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Transfer Admission Questions

Transfer Admission Questions

In order to assist you with the transition to Northeastern University School of Law, we have created the following list of frequently asked questions.

Admissions

What does the Admissions Committee look for in a transfer applicant?
The Admissions Committee will focus primarily on your performance in your first year of law school. The Committee will also consider your undergraduate work, LSAT score, outside activities, and connection to the mission of Northeastern University School of Law. You should have enrolled in the following classes in your first year in order to be eligible for admission as a transfer student.

Civil Procedure
Constitutional Law or Criminal Justice/Criminal Law
Contracts
Property
Legal Writing
Torts

If you have not or will not complete these courses in your first year, please contact the Admissions Office to determine your transfer eligibility.

I applied in March to transfer to Northeastern and still have not heard back. When will I know whether or not I am accepted?
The Admissions Committee must have your grades from your first and second semesters of law school in order to review your application and will make a decision shortly after you submit your complete first-year transcript. Because many law schools do not process the spring semester grades until the end of June or July, the Committee usually makes final decisions regarding transfer student applications in early to mid July. To get the best indication of when the Admissions Committee will be able to make a decision regarding your application, contact the appropriate administrative office at your current law school to find out when the grades are officially processed and how soon afterwards they will send out your transcript.

I am attending a law school that is not ABA accredited. Can I transfer to Northeastern?
No. In order to transfer to Northeastern, you must have completed your first year at another ABA-accredited law school.

How many transfer students are there in a given year?
Typically, 40 to 45 students apply to transfer to Northeastern each year, and 10 to 15 of these students enroll at the Law School.

I am not in the top 10% of my class at my current law school. Should I even bother applying as a transfer?
Absolutely. Do not let your class ranking deter you from applying. The Admissions Committee considers many factors when reviewing applications.

Academics

I heard that Northeastern doesn't have traditional letter grades. Is that true?
Yes. When the law school re-opened in the Sixties, the program was designed to replace the typical adversarial law school environment with a spirit of teamwork and collaboration. In order to do this successfully, student rankings and letter and number grades were replaced with written evaluations of students’ work in class and on co-op. This system:

Allows you to work with classmates without worrying that you are giving away the opportunity to be at the top of a grading curve.
Gives you a more thorough review of your work by professors so that you know just where you are doing well and where you need to improve your performance.
Teaches you, before you go out on co-op and begin your career, how to work well on teams and get more out of your work because others depend on it.

How long are the academic terms?
Northeastern’s upper-level courses are run on a quarter system, with each quarter lasting about eleven weeks.

Because the academic quarters for upper-level classes are shorter than the semesters at other law schools, is less material covered?
No. Northeastern’s courses cover about the same amount of material as courses at other schools. Though the law school’s upper-level quarters are eleven weeks and semesters are usually fourteen or fifteen weeks, most semester schools run fifty-minute hours, but Northeastern uses sixty. Sixty-minute classes meeting three times a week for eleven weeks provide 1980 minutes of classroom time. Fifty-minute classes meeting three time a week for fourteen weeks provide 2100 minutes of classroom time. That is a difference of only about two hours. Northeastern's compressed schedule eliminates much of the "hello and goodbye" portions of the semester. Professors rarely have leisurely introductions to courses, nor is there much time for in-class review. The pace certainly feels faster, though actual time in class differences tend to be small.

Assuming that I am accepted, will all of the credits from my first year at my current law school transfer?
The Office of Academic and Student Affairs determines which credits transfer on a case by case basis. First-year students at Northeastern take seven courses (Civil Procedure, Property, Torts, Criminal Justice, Constitutional Law, Contracts, and Legal Skills in Social Context). Transfer students are not required to take Legal Skills in Social Context, but must complete a first-year legal writing course. If you have any questions as to which courses will transfer, contact Bettye Freeman, Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Affairs (b.freeman@neu.edu or (617) 373-5147).

As long as my first-year credits transfer, does that mean that I will be graduating "on time?"
Not necessarily. As part of our graduation requirements, you must successfully complete four co-op work quarters. As a transfer student, you will need to complete your first co-op work quarter the summer following your first year before you in enroll at NUSL in order to graduate on time. To receive co-op credit, you need to work full-time for a minimum of 11 weeks for a single legal employer doing legal work under the direct supervision of an attorney or judge.

