the transferring faq, part 2

See also T-FAQ part 1.

Continuing on with those burning issues at the forefront of the potential transfer student's world:

What are my chances of transferring to [school]?

This is a function of several different variables: not only how well you've done at your current school and how selective your target school is, but also the value your target school places on transfer students.

Some schools profess to care little for transfer students as a distinct group; they'll accept a few every year, but only to compensate for attrition. (In other words: if anyone left the school, their seat in the class becomes available to transfer students.) Others consider transfer students as important to class diversity, and actively save space for them in the rising 2L class.

Call the admissions office of your target school and find out where they fall on the scale. Even if they don't have an overt policy (they'll usually tell you if they do), they can still tell you how many transfer students they've accepted in previous years. Compare this number to the total class size. Anything over five percent potentially represents a transfer-friendly school. Remember, though: past performance is no indication of future results. Actual numbers may vary extensively from year to year. Your admissions-office contact should be able to tell you if this year is in any way unusual.

Can I transfer if I'm not at the top of my class?

YES! Although it won't be nearly as "easy" as it would be if you were at the top of your class, it is in no sense impossible for you to transfer if you're not. I certainly wasn't, thanks to my infamous Torts grade. And yet I was accepted to one of the best target schools to which I applied.

I have several theories as to why this happened; some of these may work for you as well. First of all, some schools clearly look beyond the high-level numbers and consider the whole application (no kidding! so get cracking on that Pulitzer-worthy personal statement!). Second, schools may also weigh your prelaw numbers (UGPA, LSAT) alongside your 1L numbers if they tell a compelling story. Third, if you have any connection to the school (it doesn't have to be a family/legacy thing; professional or social connections are just as valuable), that can tend to count in your favor. And fourth, as mentioned above, schools always appreciate increased diversity -- not just in the ancestry sense, but in the life-experience sense as well.

Personal experience: my overall 1L GPA was lukewarm, but this was mostly due to the aforementioned infamous Torts grade. This deflated my class rank as well. But in my non-numerical favor, I was an older student who had run my own business, my mentor was an alum of this school, my prelaw numbers were well within the school's averages, and the Torts grade was a clear outlier on my transcript. And I got in.

Let no one say that you can't, too.

I really want to transfer, but messed up in my first semester. How can I make a comeback?

I asked this of my mentor, last winter, and thus can't take credit for originating the following advice. All the same, I'm happy to repeat it.

1. Grieve. Have as many screaming matches with the mirror, evenings of much alcohol, etc. as you need to work through the fact that these are your grades and they aren't going to change. Respect your personal space. Don't judge yourself. Just find a way to accept the grades you've already gotten.

2. Find out why it happened. Go to the professor who gave you your lowest grade and talk through the entire exam (don't just go to a group review session; you want one-on-one help). Then go to all of your other professors and talk through those exams as well. Find out why you got every one of your grades. If you had a straight A on an exam, figure out what you did differently from the exams where you didn't get the A. Comparing your performance will show you what you missed and where you missed it. If you failed to spot issues on one exam, did you outline or prepare differently on the exam where you did well? If you failed to analyze sufficiently on one exam, how did you succeed in doing so elsewhere? A pattern will most likely emerge.

3. Get serious. I got a little offended when my mentor told me this, since I'd been nothing but serious all semester. But he didn't mean that I should be more monomaniacal. He simply meant that I should reassess: work smarter, not harder. Of course, if you slacked last semester, now it's time to knuckle down for sure. But if you didn't slack, think all the more carefully about things you could do differently. More intensity is probably not the answer. Don't redline. Be *sane*. Use your time intelligently; for example, if briefing every case did little to help you understand the underlying law, switch to canned briefs and spend more time on your outline. Figure out what helped you and what didn't, then change your habits to emphasize what works.

4. This will hurt most of all, but be realistic. Do not give up hope that you can transfer, but at the same time, start teaching yourself to accept the fact that you might wind up graduating from this law school. And if that's completely unacceptable to you, then reassess at the end of your first year and decide if it's wiser to withdraw and reapply. (That's a damn difficult thing to do after so much work, but you'll know if it's worth it.) You may find that even though you'll never love-love-love your school, it can still be a perfectly fine place to begin your legal career. Especially if your numbers improve next semester, you may find yourself well-positioned to pursue your goals there.

But don't give up the dream! Self-selection out of the transfer process is the equivalent of a rejection ex ante. Why reject yourself without even giving someone else a chance to accept you? The worst they can do to you is no worse than what you do to yourself if you decide not to try at all. (Except, of course, for the cost of application fees; request a fee waiver if this is an issue for you.)

Forthcoming: hitting up professors for letters of recommmendation, choosing target schools, regionalism, and more. Feel free to submit additional questions as you like.

thus spake /jca @ April 9, 2004 09:47 PM | TrackBack