Top 10% at a lower-tiered school... yikes. Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm top 10% + secondary journal, at a school near the top of the second tier (ranked 50-60) and OCI ain't looking too good from here. I probably could have transferred up, but stayed to be a big(ish) fish in a small(ish) pond. Now I'm thinking I should have tried to get out of here while the gettin' was good.

Any other top percentilers at not-so-top law schools out there? How's OCI treating you?

[Anonymous User]

I'm almost in the same boat as you, but just outside the top 10% + LR. So far OCI has been pretty brutal. Our OCI is all preselect, with about 20 spots per firm. I have only gotten 6 OCI interviews. I've only heard of 2 people with CBs so far (maybe firms are slow since OCI just started about a week ago?). And these 2 people are ranked near the very top.

Although I love the city my school's in, I'm starting to regret not going to the regional school in my home city which is a much bigger legal market.

[Anonymous User]

OP isn't top 10% relatively swell OCI wise?
I mean if your t2 is like.. UH or rutgers I'd think that your career options should be quite open.

[Anonymous User]

OP isn't top 10% relatively swell OCI wise?
I mean if your t2 is like.. UH or rutgers I'd think that your career options should be quite open.

OP here. Unfortunately, that's sort of the point of this thread- you would think that top 10% would be "swell," but so far it's not. Idk what's going on at UH (is that Hawaii?) or at Rutgers, but I will be shocked if I get an offer, or even a CB. I'm not trying to sound dramatic- there are just VERY FEW firms coming to OCI, and even fewer of them wanted to talk to me!

Edit- I think UH=Houston, right? My school is in the same general ranking area, if it matters. (I don't think rank means anything outside of the top 30 or so, so I'm not surprised to hear that other, similar schools are doing better)

[Anonymous User]

bbump

[Anonymous User]

I'm almost in the same boat as you, but just outside the top 10% + LR. So far OCI has been pretty brutal. Our OCI is all preselect, with about 20 spots per firm. I have only gotten 6 OCI interviews. I've only heard of 2 people with CBs so far (maybe firms are slow since OCI just started about a week ago?). And these 2 people are ranked near the very top.

Although I love the city my school's in, I'm starting to regret not going to the regional school in my home city which is a much bigger legal market.

OP here again. My school is also 100% preselect. I actually like it in theory- at least if you get an interview, you know that the firm actually wants to talk to you, right? Maybe this has something to do with why OCI feels tiny and ineffective here as compared to schools with a lottery system, which must have more overall interviews going on.

Anyway, I'll post my screener and CB details here when OCI is over. As of right now though, it does look like good grades at a lower-ranked school might be better spent transferring than holding out for OCI. I hope it's working out better at other TT/TTT/TTTTs.

[SteelReserve]

I attend a T50-100. Yes we have OCI and yes some people received summer associate positions and ultimate offers, and I know each of them. Approximately 10 people received SAs.

Basically it works like this: If you are top 20% you will get some screening interviews, maybe a dozen or so, then you will get a few call backs if you interview well. But ultimately the people that actually received offers were absolute top students, within the top 5%.

That's my own quote from a post I made back in May regarding tier 2 OCI. I attended a similar ranked school as you can see. Top 10% unfortunately seems to be insufficient these days. Nearly every person I know that received an offer via traditional summer associate path was top 5% and law review. This was 2011 OCI.

[Aberzombie1892]

Hopefully you all have been mass mailing. Unless you are in a heavily saturated market, you should get something paying well for next summer with top 10% + law review from a T2/T3.

If you relied only on OCI, you did it wrong.

[Anonymous User]

Struggling at my T2 - top 15% and on a secondary journal with strong regional ties. I think I managed to finagle one interview out of mass mailing. 8 interviews from OCI, no CBs so far but no dings either (but I think at least 2 dings are in the mail right now).

[Anonymous User]

Hopefully you all have been mass mailing. Unless you are in a heavily saturated market, you should get something paying well for next summer with top 10% + law review from a T2/T3.

If you relied only on OCI, you did it wrong.

OP here. I mass mailed. So far I have 4 dings and a whole lot of silence. Not in a heavily saturated market.

[Anonymous User]

I attend a T50-100. Yes we have OCI and yes some people received summer associate positions and ultimate offers, and I know each of them. Approximately 10 people received SAs.

Basically it works like this: If you are top 20% you will get some screening interviews, maybe a dozen or so, then you will get a few call backs if you interview well. But ultimately the people that actually received offers were absolute top students, within the top 5%.

That's my own quote from a post I made back in May regarding tier 2 OCI. I attended a similar ranked school as you can see. Top 10% unfortunately seems to be insufficient these days. Nearly every person I know that received an offer via traditional summer associate path was top 5% and law review. This was 2011 OCI.

