Is this for real? (law school question)

[captainballs]

Hey someone told me tonight that if you didn't do so hot in undergrad, just go to a shitty law school for a year and WRECK THAT SHIT (by making straight A's and such). If you do this, I heard, you can get into some of the best law schools just based on your transcript from that one year at a shitty law school.

Granted, you would obviously have to start over, but fuck it right? This sounds too good to be true.

 

[Hanlons_Razor]

That's what I keep hearing about undergrad-if you did poor in HS, go to community college, get straight A's and transfer-far better chance of getting in. So I don't see why it would be that vastly different for law school. You may not be able to get into Harvard law, but you might be able to get into a good law school using this method.

 

[posner]

Yes, it's true. Granted, you are most likely not going to get into the very top law schools (1-5, 6, 7), but you can get into some very good law schools that way. It depends on some things, though. The relative strength of your law school will probably have some impact on how high your grades would need to be to get into another school.

by the way, it's much harder to get A's in law school than in undergrad or even in master's programs because law schools (with the exception of a very few) use a strictly applied curve.

 

[Banquo]

Hey someone told me tonight that if you didn't do so hot in undergrad, just go to a shitty law school for a year and WRECK THAT SHIT (by making straight A's and such).

the problem is that everyone else in your class will be trying to wreck that shit too. at a lot of schools, for every one student sitting in a class, 20-40 students did not get in. add to this, the total reliance on first year grades by some future employers, law review, journal, moot court, and other programs, and some of the competition gets downright nasty. there are a lot of very smart ultra-competitive people in law school.

but your basic premise that getting awesome grades at a lower tier schol and transferring to a better school is correct. i've met a few people who have done this. as for starting over -- i don't know if that's true or not. some schools might let you transfer credits?

the other thing is that even if you didn't do well as an undergrad, the most heavily weighted admission factor is usually the LSAT score. and if you've researched the LSAT at all, you probably know that it is a semi-learnable test.

 

[posner]

but your basic premise that getting awesome grades at a lower tier schol and transferring to a better school is correct. i've met a few people who have done this. as for starting over -- i don't know if that's true or not. some schools might let you transfer credits?

Your credits transfer. Your GPA does not.

 

[captainballs]

I don't think I'll ever get into Harvard Law or somewhere comparable. A person has to recognize what their limitations are. I was thinking more along the lines of UT, Yeshiva, or Boston University (in other words pretty damn good schools, just not ridiculously so).

So I suppose a good plan would be to just get into the best law school possible initially, since I may not totally "wreck that shit" my first year no matter what school I go to (given the intense competitiveness)?

 

[PixieLu]

Hey someone told me tonight that if you didn't do so hot in undergrad, just go to a shitty law school for a year and WRECK THAT SHIT (by making straight A's and such). If you do this, I heard, you can get into some of the best law schools just based on your transcript from that one year at a shitty law school.

Granted, you would obviously have to start over, but fuck it right? This sounds too good to be true.

Remember that adcoms are going to wonder why you're reapplying after completing 1 year of law school already, and you're going to have to address that in your personal statement. The fact that you wanted to attend a better ranked school isn't going to go over too well. You better have a MUCH better reason, like your father is dying and you need to switch to a school in that area, etc. Otherwise you'll just come off as a flake or someone that's trying to "cheat" the system. Getting straight A's in L1 may partially make up for a low undergrad GPA, but you're still going to be competing against thousands of amazing applicants with top GPAs and LSAT scores that dont have any weaknesses in their application at all. Not to mention the fact that it's pretty freaking difficult to get A's in law school -- you need to be in the top percentile of your entire class.. and your class isn't going to be full of idiots, even at a lower tier school.

My suggestion would just be to go to whatever school you can get into and graduate there with the best grades you can get (ie: get into Law Review). Do a lot of networking, form connections, and you can get a great job. The biggest factor in securing a good position is who you know, not necessarily where you graduated from. There's a saying that goes: "What do you call the guy that graduated last in his class at the worst medical school in the country?" "Doctor." The same principle applies here.

 

[Banquo]

Remember that adcoms are going to wonder why you're reapplying after completing 1 year of law school already, and you're going to have to address that in your personal statement. The fact that you wanted to attend a better ranked school isn't going to go over too well. You better have a MUCH better reason, like your father is dying and you need to switch to a school in that area, etc. Otherwise you'll just come off as a flake or someone that's trying to "cheat" the system.

transfer admission processes are pretty standard. trying to get into a better school is perfectly acceptable reason for trying to transfer. no need to BS.

 

[captainballs]

I never thought about it from that angle (having to explain why I'm jumping from school to school apparently). Interesting...

I realize that law schools take the lSat into account heavily, but would they be opposed to using some good experience as a tie breaker? This law school thing is a long term plan - I need to work a bit first. And right now I have a great internship that will probably yield a job offer after I finish school. It's a great "practice to be a lawyer" environment, complete with 12 hour days full of research and data analysis. Anyways, just a thought.

 

[PixieLu]

transfer admission processes are pretty standard. trying to get into a better school is perfectly acceptable reason for trying to transfer. no need to BS.

My boyfriend graduated from Pepperdine Law School. He did very well his first year there and was interested in transferring to UCLA or Cal.. but was strongly discouraged from doing so. The admissions counselors there basically told him the same thing -- that his motivation to transfer wasn't strong enough and even frowned upon. They get a lot of people applying as transfers every year and want something that stands out. It may be different at a school with less competition.

 

[captainballs]

It's not like he'll have trouble making money in Malibu... the only problem will be trying not to spend it all!

 

[Banquo]

My boyfriend graduated from Pepperdine Law School. He did very well his first year there and was interested in transferring to UCLA or Cal.. but was strongly discouraged from doing so. The admissions counselors there basically told him the same thing -- that his motivation to transfer wasn't strong enough and even frowned upon. They get a lot of people applying as transfers every year and want something that stands out. It may be different at a school with less competition.

he probably didn't do well enough his first year then. there is a big difference between what an admissions official and a law student might think of as doing well enough. the people who I know who have transferred, one of them to Harvard Law, had stellar grades -- something i mentioned earlier as a prime consideration. none of them had to come up with a reason about a dying relative or prop themselves up on anything besides academics and stand out professional experience.

 

[posner]

^^^

I agree with Banquo. Seriously, do not listen to Pixie. She does not know what she's talking about.

As Banquo said, wanting to go to a higher ranked school is a perfectly acceptable reason for transferring. The majority of transfer students do so precisely for that reason.

 

[captainballs]

Hey that makes me feel better. Now to think about and eventually go to law school, so I can feel worse again :D