I am just completing my freshman first semester at Northeastern. My original path was pre-med with the plan for med school and ultimatley become a radiologist.
I discovered this path was not for me based on my classes and a new interest in law that I am far more interested in.
We received no financial aid for Northeastern. This was not good but Ok if I were to attain the original career path.
However, I will not be making enough out school - even after grad school to handle that enormous debt. Therefore, I have decided to transfer to a state University.
I am hoping to spend 2 years or so there then transfer to a more presitigious school to save $$.
Would this many transfers (3) reflect poorly on my chances for Law School admission or is more based on LSAT and other factors?
I don’t believe that most schools allow transfers in junior year. Competitive schools tend to be even harder to transfer into and financial aid is limited.
I don’t know enough about law school admission but I think if saving $ is the goal, transfer to your instate public and knock it out of the park there.
Given how expensive medical school is, going into “enormous debt” for undergraduate would be a bad idea for a pre-med student. The same goes for a pre-law student, since law school is also very expensive.
Law school admission is mostly based on LSAT score and college GPA (recalculated by LSAC method over all college courses taken at all colleges). If that is your goal, transfer to an affordable college and earn a high GPA there and graduate there. You may want to choose your major to be one that will help your alternative career paths if you do not go to law school (pre-law does not require any specific major).
Regarding your original question, multiple transfers are not that rare, but you should plan on the college where you attend for junior year to be the one you graduate from, since colleges generally are less favorable to senior level transfers. However, if you do go to law school, prestige of the law school is most important, so chasing prestige in undergraduate, especially if it costs more, seems less worthwhile.
Saving $$ is a concern but I am willing to pay a reasonable amount.
NU was $75k/year with no aid. I received no merit or fasfa assistance. I find that unreasonable.
I would be willing to pay a more reasonable amount. I have done some net price calculators for private schools in the area that do come close to the MA State Universities.
I have a feeling the private schools may have better advising and coop agreements with companies in the area.
If most schools do not accept Juniors, what levels do they accept?
Would I be better off to take off a semester and apply for the private schools in the fall since I’ve missed the deadline for the private schools for the spring but not the public.
Northeastern is a private school. I don’t see how transferring a third time fixes the tuition issue. Transfers usually don’t receive the same aid as freshman applicants and many “prestigious” schools are need aware for transfers. Those same schools do require a minimum of 2 years at their school so junior year is a now or never year. In addition you don’t know if or how many of your classes will transfer each time which could require more college time = more cost.
Also if your plan is Northeastern freshman year, state U sophomore year and prestigious U junior and senior year, what happens if you don’t get in for junior year? Or the financial piece doesn’t work? Not to mention you’ll spend 2 of your 4 college years apply to go somewhere else and you’ll have minimal time to forge relationships with professors and pursue ECs.
Most four year colleges that admit transfers prefer those who will enter as juniors (i.e. apply while sophomores). Next in preference are sophomore transfers. Least desired are senior transfers.
A common multiple transfer pattern is:
Start at college A frosh year.
Leave college A, transfer to community college B sophomore year.
This is exactly what I was thinking when reading the original post.
If you are in-state in Massachusetts, then I would transfer to U.Mass Amherst and strive for a lot of A’s and almost nothing else until they hand you a bachelor’s degree. Of course, I would have recommended the same thing if you were intending to stick with medical school as your goal.
That was almost exactly what I thought when faced with the same choice.
It seems the “prestige” put you in this predicament in the first place If the issue is money, then transfer to somewhere affordable and stay there. You’ll find that you really didn’t miss anything, including the debt. If the goal is law school, then you REALLY need to keep the undergraduate debt low. Law schools are notoriously overpriced, and not all new attorneys find high paying jobs out of law school.
Agree, my sister’s law firm was/is huge, but even they place a limit on who is hired. (She’s retired now) New hires had to be known colleagues. She indicated that they received hundreds of unsolicited emails, letters, faxes, and cold calls from new graduates on a weekly basis.
So, yes, you’ll be spending a lot of money to get into a good law school, but know that your competition will be tough.
If the issue is money, then transfer to somewhere affordable and stay there. You’ll find that you really didn’t miss anything, including the debt. If the goal is law school, then you REALLY need to keep the undergraduate debt low. Law schools are notoriously overpriced, and not all new attorneys find high paying jobs out of law school.