Common Questions for Law School Transfer Applicants with Harvard Law School Dean of Admissions
If you’re finishing up your 1L year and realizing that your law school wasn’t the right fit for you, it may be time to consider transferring!
In our interview with Kristi Jobson, the Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer at Harvard Law School, she and Sydney discussed how transfer applications really work for law school. In this excerpt, Kristi discusses some of the key things you should know as a transfer student.
Interested in the whole interview? Listen to Transfer Admissions with Harvard Law School Dean of Admissions on Spotify or wherever you stream podcasts. You can also find our other blog transcription from this episode here.
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Sydney: What do you wish transfer students knew about the application process or getting accepted? What is it that you could just scream from the mountaintops and you'd be like, man, if people just knew this, that would be so great?
Kristi: In terms of the application process, don't sleep on those letters of recommendation. I think oftentimes in the transfer process, a lot of emphasis is put on grades. A nice transcript is wonderful. Good for you. You got like all A's in your 1L year. That's great.
Thinking about what your professors say about you, what you're like in a classroom environment, maybe even outside of the classroom environment, as well, is another really crucial component. And so give your 1L professors of a good amount of time to put together a letter of recommendation for you.
In terms of after getting accepted, I would say, at least for HLS specifically, I always like to emphasize that our transfer community really is a cohort of students. They're part, of course, of the larger HLS community and, and in my view integrated really well and right away into the HLS community, but they are their own special cohort. Their faculty section leader, the 3Ls who transferred put together a matching program for mentoring right away, and they have social events together. Last year they did this big epic scavenger hunt and they were all running around the campus, which was really fun. They have their own swag for their section.
That is, in my view, a really important thing as a transfer student, to feel like there are others who share your experience and not just a few others, but a real cohort.
Sydney: I remember we had a transfer student in our section, and he obviously had his own transferring section, but we like made him an honorary section for a member. He was really integrated and was invited to all of our happy hours. Obviously, I'm not him I can't speak for his experience, but I would hope that that would have made it kind of equally special.
You talked a lot about those letters of recommendation, and I know students always ask, is there a particular 1L subject or professor that's extra important? Does it have to be legal research and writing? Does it matter if it was an elective or a core subject?
Kristi: Great question. I mean, different schools have different approaches, but generally speaking, if you can secure a letter of recommendation from a doctrinal professor and legal research and writing professor or fellow or whichever kind of approach your school uses, I think that's a great time, candidly. The doctrinal professor will have seen you in a typically more Socratic setting and your legal research and writing instructor will have seen you often more one-on-one, working on a project over time as opposed to one big exam that just hits and drops at the end of the semester. And I have seen that be a really beautiful combination.
All of these things usually depend on the kind of professor who you feel knows you best and who will be a strong advocate for you. But if you're looking for kind of a nice combo, I've seen those two types of instructors really complement each other.
Sydney: How important is it to address a specific reason for transferring to a specific school? Is it better to be coming for a certain clinical program or faculty member? Rather than maybe a job or geographic reason?
Kristi: This is one of the things I love most about the transfer cycle. Look at it from an admissions officer's point of view. We've just done months and months of the incoming 1L cycle. We've looked at thousands upon thousands of applications of prospective students who are in a lot of different places in their journey. Some people are coming straight from college, some people are decades into the workforce, some people have a very strong sense of why they want to go to law school. Others are exploring and thinking about it still.
With the transfer cycle, it feels like folks are really in the same place. They've typically taken almost all of the same subjects across any law school. The transfer applicants tend to really lay their cards out on the table, especially in their essays. They're like, here's who I am, I'm passionate about antitrust, I really like your program on corporate governance, and I'd like to work with these faculty members. It's like a very clear sense of what they're looking for. And I love that.
All of that said, though, that is not necessarily because the transfer applicants are looking to lay their cards out on the table. It's just usually kind of where they are in life, and it happens very naturally.
So, how important is it to address the specific reason? If you've got it, go ahead, lay those cards out on the table, but don't feel like you have to go find cards to bring to the table. Just be authentic to who you are. I wouldn't stretch it.
The other thing is that we do interview transfer applicants that we're considering for admission. It's typically about 10 minutes for a phone interview, and there's nothing worse than getting on the phone with someone you're like, so you're passionate about voting rights and you want to work with Nick Stephanopoulos, and the person's like, “Yeah, uh, did I say that?” So best to just be authentic all the way around.
Sydney: Is there anything materially different about how transfer students should approach their essay for transferring versus their original kind of personal statement? Is there an option for a diversity statement in transfer admissions? Is that, is that personal statement different in feeling and in tone or kind of the same?
Kristi: So first, yes. You still have the opportunity to submit what we call an optional statement at HLS. Other schools often call it a diversity statement. It's called an optional statement because it is truly optional. It has to feel right for you. But that prompt is very, very similar.
