T14 Schools - Boston BigLaw Placement Forum

[darrenbragg]

been lurking for madd long.

deposit deadlines loom--it's decision time. aiming for boston biglaw. have lots of connects there. wondering if id be better off attending BU or BC (100k + at both) than a t14 outside of boston.

into duke (100k +), Columbia (waiting on $ but not expecting anything).

seems like a very small # of grads end up there (>10/class). could that be an advantage?

would a boston firm recruit at a place like duke? would I be schlepping back and forth between and boston and durham to network? would I be at a disadvantage if I didn't do my 1L internship in boston?

literally any insight would be unreal right now. very anxious and confused.

thank you!!!

[curry1]

been lurking for madd long.

deposit deadlines loom--it's decision time. aiming for boston biglaw. have lots of connects there. wondering if id be better off attending BU or BC (100k + at both) than a t14 outside of boston.

into duke (100k +), Columbia (waiting on $ but not expecting anything).

seems like a very small # of grads end up there (>10/class). could that be an advantage?

would a boston firm recruit at a place like duke? would I be schlepping back and forth between and boston and durham to network? would I be at a disadvantage if I didn't do my 1L internship in boston?

literally any insight would be unreal right now. very anxious and confused.

thank you!!!

duke, if you have rock solid boston connections you shouldn't have a huge problem getting back, but be flexible and recognize you might have to work somewhere else. Columbia at sticker for biglaw with a good duke scholarship just doesn't make sense.

[RSN]

been lurking for madd long.

deposit deadlines loom--it's decision time. aiming for boston biglaw. have lots of connects there. wondering if id be better off attending BU or BC (100k + at both) than a t14 outside of boston.

into duke (100k +), Columbia (waiting on $ but not expecting anything).

seems like a very small # of grads end up there (>10/class). could that be an advantage?

would a boston firm recruit at a place like duke? would I be schlepping back and forth between and boston and durham to network? would I be at a disadvantage if I didn't do my 1L internship in boston?

literally any insight would be unreal right now. very anxious and confused.

thank you!!!

These are questions that the Duke admissions office (if they're competent, I have no experience with them) should be able to help you with, either directly or by connecting you with students. My gut says it won't be a problem, and even if not many firms come to your OCI, you'd be in good shape mass mailing them in July, as long as you make clear your strong ties and do reasonably well 1L year. I do think you'd almost certainly want to do 1L summer in Boston regardless.

[grades??]

Boston does recruit at Duke. It is nowhere near the size of say NYC, but I have a decent group of friends going to Boston for biglaw. If you have ties, then this is a seriously easy decision. Take the money at Duke and just work closely with career services. They will get you back to Boston. I myself am going to work for a boston firm in another office and they recruited heavily at Duke for their Boston office.

[OneHandedEconomist]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

[darrenbragg]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

thank you all. very helpful. 3.68/175.

would doing my 1l internship in durham seriously hurt my chances in Boston? wife would be coming with me and we're not really trying to be apart for an entire summer...

thanks again

[trebekismyhero]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

thank you all. very helpful. 3.68/175.

would doing my 1l internship in durham seriously hurt my chances in Boston? wife would be coming with me and we're not really trying to be apart for an entire summer...

thanks again

If you're born and raised in Boston, it wouldn't be a killer. But if you really want to end up in Boston, you should do 1L summer there

[grades??]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

thank you all. very helpful. 3.68/175.

would doing my 1l internship in durham seriously hurt my chances in Boston? wife would be coming with me and we're not really trying to be apart for an entire summer...

thanks again

If you're born and raised in Boston, it wouldn't be a killer. But if you really want to end up in Boston, you should do 1L summer there

You should do your 1l summer in the market you wanna be in. So unless you are going to Harvard, you are gonna have to be apart from your wife whether you go to Duke or Columbia.

[LoganCouture]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

thank you all. very helpful. 3.68/175.

would doing my 1l internship in durham seriously hurt my chances in Boston? wife would be coming with me and we're not really trying to be apart for an entire summer...

thanks again

If you're born and raised in Boston, it wouldn't be a killer. But if you really want to end up in Boston, you should do 1L summer there

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

[grades??]

GPA/LSAT? May be worth retaking if you're a reverse splitter and going to Harvard. Depends on how Boston-centric your goals are.

thank you all. very helpful. 3.68/175.

would doing my 1l internship in durham seriously hurt my chances in Boston? wife would be coming with me and we're not really trying to be apart for an entire summer...

thanks again

If you're born and raised in Boston, it wouldn't be a killer. But if you really want to end up in Boston, you should do 1L summer there

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

This is big. A lot of markets have moved to pre-oci hiring anyway. In DC last summer, a big chunk of all offers were given out before OCI. I know 1 v10 in particular that hired purely pre-oci. So it is more important now to be in the city you want during your 1l summer than even a few years ago.

[Dr. Nefario]

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

This is big. A lot of markets have moved to pre-oci hiring anyway. In DC last summer, a big chunk of all offers were given out before OCI. I know 1 v10 in particular that hired purely pre-oci. So it is more important now to be in the city you want during your 1l summer than even a few years ago.

This is a huge point. You should absolutely go to Duke with Biglaw as the goal here, but 1L summer needs to be in Boston to do the pre-oci networking and firm visits. Is there a reason you would do 1L in durham?

[Rigo]

Duke, with 1L summer in Boston.

[darrenbragg]

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

This is big. A lot of markets have moved to pre-oci hiring anyway. In DC last summer, a big chunk of all offers were given out before OCI. I know 1 v10 in particular that hired purely pre-oci. So it is more important now to be in the city you want during your 1l summer than even a few years ago.

This is a huge point. You should absolutely go to Duke with Biglaw as the goal here, but 1L summer needs to be in Boston to do the pre-oci networking and firm visits. Is there a reason you would do 1L in durham?

thanks for the reply. relocating with wife, who will be starting a new job. tough to either leave her in the lurch for a summer or ask her to quit her job and come with...

[Dr. Nefario]

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

This is big. A lot of markets have moved to pre-oci hiring anyway. In DC last summer, a big chunk of all offers were given out before OCI. I know 1 v10 in particular that hired purely pre-oci. So it is more important now to be in the city you want during your 1l summer than even a few years ago.

This is a huge point. You should absolutely go to Duke with Biglaw as the goal here, but 1L summer needs to be in Boston to do the pre-oci networking and firm visits. Is there a reason you would do 1L in durham?

thanks for the reply. relocating with wife, who will be starting a new job. tough to either leave her in the lurch for a summer or ask her to quit her job and come with...

Sorry I missed that in your earlier post. I think that'd be a pretty solid reason firms would understand during OCI (namely just saying it would've been financially unfeasible), especially if you (or both of you) have ties to Boston. Just send out applications to Boston firms as soon as your final grades come out, maybe submit 1L SA apps in Boston, and reach out to Duke grads at firms.

[UVA2B]

also doing your 1L summer in Boston would give you greater opportunity to network/possibly do pre-OCI interviews with Boston firms that may not come to your OCI. I'm a 2L don't really know a ton about hiring but have a friend who did this.

This is big. A lot of markets have moved to pre-oci hiring anyway. In DC last summer, a big chunk of all offers were given out before OCI. I know 1 v10 in particular that hired purely pre-oci. So it is more important now to be in the city you want during your 1l summer than even a few years ago.

This is a huge point. You should absolutely go to Duke with Biglaw as the goal here, but 1L summer needs to be in Boston to do the pre-oci networking and firm visits. Is there a reason you would do 1L in durham?

thanks for the reply. relocating with wife, who will be starting a new job. tough to either leave her in the lurch for a summer or ask her to quit her job and come with...

I completely agree that your 1L summer doesn't have to be in Boston for when OCI rolls around, but have you thought out how you want to deal with 2L summer since the same issues will develop? Eventually you're going to have to either be apart from your wife or bring her with you if you want to work for a firm in Boston.

Don't worry about 1L summer being in Boston if it bothers you that badly being apart for ~10 weeks, but just remember the long game of getting a job in Boston, because you're voluntarily missing valuable opportunities to network and interview. The financial reasons for not going there could make sense in explaining at OCI, but just accept that you're limiting your opportunities to set yourself up for 2L summer.

[redsoxfan1989]

If you have Boston ties, it's ok to do 1L summer in Durham. If not, I would strongly recommend spending that summer in Boston. Many firms hire over the summer so be aware. If distance is a factor, consider paying extra for Columbia so you can easily see your wife on weekends.