<p>I currently attend Northeastern University in Boston, MA - not exactly the top of the barrel. I belong at a more prestigious school (i have the SAT scores and the GPA to prove it). I am considering applying to Cornell and Boston College as a transfer student. I plan on attending law school after gradauation, and I was just wondering if a transfer is worthwhile...will having an undergrad degree from Cornell be signifcantly more beneficial than Northeastern in regard to getting into a good law school or getting a job later in life? What about BC? Further, how much more beneficial is going to Cornell than going to Boston College in the job market? I love Boston and don't want to leave, but I would consider it for an ivy. The catch is that I transfered to Northeastern after my freshmen year, and I don't know if two transfers will decrease my chances at law school admissions as well. Any advice?</p>
<p>no it won't matter for law school admissions</p>
<p>To tell you the truth it matters wat you do at northeastern compared to wat you would do at Cornell or BC. Northeastern is a rising entity...didn't it rise a TON of places in the rankings recently? I'd think that if you get a great gpa and use their internship opportunities efficiently you will do well. </p>
<p>Where were u freshman year? </p>
<p>So...if you feel comfortable at Northeastern and see yourself doing great there then stay. If you don't like it there and think you can do better at another University then try to transfer. Make sure you love where you transfer this time though because it seems like you are trying to fill some void...so make sure it gets filled this time. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Figgy -</p>
<p>I am studying economics and philosophy at northeastern (one will be my major, the other a minor...i haven't figured that out yet). I am currently on co-op with the Boston City Council and if I stay at Northeastern I am considering doing one more co-op, either at a law firm or a well respected investment bank/business firm. If I transfer, I would do summer internships to make up for missing the co-op experience. </p>
<p>My freshmen year i went to the University of St. Thomas - a private catholic school in St. Paul, MN that is somewhat of a family tradition. I felt it was not prestigious enough and Minnesota was the last place I wanted to go to college. I am from a small town in Wisconsin and wanted to spend some time in New England. So, moving to Boston definitely filled that void. What I don't like about Northeastern is its reputation for being the place where you go if you don't get into BU or BC. I want to be proud of where I go to school. I also am getting tired of telling people I go to Northeastern and having them either ask, "where is that?" or look simply unimpressed (you are right though, it rose from around 120 to 98 in US news rankings). To transfer for these reasons is a little vain, I will admit. I guess what I want to know is whether I will have better networking and job connections to get my foot in the door after law school if I leave Northeastern for BC or Cornell. Or if having a more prestigious name on my law school apps will give them a little push, especially if its an ivy.</p>
<p>The only probem with Cornell is location...If i attend I would study labor economics in their school of industrial and labor relations.</p>
<p>I currently have a 3.98 GPA and I feel as though I can keep it up at Northeastern...however, if i don't do well on my LSATs I don't know if I want to risk going to both a mediocre UG and a mediocre law school, when I might have atleast gone to an impressive UG. </p>
<p>sorry, i think i got a little carried away there.</p>
<p>You can get into fine law schools whether you get your undergrad degree from Cornell or BC. By the way, both have fine law schools, though BC may have a little advantage in terms of networking, at least in New England. </p>
<p>Getting into a top law school will mostly depend on your grades. Your grades may well depend on whether you are happy in the school/program you are enrolled in. Since you have already transferred once, make sure you make your decision based on whether the school you are transferring to is really a good fit for you. </p>
<p>Please ignore the "prestige" factor that seesm so prevalent on these boards. The only people that matters to are dopey high schoolers who know very little about the real world.</p>
<p>I do understand wat you are saying. I have a Guaranteed Transfer to the school of a ILR (a complicated situation, but it pretty much means I'll be there next year). The thing is is that I ALMOST went to northeastern for freshman year before the transfer, so I can tell you that I do know a lot about northeastern (I didnt because of financial reasons...wanted a cheaper freshman year lol). But anways, Northeastern has a GREAT co-op program. If utilized correctly, I can see this bringing someone soooo far. Yes I know wat u r talking about with the whole BU and BC thing, but if you really like it at Northeastern then ignore these prestige whore arrogant people lol. If you like Northeastern, the location, the co-op, and get great grades then you are pretty set for law school. If you don't like it then do try to transfer...but not just to a school you don't know much about/are unsure about. Make sure you do your research and see if you'll be genuinely happy wherever you end up. Someone could go sooo far at any three of these universities. If you can maintain that average at Northeastern with some great internships and such then you would be a great candidate for law school. You just really need to do your research on BC and Cornell and live out Northeastern to be positive what is right. Follow your gut and mind and you pretty much can't go wrong. Best of luck in your decision!</p>
