Does my situation warrant Transfer?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am a current freshman at USC. My home is in Maryland.</p>

<p>Throughout my life I've had aspirations of attending Law School, and since being in college these first couple months I've become even more interested in this idea. </p>

<p>Here at USC, classes aren't easy, and being an Industrial Engineering major isn't making things better. I realize I am still acclimating to college, but I just don't think attaining anywhere near a 3.5 is realistic, much less a 3.7-3.8</p>

<p>Now, my sister is a current Junior at a small college in PA, meaning I am receiving great financial aid this year and expect the same to continue next year. As soon as she graduates, however, I will be extremely close to full pay, meaning it will be about 50k with the rest being loans. This isn't going to be easy, and I'm not even certain it is possible. </p>

<p>Here comes the question. Should I transfer into UMD-College Park?
This would solve the financial issue: 22k cost of attendance (full pay) which is slightly less than the very doable amount I'm paying with financial aid here at USC.
This would also put me in classes with people who are, GENERALLY, not as motivated and competitive, therefore making better grades easier to come by and consequently putting that law school admission a little bit closer. </p>

<p>I know law schools don't care where you do your undergrad, they just want to see that high gpa and a great LSAT. Knowing this, I feel like the logical option would be to switch to a school where I don't have to work (more study time), I accumulate no debt (more money for law school), and I have a little easier shot at that ideal 3.8</p>

<p>My only concern: If I decide that Industrial Engineering is what I want to stick with (unlikely), USC is one of the few schools that offers this major. No Maryland schools do, to my knowledge, and UMDCP certainly doesn't. </p>

<p>Can anybody contribute any advice or comments?</p>

2

<p>Educate yourself more about getting a job after law school. I hear it’s terribly competitive and difficult. Learn about what kind of lawyer job you want.</p>

<p>I don’t think you’re doing yourself any favors going into engineering and trying to go to law school unless you are smart enough to excel in your coursework. My friend at MIT is intending to go to law school after he completes Mechanical Engineering and that will be no walk in the park to say the least. </p>

<p>Engineering is a good job to start with or fall back on if your plans change. Honestly, attending anything less than a T14 school seems like a huge waste of money. Actually, nowadays, I hear the situation is even worse with the T14 schools struggling with job placement. So, if you’re really bent on going to law school without a doubt, you better get that 3.9-4.0. It’s like $150K for all of law school, not something to just gloss over. I’d actually recommend you watch a movie called “The Paper Chase”. If you have Netflix, I think you can watch it on there. </p>

<p>Your situation would warrant a transfer, but I would not be so hasty to assume that it would be immediately easier. Maybe if you picked a major that was easy, sure. But what if you changed your mind about law school? Then you’d be screwed.</p>