In terms of the personal statement, I have noticed that transfer applicants tend to have just a much more crystallized view of what they plan to do with their law degree, and it's very helpful to understand that when you are reading their file. At the end of your 1L year, I guarantee you, you will have just a more formulated view of how you want to use your law degree, what you like, and maybe don't like quite as much about law school and legal practice, and it's helpful to share that.
The personal statements for transfer applicants tend to be just much more focused in that regard. And the expectation is that you will be a little bit more focused. You've had an entire year of law school versus when you're applying as a 1L. By the end of your 1L year, you don't have to have a certain plan for the next 25 years of your life, but you probably have some instinct as to where you're going and how transferring fits.
Sydney: Hopefully, you get more and more focused as you go through law school. Law school might seem long like three years, but it's really short. I always tell people, it’s just over before you know it. So having that focus and taking information from your classes and trying out things like clinics and student practice organizations to get that focus is really cool.
I have two questions that are more on after you've been admitted for transfer students. The first one is how does journaling work as a transfer student? And I know this is an answer that differs widely school-to-school.
Kristi: At HLS, we have 17 journals that you can join right away as a 1L or right away as a transfer when you matriculate in, and you don't need to try out for them, you don't need to put in an application. If you're a 2L transferring in, you're welcome to reach out to the journals even before 2L year starts that summer and say, you know, “Hey, Human Rights Journal, super excited about this. Let me know how I can get involved.”
I've seen transfers jump in right away and then end up being editor-in-chief of the journal by the time they are 3L. You'll be surprised at this sense that you have of just being able to integrate and hit the ground running right away as a 2L.
Sydney: I have one last question for making decisions as a transfer student. We talked at the beginning about how fast the transfer admissions process goes. When you're deciding on what school to attend as a transfer student, is it worth the time to go to a first-year admissions event? Maybe if there aren't specific transfer-focused admissions events? How can you kind of get that sense of community or if this is going to be a place where you're going to thrive or be integrated?
Kristi: I don't want to say it's not worth your time to go to the events for the first-year students, but I'm not sure it's worth your time to go to the events for the first-year students.
There are going to be very basic questions about when should I take the LSAT and the like, and they won't feel as relevant for you. You want to be zeroing in on what community is like. That's why at HLS we have specific sessions for transfer applicants, and we have sessions that are focused on the application process, and then also ones that are hosted by our transfer students themselves to give you a sense of life at HLS.
One way I think is really crucial — student organizations, big part of life here on campus. Really big. Most student organizations have social media, have Instagram, they have Twitter. Just DM them. I can't tell you the number of times I have heard students say, “I wasn't thinking about HLS, but I was following BLSA on Instagram and I ended up DMing them and they connected me with somebody who's also a transfer student, and then that's really what got me going.”
But I think the thing that's interesting with those social media accounts is those student organizations aren't running those social media accounts for applicants. They are running it for their own audience, which is one another. You get to see as a prospective student a little bit of how students are talking with one another and communicating with one another and sharing themselves, sharing of themselves, informing the community. I would recommend that more than an info session put together by an admissions office, much as I like to think we put together good info sessions.
Sydney: I think a lot of what I hear from students, especially in this population, is that they feel like they're not good enough or that they might not even be applying to transfer or be applying to schools that they could get into because they feel that their background or whatever they've done kind of disqualifies them from even being considered. They have this imposter syndrome that we kind of talk about. I was wondering if there's any advice that you have for students who are first-gen, who are minoritized students, about feeling confident in this process?
Kristi: I have two pieces of advice. One is more thematic, and then one is more kind of actionable in terms of the application process.
I'll start with the thematic one: Know that you are really valued. You will come in valued by schools and by the students who will be your future classmates. Put yourself out there. Give it a shot. The worst that happens is that you spend some time putting together an essay and ordering up your transcripts and having them sent off to LSAC and you get a no, but you give yourself the shot to try.
Second, in terms of just a piece of actionable advice for the transfer process — it can feel kind of intimidating to reach out to professors and engage with professors. Everyone's adjusting to 1L year at law school, no matter where you go to law school. But the professors are there for you. If you're thinking about transferring, part of their job is to write letters of recommendation and be supportive of you. But it's a lot easier to ask for that letter of recommendation in April when you're thinking about transferring if you already have developed a relationship. So, put yourself out there in both respects, in terms of applying more generally and then it also forming relationships with people who are going to advocate for you, not just in the transfer admissions process, but in life and in your career.
If you’re interested in the entire interview with Kristi Jobson, make sure to listen to our Break Into Law School podcast or visit our YouTube channel! We also offer transfer consulting packages with sliding scale pricing that can help you through your law school application process, transfer or not! If you have any questions or need support, don’t be afraid to reach out to us at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com.