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Are you considering applying to transfer law schools? Here's the most important strategic advice we can give.
Here's a list of law schools that have early decision or early action transfer programs.
If you are seriously considering transferring, or are a pre-1L and disappointed with your admission results and think you might transfer after your 1L year, then take a few minutes to review this. I hope it will help you decide what to do!
It's the time of year when some people are making decisions they're not 100% happy about on what law school to attend.
The following data is all from 2018 ABA 509 reports [http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx]. These are the top 25 schools to matriculate the most transfers: 1 Georgetown: 105 transfers in 2 NYU: 58 transfers in 3 Arizona State: 50 transfers in 4 Emory: 42 transfers in 5 UC Berkeley: 36 transfers in 6 Columbia: 35 transfers in 7 Loyola Los Angeles: 34 transfers in 8 Northwestern: 33 transfers in 9 Harvard: 32 transfers in 10 (tie) UCLA: 31 transfers in 10 (tie) George Washing
The following lists the law schools ranked 7-30 for the most recent USNWR rankings) in order of the percentage of students that transferred out of their first-year classes. We will do a future post on schools 31-50. We didn't use the schools in the top 6 because it has been our experience that very few students elect to transfer "up the ladder" from those schools and thus the data isn't as comparable.
Here is a personal statement from last year’s transfer cycle we think worked very well.
The transfer application cycle is quickly approaching, so here are some general thoughts and tips on the transfer process based on some of the more frequently asked questions that we receive.
In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey interviews groups of current law school applicants about their experiences with the admissions process — what has surprised them, how they've handled the stress, what they expect for the future, and what advice they would give to someone at the beginning of the process. The participants are all volunteers from r/LawSchoolAdmissions, and only one happened to be a client of Spivey Consulting.
Here's a link to the blog post Mike mentioned in the podcast: Spivey Blog, The Malevolent Puppeteer.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening!
In this podcast, Mike Spivey answers more questions from Reddit. First up, he discusses differences international JD applicants might see in their admissions processes with the special considerations of this application cycle. Then, he talks about how to figure out whether a law school is the right fit for you when you can't visit in person — and, for those who haven't been admitted yet, how to write a strong letter of continued interest (LOCI) without visiting.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses factors that lead to some applicants "underperforming" their numbers. You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Introduction
Factors that can lead to underperforming your numbers
Answering Questions from Reddit
Conclusion
Dr. Guy Winch is one of the world's leading psychologists and speakers. He has delivered three TED Talks with over 25 million views combined, all three of which can be seen here. He has published three books and along with best-selling author Lori Gottlieb co-hosts a relatively new but already incredibly popular podcast Dear Therapists.
In this 40-minute podcast, we speak about rejection at the macro level — "Do we aggregate rejection, and why does it sting so bad?" — and then in the admissions and first job search process specifically. Dr. Winch speaks toward research and numerous helpful interventions in both the perceived feelings of rejection and the problem issues involved in waiting on decisions.
Perhaps most notably, Dr. Winch tells a story about the first time he applied to graduate school, when he applied to 10 different programs, was denied by 9, and was "ghosted" (he literally never heard from them) by the 10th. Which makes his conversation with us not just incredibly helpful, but also relatable. We've all been rejected at something, many things — including those at the very pinnacle of their professional careers.
We mention in this podcast an episode of Dr. Peter Attia's The Drive in which Dr. Winch is interviewed — you can listen to that episode here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.
In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group's Mike Spivey and PowerScore founder Dave Killoran discuss the state of the current 2020-2021 law school admissions cycle, things to consider for applicants who may be on waitlists, and predictions about next cycle (2021-2022).
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
