about law school rankings and chances are if you are at a lower tiered law school and doing well they are going to understand why you want out. After the relationship has developed, approach them with your lsac submission form and a list of the schools to which you are applying (if they want the letters sent directly to them). Always ask more professors for letters than you need. If you need two ask four professors. This will ensure that if there is one you can't control, you have three other to back it up. As a side note, I really wouldn't recommend getting letters for transferring from anyone other than professors or law school faculty. I could be completely wrong, but I really don't think that law schools care anymore about what judge your dad knows or anything else. The power game used to work but there are just too many damn people that want to go to law school anymore.

Finally, as far as technical matters go, once you get letters into lsac make sure that you disable the letters you originally used for applying the first time around. The only letters you want them to get are your transfer letters. Also some schools (I know UCLA is one) that want you to use LSAT to submit reports but want the letters sent directly to them. I talked to the people at lsac and they told me that there is no way to disable letters from going to one school. So if a school like UCLA wants letters sent directly to them but also want your report from lsac, they are going to get letters through lsac as well.

In the Beginning

I am currently in my second year of law school at a top 100 school. I’ve been on a long journey that has shaped and developed me along the way. When I began this process, I was surprised at how little accurate information was out there about all aspects of law school. In my research, I have amassed an enormous amount of useless information that the average law student knows nothing about.

I decided to go to law school even though I didn’t want to be a lawyer at the completion of school. I understand how discouraging this can be at times for those that are in law school and constantly surrounded with how to be a lawyer and not given other options. I went to a newer law school for my first year, and I worked my ass off to transfer out.

I had a wonderful experience in my first year and learned much information along the way. I had my sights set on two law schools out in California that I knew were perfect for me. Even though I finished in the top fifteen percent of my class, things didn't work out as planned. I got rejected from those two schools exactly one day before I had to move to the school that I'm at now. Everything worked out for the best, and I love my new school. Along the way, I've learned more information about transferring than the average human being should.

I'm really here to provide information to those who are in law school, those that are applying to law school, those that are considering law school, and those that want to go to a different law school. If you are looking for graphs and hard quantitative data then you are probably at the wrong site. I am here to provide you a normal guy’s perspective of everything law school and to answer all the unanswerable questions. I can’t tell you if you are going to get in to a given school and I can’t grade your final for you. I do have some first year outlines that have helped me, and if I have time I will be glad to share those with you.

Stay tuned, and if you have questions about a certain topic I will do my best to answer them. But remember, I am in law school too so I can’t do it all. I look forward to providing information about law school, and I genuinely hope that it helps you out.