Firms that do same-day dinners for callbacks Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does that mean they aren't going to call back any more people? In general do firms in NYC do all the CBs at once? Which firms do a second round?

[johndhi]

If the question posed by your thread title is: "what firms do same-day dinners for callbacks," my feeling is that it varies by the school at which the firm is interviewing. At Georgetown, for instance, I know MoFo had a same-day dinner; on the other hand, I'm pretty sure Latham did not. This might be flipped at, say, UCLA or NYU.

If the question is "does not getting invited to a callback dinner mean you're not getting a callback," I don't know the answer. My feeling/guess is that they may extend a few callbacks beyond the dinner, but probably not many.

I'm not sure what you mean by, "do firms in NYC do all the CBs at once," either. The smaller a class, the more the firm will have to give callbacks and offers on a rolling basis. If they're looking to fill two spots, and people keep refusing their offers, they'll need to continue to extend callbacks and offers.

[Anonymous User]

I did OCI, and, after my interview with a V20 firm, they contacted me and asked asked if I would be interested in going out to dinner that night.

We went out, there were 8 of us from my school there at the table for the NYC office (and another table, in the same restaurant, for the PHL and DC offices, totaling 8 people). We ate, behaved ourselves, and generally had a good time. The following day, I got a callback from them. Rumor is most of us from that group of 8 got a callback.

Not saying that my experience is standard, but I suspect it might be. Dinner is not a callback. But you are sure as hell being watched. Think of it like a sign that the firm is interested in you and would like a chance to do a longer, slightly-laidback interview with food and wine.

[Anonymous User]

I did OCI, and, after my interview with a V20 firm, they contacted me and asked asked if I would be interested in going out to dinner that night.

We went out, there were 8 of us from my school there at the table for the NYC office (and another table, in the same restaurant, for the PHL and DC offices, totaling 8 people). We ate, behaved ourselves, and generally had a good time. The following day, I got a callback from them. Rumor is most of us from that group of 8 got a callback.

Not saying that my experience is standard, but I suspect it might be. Dinner is not a callback. But you are sure as hell being watched. Think of it like a sign that the firm is interested in you and would like a chance to do a longer, slightly-laidback interview with food and wine.

Shit, really? Have you heard of anyone getting dinner but no CB? Two of the three I attended were introduced as, "We're having a dinner for our callbacks to get to meet each other tonight, here's how to get there." I haven't heard from the third re a callback yet, so... fuck.

edit: PS: thanks TLS, you just made me go, in my head, "shit, I knew walking out of the dinner to go to the bathroom a second time was a mistake." I had one glass of wine and a ton of water, broke the seal, and had to pee really bad. This is how freaking neurotic we are that I'm wondering if this sunk me.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah I just wanted to know if anyone else knew if not getting invited to dinner meant you're definitely out.

ETA: and obviously this varies by firm and may vary by school; just wondering what has been done in the past.

[Anonymous User]

I did OCI, and, after my interview with a V20 firm, they contacted me and asked asked if I would be interested in going out to dinner that night.

We went out, there were 8 of us from my school there at the table for the NYC office (and another table, in the same restaurant, for the PHL and DC offices, totaling 8 people). We ate, behaved ourselves, and generally had a good time. The following day, I got a callback from them. Rumor is most of us from that group of 8 got a callback.

Not saying that my experience is standard, but I suspect it might be. Dinner is not a callback. But you are sure as hell being watched. Think of it like a sign that the firm is interested in you and would like a chance to do a longer, slightly-laidback interview with food and wine.

Shit, really? Have you heard of anyone getting dinner but no CB? Two of the three I attended were introduced as, "We're having a dinner for our callbacks to get to meet each other tonight, here's how to get there." I haven't heard from the third re a callback yet, so... fuck.

edit: PS: thanks TLS, you just made me go, in my head, "shit, I knew walking out of the dinner to go to the bathroom a second time was a mistake." I had one glass of wine and a ton of water, broke the seal, and had to pee really bad. This is how freaking neurotic we are that I'm wondering if this sunk me.

I'm the same poster who described the dinner.

I don't know of any way to check if any of them got (or didn't get) callbacks after dinner. Of the 8 of us at the table, I'm only "friends" with 2-4. And even then, they're not the close kind of friends with whom we're sharing callback details with.

Also: RELAX. If your interviewer was really counting bathroom trips, it would be a terrible place to work. But I'll bet you almost anything he wasn't.

[Anonymous User]

This is highly firm dependent. I went through the OCI process last year and was invited to dinners or cocktail parties each night. Some of the firms told us right off the bat that we would be receiving a callback, whereas others made no such promises (and subsequently, people at some of the events were not given a callback, even if they acted perfectly polite and enthusiastic).

In my experience, firms that gave callbacks to those invited to dinner were Sheppard Mullin, Paul Hastings, and Gibson Dunn.

Firms that did not extend callbacks to everyone at the dinner/cocktail party were Quinn, OMM, and Munger.