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my hypothetical transfer kid would
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<p>But that is exactly the problem, it is hypothetical. You have yet to provide an argument that demonstrates a non-ethical normative standard in your favor. The only one you provided was Hanna's, and though her record is definitely one that deserves recognition, it is not one that is representative of the entire pool of transfer students who intend to apply to law school. </p>
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All you have demonstrated is that my example COULD be an exception to the rule, not that it IS an exception to the rule.
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<p>Of course, given the inherent ambiguities, you may be right; however, it is not inconceivable that hanna's case is an exception. In fact, it is probable: 238 students from Harvard were admitted into HLS...</p>
<p>My argument is that Ivy Leagues are an exception; the stigma, if there is any, of transfer admissions does not apply to Ivy League schools, since they are typically known to place the majority of their students in top law schools. Had hanna applied from BU, after transferring into community college, and been admitted into HLS, all things being equal, then a slight amount of doubt may be in order.
However, even if that were the case, the burden of proof is still on you to provide as many examples as possible, excluding the Ivy-League, in order to show the author's induction to be fallacious. You have not done that. You can argue that the burden of proof is on me, but I will reiterate my analogy:</p>
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Tomorrow, when someone argues that, by miracle, he defied gravity, I will place the burden of proof on humanity to demonstrate that gravity is still present...
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Perhaps I should have just started with that example and then let you fight me on that - because your position is basically indefensible in that light.
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<p>Not necessarily. I am transferring from a third tier school to a top 25 institution due the strength of the philosophy program. Law school adcoms are not going to see this, and the example provided above is yet again not representative of the entire pool of transfer students who apply to law school.</p>
<p>I am also predicating my argument on the law school that the adcom in question represents; the adcom who propounded the five myths works at Marquette, and I highly doubt many Ivy-League transfers apply there . The primary pool of students she receives are probably those from the bottom half of tier 1, and so forth, with not as high GPAs and LSATs, which negates the question of whether better performance is a counterweight to the "transfer stigma." From her perspective, given the pool she must sort through, there could be truth to her theory.</p>
<p>Going back to "<a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/admissions/jd/colleges.php">http://www.law.harvard.edu/admissions/jd/colleges.php</a>", only ten students from Boston University were admitted. Ask yourself how many of those students transferred in, and then decide. The example the Penn dean provided is still inadequate, in my opinion. Not everyone is admitted into MIT, and the majority of the transfer pool certainly does not consist of students applying from MIT. As a patron of the transfers forums, I believe that the majority of students are community college/2nd/3rd tier students trying to enter top tier institutions, with the Ivys being the most popular. These are the exact students the author is describing, and excluding the Ivys, I have yet to see a real-life example of a student, after transferring into Georgetown, for instance, being admitted into Harvard Law, all things being equal.</p>
<p>Do you think transferring into Georgetown would put me in a good position for a top five law school, all things being equal? Do you think I should take the risk, do one more year, and perhaps apply to a school with an even stronger philosophy program, and one that gives me a better shot? (If I take this course of action, I will be doing my sophomore year at either Harvard or Yale since I have exhausted all the philosophy resources at my current school). Even though, by the second option, I am jumping from my current school to Harvard, to another school, with Harvard only being a visiting program, would this be viewed as "jumping around" to an adcom?</p>