You must complete four full-time 11-week co-ops (legal internships) before you graduate. Thus, in order to graduate in May 2013, a student transferring to Northeastern in the 2011 fall quarter will have to complete an eleven-week full-time legal internship that has been approved by the co-op office and is supervised by a licensed attorney during the summer of 2011, prior to enrolling at Northeastern. If you do not complete an approved full-time 11-week co-op prior to entering Northeastern as a 2L transfer next fall, you will be required to complete a fourth co-op during the summer after May 2013. If you are on co-op during the summer of 2013, you will graduate in September 2013, and will not be eligible to take the bar exam until February 2014. To ensure that your legal work during the summer of 2011 qualifies as a co-op, you must get in touch with the co-op office as soon as possible. Please contact one of the Directors of Cooperative Legal Education: Jeff Smith (jef.smith@neu.edu or 617-373-4942) or Jerry Slater (g.slater@neu.edu or 617-373-2618).

How many academic credits are required to graduate?
Northeastern's first-year is 34 semester credit hours, so you will need to complete at least 53 quarter hours, during at least four (4) upper-level academic quarters, during your second and third years.

How many credits do upper-level Northeastern students usually take during a given academic quarter?
Usually between 12 and 16 credits. You can take between 10 and 16 credits per quarter and need to get permission if you plan to take less then twelve or more than sixteen. However, keep in mind that with the shorter terms (11 weeks), 15 or 16 credits is a heavy load, and you are advised not to take more than 16 credits. To meet the ABA Residency Requirement, you will have to enroll in at least 10 quarter hours and pass at least 9.

What clinical programs does the law school offer?
Clinics are a great way to develop advocacy skills and gain experience working with clients with the support of professors and experienced practitioners. The law school has six clinics: criminal advocacy, domestic violence, poverty law, prisoners’ rights, public health, and civil rights and restorative justice.

Co-op

What is co-op and how does it work?
Northeastern's unique approach to training law students for a career in the legal profession is known as Cooperative Legal Education. This program ensures that you will graduate with one full year of practical legal experience gained through four different academic quarters of full-time work ("co-ops"). During your second and third years, you will alternate between full-time classes and full-time legal work every three months. You will work about 11 weeks during a cooperative quarter and usually take a short break before returning to full-time academic studies.

The successful completion of four cooperative work quarters is a graduation requirement for all Northeastern law students. As a transfer student entering in the fall of 2011, you will need to complete your first co-op work quarter in the summer of 2011 to graduate on time in May 2013. To receive co-op credit, you need to work full time (at least 35 hours a week) for a minimum of 11 weeks for a single legal employer doing legal work under the direct supervision of an attorney or judge. You must contact the Office of Cooperative Legal Education immediately (even if you don't have an admission decision yet) so that you know what you need to do to receive co-op credit.

How does the application process for co-ops work?
You may choose to apply to one of the over 800 participating co-op employers or create your own co-op with any other legal employer. If you create your own co-op, you must work with the co-op office to ensure that your work experience will fulfill the requirements for co-op and have the co-op approved.

The majority of students choose to apply to participating co-op employers. Each quarter, the co-op office contacts participating employers to ask whether the employer intends to hire Northeastern co-op students for the upcoming quarter. They then publish an updated list each week of co-op employers, indicating whether the employer is interested in hiring co-op students. You may submit applications to up to ten of these employers through the co-op office. The co-op office will post interview requests and job offers as they come in from employers. You will have one business day to respond to an interview request, and three business days to respond to an offer. During the eighth week of each quarter, there is a supplemental mailing for students still looking for co-ops. In between these times, additional job postings will be sent to you.

Can I travel outside of Boston for a co-op?
Yes. Students go on co-ops all over the country and around the world with the program’s more than 800 employers. The major co-op hubs outside of Boston are New York City, Washington, DC, and San Francisco. The Office of Cooperative Legal Educationcan assist you in setting up new co-ops throughout the world, provided that potential employers meet the program requirements. You will work with a co-op advisor who can guide you through the process of finding a co-op, taking into consideration your desired location and the type of work you wish to pursue.

What happens if I have to do a fourth co-op after my third year of law school?
Because graduating from an accredited law school is a requirement to sit for the Bar exam, and you will not have graduated from Northeastern until September, you will be ineligible to take the Bar exam in July. Since all states only offer the Bar exam twice a year, in July and February, the earliest possible date in which you can take the Bar exam would be February. There are many employment options available so do not let a later graduation date discourage you. If you have any questions, contact either Randi Friedman, Director of Career Services, or Valerie Kapilow, Associate Director of Career Services (lawcareers@neu.edu or (617) 373-2398).

