Many law students hope to transfer to a higher ranked school or to a school closer to home after their first year of law school. Ann Levine works with law school applicants to maximize their chances of admission as a transfer applicant. Your undergraduate GPA and LSAT score will no longer plague you. As a transfer applicant, law schools rely upon your performance during your first year of law school in addition to your resume, personal statement, and letters of recommendation (including one from a law school professor).

Transferring law schools requires a specific application process and a very specific message as to why you want to transfer. Most people who want to transfer are trying to jump up in the rankings or move closer to a family member or job opportunity. The key to doing this is showing that you did well during your first year of law school since this is the best predictor for how you will do in the remainder of law school. Your rank as a 1L, and the caliber of law school you attended, should convince a law school that you will succeed in an even more competitive academic environment.

If you were waitlisted at a school for your 1L year, applying as a transfer applicant makes a lot of sense. The law school is aware of your strong interest in attending and obviously liked you a lot the first time around for you to be considered as a 1L.

Some law schools offer early decision options for transfer applicants who apply when their first semester grades are released, but most transfer applications are due in June and early July, shortly after you learn your grades and class rank from your first year of law school. If you are considering transferring, the best time to contact Law School Expert is after receiving your grades from your first semester of law school.

For more information about what makes you competitive as a transfer applicant, read What are my Chances of Transferring Law Schools and The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert.