Cover Letter for Non-OCI firms Forum

[amathey]

I am planning on emailing my application materials to firms that are not coming to my school's OCI. When emailing these out to the firm's recrutier should my cover letter be in the body of the email or should it also be a seperate attachment? If it should be a seperate attachment, what should I say in the body text of the email?

Thanks!

[tingles]

Definitely as an attachment. I usually just write a sentence of who I am (I'm a 2L at X law school), and that I'm interested in applying for X position. Then tell them that you're attaching your cover letter, resume, transcript, etc. And another sentence of what phone number they can reach you at. No point in writing your email address since you're already emailing it to them.

[d34d9823]

Your email should not have 6 random attachments in it. You should pdf all of your stuff together, with the possible exception of separating your transcript from the rest.

[Renzo]

Definitely as an attachment. I usually just write a sentence of who I am (I'm a 2L at X law school), and that I'm interested in applying for X position. Then tell them that you're attaching your cover letter, resume, transcript, etc. And another sentence of what phone number they can reach you at. No point in writing your email address since you're already emailing it to them.

Opinions are mixed, but I think this is the right answer. A long email body is likely to get skimmed/ignored by the person receiving it (who won't be the person actually hiring you). PDF all your material together and attach it.

[legends159]

I attached a cover, resume and transcript as an attachment and got a few callbacks out of it before OCI.

In the body of the email I wrote 2 sentences saying I'm a 2L and that I am interested in coming in for an interview. I did 6 attachments but I think in hindsight it would've been smarter to combine them all in one or two pdf.

[underachiever]

I attached a cover, resume and transcript as an attachment and got a few callbacks out of it before OCI.

In the body of the email I wrote 2 sentences saying I'm a 2L and that I am interested in coming in for an interview. I did 6 attachments but I think in hindsight it would've been smarter to combine them all in one or two pdf.

I mailed a slightly targeted cover letter, my resume and transcript to about 25 firms and got about 8 interviews pre-oci.

.....but then again you go to Stanford and I go to Penn, so i think it was a lot easier for us than for others. I have friends at t20-30 schools who have been frozen out with great grades at the same firms that called me back the next day.

[Anonymous User]

Should I/Must I attach my transcript to the e-mail when my grades are below Median? (and Instead just include my GPA in my resume)?

I go to Michigan and have a 3.05 where the target median is a 3.19.

Thank you so much.

[barestin]

To be clear, these are for positions next summer, correct? Isn't it a little too early at this point for that? I sent out e-mails like this in the last couple of weeks for positions as a law clerk for the fall. Should I be thinking more long-term then? Don't mean to steal the thread from OP, but OCI interviews are two months away, so I am just wondering. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

To be clear, these are for positions next summer, correct? Isn't it a little too early at this point for that? I sent out e-mails like this in the last couple of weeks for positions as a law clerk for the fall. Should I be thinking more long-term then? Don't mean to steal the thread from OP, but OCI interviews are two months away, so I am just wondering. Thanks!

Yea, I won't be sending out mass-mailings out until July, but I want to get things together now.

Any takers...?

Should I/Must I attach my transcript to the e-mail when my grades are below Median? (and Instead just include my GPA in my resume)?

I go to Michigan and have a 3.05 where the target median is a 3.19.

Thank you so much.

[badaboom61]

To be clear, these are for positions next summer, correct? Isn't it a little too early at this point for that? I sent out e-mails like this in the last couple of weeks for positions as a law clerk for the fall. Should I be thinking more long-term then? Don't mean to steal the thread from OP, but OCI interviews are two months away, so I am just wondering. Thanks!

I think the general advice is to send them right before OCI season, so third or fourth week of July. Sending them now probably wouldn't hurt, but it might get lost since firms aren't really interviewing yet.

At my school grades don't even post until mid July, so I'm not in a hurry.

OP is smart for preparing everything now, though.