I will not be able to do an 11-week co-op this summer. Can I split a co-op and do a part-time internship during two academic quarters in lieu of a full-time eleven-week co-op so that I can graduate on time?
No. Due to strict ABA accreditation requirements, you must complete all four co-ops during an eleven-week period when you are not taking classes. Thus, the law school cannot make any exceptions to the requirement that all graduating students complete four full-time co-ops.

Career Services

I know that Northeastern is known for public interest law. Is Northeastern the right place for me if I am not interested in a career in public interest law?
Certainly. While the law school is committed to the belief that all attorneys have a duty to serve society in some capacity, not all Northeastern students intend to practice traditional public interest law upon graduation. Northeastern’s mission is to provide students with a clear understanding of the immense power they have as lawyers in our society and the ethical and social implications of the decisions they will make in this role. On average, graduates of Northeastern enter public interest careers at a rate that is five times the national average. However, the majority of our students work in settings other than public interest after graduation, such as judicial clerkships, government agencies, and law firms—including large firms.

How does Northeastern prepare students to get jobs?

Northeastern has an excellent placement rate. This success is due, in large part, to the fact that our graduates obtain significant practical legal experience and make many professional connections through our Cooperative Legal Education Progra. Northeastern also has a strong Office of Career Services that assists students and alumni/ae with career placement.

Public Interest Employers—Northeastern has an excellent reputation in the national public interest community due to the many, many graduates who work in this area as well as the progressive reputation of the school and its faculty. Our grading system generally does not create an obstacle for anyone seeking employment in this sector.

Large Corporate Law Firms—The employers most interested in traditional grades and law school rank are large corporate law firms. The large Boston area law firms are very familiar with Northeastern and our evaluation system, and feel they can distinguish those students and graduates with strong academic credentials. If you are interested in working at a large firm outside of the Boston area, you can position yourself well for post-graduate consideration by developing a co-op with the employer.

Clerkships—Each year 16-25% of Northeastern graduates begin their career doing judicial clerkships (one- or two- year positions working directly with a judge). These are prestigious positions, and many judges have hired our graduates throughout the years. Strong letters of recommendation and a good writing sample are important components of the selection process. Because the evaluations sometimes reveal much more about an applicant's specific skills than a grade does, and our graduates often have direct practical experience gained on co-op (including many who have worked for judges as interns), Northeastern graduates have great success in this area.

Everything else (small and medium firms, government agencies, corporations, law-related fields, etc.)—Many of these employers value work experience as much as, or more then, law school performance. Some, but not all, may ask for law school transcripts, and your Northeastern transcript will allow the employer to evaluate the experience you gained on co-op as well as your academic performance.

Can I participate in Northeastern's fall recruitment programs as a transfer student?

Large firms begin accepting resumes for their summer associate programs in August. The first deadline for applying to firms who participate in Northeastern's on-campus recruitment program (which includes mostly Boston area large firms) and several other programs in which our school participates will be in early August. If you are interested in participating in these programs, you should contact Randi Friedman in the Office of Career Services (ra.friedman@neu.edu or 617-373-3707) before August.

Financial Aid

How does my transfer student status affect my eligibility for Northeastern grants?
Because you did not enter Northeastern as a first-year student, you are not eligible for institutional need-based or merit-based grants. However, there are some endowed scholarships for which you may qualify. You may apply for these endowed scholarships in September. If you have any questions regarding financial aid, please contact the Office of Financial Aid.

If I have prior federal student loans, how do I make sure that they remain in an “in-school deferment”?
Once you arrive on campus, you can have the university's Registrars Office complete a deferment form for you. They will forward the form directly to your loan servicer. It is important, however, that you confirm with your loan servicer that the document was received.

Housing

I do not currently live in the Boston area. How can I find an apartment?
There are many apartments available near the school, and even more apartments in surrounding areas close to public transportation. Northeastern is accessible via two lines of the MBTA subway system and multiple bus lines. Northeastern maintains a comprehensive off-campus website at www.northeastern.edu/offcampus. You can also find apartment listings at boston.craigslist.org or www.boston.com.

Westlaw & LEXIS Accounts

If I transfer to Northeastern, how do I transfer my Westlaw and LEXIS accounts?
You will need to come in person to the library to get new Westlaw and LEXIS passwords. Please bring your Northeastern University ID, aka "The Husky Card". Otherwise, if you try to print anything, the print jobs will be sent to your first law school!