Top Law Schools

For those of you experienced with DOJ hiring can you give any information on how they look at grades across class years? Since they don't hire on the same setup as firms do, does that mean that you could do well 1L but drop 2/3L and not get DOJ honors? What about doing poorly 1L and then doing well 2 and 3L--would that help you and give you a chance at getting hired? Thanks!

HU got 1L pwnd?

Desert Fox wrote:HU got 1L pwnd?

Got a while before I find out--UVA is really slow with grades. However, I'm getting anxious and want to know all of the possibilities. The other thing is that there are so few people who are knowledgeable about DOJ honors hiring that I really know next to nothing about their hiring setup (besides what the website tells you).

BruceWayne wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:HU got 1L pwnd?

Got a while before I find out--UVA is really slow with grades. However, I'm getting anxious and want to know all of the possibilities.

Yea it's fucking terrible sitting around waiting for it.

BruceWayne wrote:For those of you experienced with DOJ hiring can you give any information on how they look at grades across class years? Since they don't hire on the same setup as firms do, does that mean that you could do well 1L but drop 2/3L and not get DOJ honors? What about doing poorly 1L and then doing well 2 and 3L--would that help you and give you a chance at getting hired? Thanks!

Grades are important. Drop in grades is bad. Rise in grades is good. (A good 2L year will not necessarily make up for a bad 1L year--you can usually falter first semester and make it up by the end of 2L, though.) 2L grades matter, and maybe 5th semester grades depending on the agency.

ggocat wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:For those of you experienced with DOJ hiring can you give any information on how they look at grades across class years? Since they don't hire on the same setup as firms do, does that mean that you could do well 1L but drop 2/3L and not get DOJ honors? What about doing poorly 1L and then doing well 2 and 3L--would that help you and give you a chance at getting hired? Thanks!

Grades are important. Drop in grades is bad. Rise in grades is good. (A good 2L year will not necessarily make up for a bad 1L year--you can usually falter first semester and make it up by the end of 2L, though.) 2L grades matter, and maybe 5th semester grades depending on the agency.

Thanks. So essentially (as I suspected) their setup is sort of a catch 22 in respect to grades. You can come back from a bad start, but you can be sunk by a bad finish too. Do you know which litigating divisions are projected to do the least/most hiring in the next few years? Also, how bad is it to miss SLIP between 1 and 2L in terms of having a shot at honors?

BruceWayne wrote:

ggocat wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:For those of you experienced with DOJ hiring can you give any information on how they look at grades across class years? Since they don't hire on the same setup as firms do, does that mean that you could do well 1L but drop 2/3L and not get DOJ honors? What about doing poorly 1L and then doing well 2 and 3L--would that help you and give you a chance at getting hired? Thanks!

Grades are important. Drop in grades is bad. Rise in grades is good. (A good 2L year will not necessarily make up for a bad 1L year--you can usually falter first semester and make it up by the end of 2L, though.) 2L grades matter, and maybe 5th semester grades depending on the agency.

Thanks. So essentially (as I suspected) their setup is sort of a catch 22 in respect to grades. You can come back from a bad start, but you can be sunk by a bad finish too. Do you know which litigating divisions are projected to do the least/most hiring in the next few years? Also, how bad is it to miss SLIP between 1 and 2L in terms of having a shot at honors?

I haven't worked there in awhile, so I'm not sure about projected hiring. Of the honors program hires from when I was there, I only know that one of them (of six I think) had interned before. I'm not sure about the others (three of whom came from USCOA or USDC clerkships).

ggocat wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:

ggocat wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:For those of you experienced with DOJ hiring can you give any information on how they look at grades across class years? Since they don't hire on the same setup as firms do, does that mean that you could do well 1L but drop 2/3L and not get DOJ honors? What about doing poorly 1L and then doing well 2 and 3L--would that help you and give you a chance at getting hired? Thanks!

Grades are important. Drop in grades is bad. Rise in grades is good. (A good 2L year will not necessarily make up for a bad 1L year--you can usually falter first semester and make it up by the end of 2L, though.) 2L grades matter, and maybe 5th semester grades depending on the agency.

Thanks. So essentially (as I suspected) their setup is sort of a catch 22 in respect to grades. You can come back from a bad start, but you can be sunk by a bad finish too. Do you know which litigating divisions are projected to do the least/most hiring in the next few years? Also, how bad is it to miss SLIP between 1 and 2L in terms of having a shot at honors?

I haven't worked there in awhile, so I'm not sure about projected hiring. Of the honors program hires from when I was there, I only know that one of them (of six I think) had interned before. I'm not sure about the others (three of whom came from USCOA or USDC clerkships).

Thanks again. I wonder just how much doing the volunteer program after 1L and doing SLIP helps you in getting Honors.

What is SLIP and what is this honors program?

A'nold wrote:What is SLIP and what is this honors program?

http://www.justice.gov/oarm/oppls.htm