Is it bad to transfer law schools?

[Wirin]

My school is regarded as a lower tier school and I’m not sure if I want to potentially transfer to a “better” regarded school. In terms of OCIs I was wondering if employers view this negatively because it shows that you aren’t loyal to your school and are willing to jump ship like this.

Also, I was wondering if it’s also bad because you’re being compared with students in your new law school and the firms only have so many OCI spots to give. Would I be at a disadvantage because they are comparing me to students who might have higher grades and were originally at the school to being with? Would I be better off staying at my current school and having my higher grades compared with students in my current school?

Maybe I’m overthinking it but I’ve been really stressed about this. Thanks for reading.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Wirin

[cactusjack6]

Depending on your current school and the prospective school and where you are hoping to recruit

[Dnian]

Respectfully, I don't really understand what you are stressing about. They're not going to suddenly devalue great grades because you transferred schools: why would you become "less impressive" for being a A student who transferred from Windsor to Osgoode, as opposed to just an A student from Windsor? If anything, having transferred would make you stand out more in a stack of applications, no?

Also, all of these law schools are curved, so it's not like a "higher proportion" of the students at Osgoode or U of T have good grades relative to where you came from. The only remotely possible disadvantage I can think of is if they have a quota for the number of total students from each law school they will take, and more students from Osgoode or UofT will be doing the OCI than students from say, Western or Windsor or etc. But I think even that is a farfetched concern. A strong student is a strong student. 

So, I would say you should base your decision on your recruitment goals, career aspirations, finances, where you want to live, etc - as opposed to trying to psychoanalyze the recruiters.