Leron Thumim, 2L
Foreign Correspondent
Cardozo is an excellent school—its reputation is improving every year, the people are great, and the environment tends to be friendly and collegial. So why the heck did I transfer from Cardozo to NYU Law this past summer? I would like to walk you through my decision and offer some thoughts and advice regarding the transfer process in general.
Applying to transfer to a different law school is neither painless nor smooth. You need to write a new personal statement, arrange to have your transcripts and dean’s certification forms sent everywhere, pay the fees, and re-fill out all the forms you filled out when you first applied. You must also approach Cardozo professors to ask for letters of recommendation—no easy task given that those professors probably liked you and don’t want to see you leave. And should you be fortunate enough to be accepted as a transfer student, you can look forward to a flurry of frenzied activity: in the span of one week, I had to bid for interviews, register for classes (despite not knowing any professors), navigate the red tape of a new law school, and prepare an entry for the journal writing competition. Even once things ‘settle down’ and classes begin, you find that you have gone from the top of the class in a school in which you were comfortable, to being just another student among people who all seem to know each other; except that nobody knows you.
The point is: you should not transfer on a whim, or because someone told you that it is a ‘no-brainer.’ You should only apply if you have concrete reasons for wanting to change schools and are willing to take the corresponding financial hit. (If your grades at Cardozo were good enough to transfer, then you were likely offered a scholarship; most law schools do not offer financial aid nor scholarships to transferees.). While there are some good reasons to switch law schools (which I’ll get to in a moment), there are also some reasons not to transfer. If all you are interested in doing is working for a big law firm upon graduation, transferring is not necessary. Sure, there were more firms participating in Early Interview Week at NYU, but all that matters is that you get an offer with a firm that you like. I personally know of people at Cardozo who fared better at OCI than I did; it is much harder to stand out at a place like NYU, where you will be only one of many transfer students.
Another reason not to transfer is a general desire to have a ‘better legal education.’ There are many excellent world-class professors at NYU, but there are also some excellent world-class professors at Cardozo. This is partially a question of study areas: if you have connected with professors at Cardozo that specialize in areas of interest to you, then keep working with them and you will have a top-notch legal education.
So why did I transfer? For me, it was about raising my ceiling and opening doors. I may be interested in pursuing a clerkship or potentially going into legal academia down the line. It is not impossible to follow these career paths from Cardozo, but if I can excel at NYU, then they would be far more accessible. I also know myself well enough to know that I thrive when challenged; I will work harder over the next two years given that I have to ‘prove myself’ all over again at a new school. There are also other reasons to consider transferring as well—if you intend to practice somewhere other than in New York City, then it may be a good idea to transfer to a school in that market.
If you are a 1L considering transferring, the strongest piece of advice I can give you is this: put it completely out of your mind until late spring at the earliest. The odds that you will switch schools are slim; if you spend your time at Cardozo thinking that you might not stick around, you will be doing yourself a grave disservice. This may be the last time in your life that you are a student, and you owe it to yourself to make the most of it. Make friends, connect with professors, join student clubs and commit to being a part of the fantastic Cardozo community. The friends you make during 1L year are friends you will still be in touch with years from now, regardless of whether or not you transfer. And should you decide to transfer to a law school within a 10-block radius of Cardozo (as I have), you will still get to see them on a regular basis.