Transfering look bad?

<p>Hi,
thinking of transfering to a larger slightly more prestigious university from my four year commuter school..</p>

<p>To be Honest its mostly for social reasons, there is no social life at my college because its commuter, and I would like the added independence and experiance of a residential school.</p>

<p>Does it look bad to transfer schools ? What does it look like?</p>

<p>No, it doesn't look bad, especially if you're transferring up. All the grades are weighted the same in the LSAC GPA.</p>

<p>If anything, your law school chances will be helped if it looks like you have transferred to a challenging environment that offers more opportunities. Changing from a commuter school to a better-known residential school should indicate that you are actively pursuing the best possible education for yourself, and will be viewed as a plus. (Assuming you don't take TOO much advantage of the improved social life and torpedo your GPA. ;))</p>

<p>What about transferring from a comm college? I have heard that certain professional schools REALLY look down on students who go from a juco to a 4 year school. If that is true I would have NO chance of getting anywhere in the post graduate world.</p>

<p>I had heard, right or wrongly I do not know, that comm college classes are treated as pass/fail, so any grade from a comm college will be counted as a 2.0 in your gpa. If that is true my gpa would DIE! So I guess I'm asking to what degree transferring from a 2yr school affects law school admissions prospects?</p>

<p>I can't see how transfering from a community college to a four year school could look that bad, but I wouldn't really know. It just doesnt seem like reasonable take all your classes down to a 2.0...</p>

<p>Anyway how does this weighting system work? Is there some chart I could find online or something that would display how the LSAC would weight my school?
--Or did you mean "All the grades are weighted the same in the LSAC GPA." as in there is no weighting in the LSAC GPA?</p>

<p>So confused...Thanks for you help</p>

<p>Usually, most graduate school adcoms focus on where you graduated from. One of my best friends completed his Freshman and Sophomore years at a community college (he could not afford anything more) and then transfered to and graduated from the University of Michigan. He is currently getting his MBA at Carnegie Mellon, one of the top 15 MBA programs in the nation.</p>

<p>I would second what Alexandre said: I too sarted at a community college, transfered to UCLA, and wound up a pretty good law schoo.l</p>

<p>The LSAC does NOT weigh your GPA for your school! Nor your major!</p>

<p>That said, I would think (from what I've heard and seen) that transferring is good. I know someone who transferred from a comm. college to a four-year school and is in a good law school now. I know someone who started at comm. college, transferred to a State, and is now pursuing her Ph.D. at an excellent school.</p>

<p>Think about it: you will probably be applying to law schools when you are in your twenties - if you take time off, you'll be 22 or 23. Starting at a community college indicates the type of student you were at age 17; ending at a four-year (and doing well) shows the type of student you are at age 22. Big difference - and the student you were as a teenager isn't really relevant to how you perform in law school. People mature at different times. </p>

<p>If you are really uncertain, write an addendum in your application. Explain that you weren't a great student in high school, went to CC, and got serious, so you transferred. Now you're looking at law school as an older and wiser individual. You're probably looking like a good candidate.</p>

<p>concerneddad, what law school do you goto, i plan on attending a JC to with hopes of transferring to UCLA or Cal, and then hopefully a top 14 law school.</p>

<p>Well, if you graduate from UCLA or Cal wil a 3.5 GPA and can break the 165 on your LSAT, you are pretty much in at one of the top 15 Law Schools, regardless of where you spent the first 2 or 3 years of college.</p>

<p>thanks alexandre, and ive been to Dubai nice airport, hot as heck though but city awsome</p>

<p>Well then UCIHopeful, next time you are in Dubai, let me know! I 'd be glad to give you a tour.</p>

<p>I went to Loyola LA</p>

<p>"Well, if you graduate from UCLA or Cal wil a 3.5 GPA and can break the 165 on your LSAT, you are pretty much in at one of the top 15 Law Schools, regardless of where you spent the first 2 or 3 years of college."</p>

<p>Let's look at the data. Specifically, let's look at the admissions data of Cal graduates. </p>

<p>The #16 law school according to USNews is UCLA. According to Cal's own data, Cal graduates who successfully got admitted to UCLA Law School in the year 2003 had an average LSAT of 166 and an average GPA of 3.76. Let's not also forget that UCLA is (obviously) a public California school and is therefore supposed to give admissions preference to California state residents, and that most Cal alumni are California state residents. </p>

<p>Let's look at the the #18 law school - USC. According to the data, Cal graduates who got admitted to USC law had an average LSAT of 167 and average GPA of 3.69. </p>

<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Law/lawStats.stm#school%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/Law/lawStats.stm#school&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I don't think transfering "up" should hurt you. If you transfer "down" to an "easy" or "lower" school, it could be detrimental.</p>