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.