<p>I haven't read what everyone else has been posting, but here are my two cents: if you're planning on law school, and feel like transferring will help your chances, I would reflect on your goals if I were you. Wherever you are, I'm pretty sure it's easier to earn good grades, which is really all that law school care about (I'm being simplistic here). Finally, you're going to have to explain to the law schools why exactly you transferred colleges.</p>
<p>Also make sure all your transfer credits will transfer to Cornell. I am a junior transfer this year at Cornell and at first they told me they would be accepting all my credits and now theyre trying to tell me they wont take some of them. Now I am most likely going to finish school somewhere else in order to graduate on time.</p>
<p>O that's unfortunate su, gl with it all.</p>
<p>Wow. I think we're the same person. I'm also a student at Northeastern (political science major, possibly prelaw) who would love to transfer into Cornell, especially the ILR school. I'm a freshman. I'm certainly not surprised by your sparkling gpa if you're both intelligent, hardworking and attend Northeastern. This school definitely seems to be too lax (i'll probably regret this comment down the line) in terms of work load, not to say that you don't work hard, but Northeastern just doesn't seem to be the toughest academically. Cornell, on the other hand, is an entirely different story with what's been posted about the workload. But it's such a great school. Good luck with transferring into BC or Cornell and good luck with the law school!</p>
<p>-julie</p>
<p>I say you stay at Northeastern. With a 3.98, why risk worse grades due to any one of the risks when transferring (i.e. trouble making the transition, tougher academics, more staunch competition from your peers, credits not transferring, etc.). You've won the GPA battle. Now all you need to do is win the LSAT battle. Going to Cornell or BC is NOT going to help you there. I think if you weren't so set on law school, my advice would be different, but since you're planning on grad school, there's really no reason to be so finicky about where you do your undergraduate work.</p>
<p>That being said, if you do decide to transfer, shoot for Cornell over BC. Cornell's law school is way better than BC's. Not that doing your UG work here (at Cornell) will tip you very much in the admissions hat when you apply to Cornell Law, but it does make a difference. Also, don't expect to transfer into Arts and Sciences, it virtually never happens. You're best off transferring into ILR, which, in addition to being a school at Cornell that is friendly to transfers, will give you a good background and proof of interest in the field of law.</p>
<p>Don't know if it's relevant to bring up Milt. (Name changed to protect the guilty). </p>
<p>This happened many years ago. Milt joined my suite junior year. He was a transfer into ILR, from a significantly less prestigious school in downstate New York.</p>
<p>Milt obviously did exceedingly well at that other school. By his own admission his high school performance would never have gotten him into Cornell.</p>
<p>Milt was dead set on becoming a lawyer. That's all he wanted in life. He transferred to Cornell specifically with the aim of improving his odds for law school admissions.</p>
<p>Milt divebombed.</p>
<p>He nearly flunked out of ILR. He just wasn't smart enough, IMO, to compete in that crowd.</p>
<p>When last I left Milt he was scrambling to get applications out to unaccredited law schools in the hopes somebody would take him. Anybody.</p>
<p>Every now and then I read stuff here like "don't worry, if admissions accepted you, you can do the work", and I just shake my head. Because I lived in a suite with Milt. And I lived with my freshman rooommate who also couldn't do it. And I saw a number of others struggle as well.</p>
<p>I'm not going to tell you what to do, but whenever I read this kind of question I think about Milt. The grass is always greener.</p>
<p>ON the other hand, I can tell you I know a good number of highly successful lawyers who attended ILR.</p>
<p>I think BC has an excellent network, from what I've observed. If you're good, you can achieve your objectives from BC. IMO.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>lol mony you didn't really help my nervousness about transfering. But watever, I'm going to try my best!</p>
<p>Milt is a funny name. </p>
<p>on a more serious note, during a presentation last fall for ILR's transfer orientation, we were warned by somebody high up in the totem pole (i'll leave out names) to study hard because the typical GPA drop for ILR transfers compared to their previous GPA is 1 full point. If you loved your 3.8, be ready for a solid 2.8. Ta-ta!</p>
<p>That didn't happen to me though. I pulled a 3.85 taking 32 credits per semester and working 24 hours a week at another top-50 school ... my GPA dropped only to a 3.62 while not employed and taking a solid 13 credits my first semester in ILR.</p>
<p>Please, any tips gomestar? This is really important to me</p>
<p>eesh...a drop of a full point. I'm assuming a 2.8 gpa isn't as bad as it seems at a academically rigorous place like Cornell. But that got me wondering, what gpa at Cornell would cause you to be put on academic probation? 2.0?</p>