OP here- thanks, that is helpful. I wish I had read it before deciding not to transfer! I just found out that the kid who was ranked one spot lower than me (still top 10%, but closer than me to 11%) just transferred to CCN. FML.

[Anonymous User]

Not sure if this will be of consolation to the OP.

I was top 1% at a TTT, transferred to CCN. I got 27 interviews through the lottery process at OCI. So far, Ive only received 2CBs in the V50, 1 in V100, and 1 in some obscure secondary market.

I have a stack of about 15 rejection letters at this point

No offers.

[Anonymous User]

Top 2%, LR, 10 years prior professional, TTT . 200+ applications out, 1 screener interview so far. All I need is one!

[DoubleChecks]

yes, brutal market...but i think one point i picked up on in this thread that i agree with is, similarly ranked schools outside of T20 or so really doesnt mean much. depends greatly on the market. UH (Houston) top 10% would be quite safe I'd imagine in the Houston market, with the top firms in TX always snatching a handful each these last few summers.

[Anonymous User]

I attend a T50-100. Yes we have OCI and yes some people received summer associate positions and ultimate offers, and I know each of them. Approximately 10 people received SAs.

Basically it works like this: If you are top 20% you will get some screening interviews, maybe a dozen or so, then you will get a few call backs if you interview well. But ultimately the people that actually received offers were absolute top students, within the top 5%.

That's my own quote from a post I made back in May regarding tier 2 OCI. I attended a similar ranked school as you can see. Top 10% unfortunately seems to be insufficient these days. Nearly every person I know that received an offer via traditional summer associate path was top 5% and law review. This was 2011 OCI.

OP here- thanks, that is helpful. I wish I had read it before deciding not to transfer! I just found out that the kid who was ranked one spot lower than me (still top 10%, but closer than me to 11%) just transferred to CCN. FML.

Top 5% at T1 to CCN. Transferred last year. Received exactly zero offers. As much as what you're going through sucks, the bright side is that you probably aren't paying as much in tuition as you would be if you had transferred to a T14. Also, the profs at my new school typically assign about 40 pages of casebook reading for each individual class. Profs at my old school would assign about 25 (so, I had more free time there).

[Anonymous User]

I go to a school between 40-60. Top 10% + LR. Our OCI is preselects and so far I've been preselected by every firm I wanted except one. We are only about halfway through OCI, but so far I have 1 offer, 1 call back, awaiting response from 7 firms that I already interviewed with, and probably ~5-7 more interviews to go in OCI. I'm feeling pretty confident that I will have multiple offers by the end of OCI, but if not, I am very confident of finding employment outside of OCI (PD office or firms of legal friends in my area). I feel like things are going pretty well for most of my friends, but then again, most of my friends have good grades and the like.

EDIT: Just wanted to clarify that at my school there are way, way more firms signed up for OCI than I wanted to interview with. Don't even wanna knock my school anonymously.

[Anonymous User]

Struggling at my T2 - top 15% and on a secondary journal with strong regional ties. I think I managed to finagle one interview out of mass mailing. 8 interviews from OCI, no CBs so far but no dings either (but I think at least 2 dings are in the mail right now).

Same poster. Received a CB with one of my top choice firms today, thank god!

[Anonymous User]

I feel your pain. Top 6% w/ Secondary (Towards back end of T1) and OCI hasn't been to fun. I have had a fair amount of OCI interviews but no bites just yet. I'm confident I can find work next summer, just little hope for phenomenal pay at this point.

[Anonymous User]

Class of 2010 here, top 10% + LR, TTT. I struck out 2L fall after getting screeners from almost all of the (about 10) biglaw firms doing OCI and two screeners from mailing twenty-five letters to NALP firms in my home (non-law-school) market. I ended up doing at 2L summer internship with a USCOA judge and getting a paid position with the local USAO. During summer the summer, I applied for and accepted a state court clerkship. Pay wasn't great ($50K), but now I've accepted a staff law clerk position for $65K, and I love the job. My colleagues leaving the court aren't getting biglaw, but they're getting midlaw jobs paying in the $80k-$100k range.

I guess what I am trying to say with my own story is this: keep your chin up. It's not "biglaw or bust" (unless you really owe a huge amount of money; then sorry bro). You can do moderately well even if you strike out at OCI. And yes, top 10% + secondary journal + second tier is not automatic biglaw. So don't feel bad if you don't get it. (And even if you do get it, consider if that's what you really want).

FWIW, even people outside the top 10% without LR at my TTT got some federal (non-prestigious) clerkships and decent-paying midlaw firms after getting NO good OCI job.

[dibs]

top 50% at a TT with no journal. it's going about as well as expected. -_-

[Anonymous User]

Class of 2010 here, top 10% + LR, TTT. I struck out 2L fall after getting screeners from almost all of the (about 10) biglaw firms doing OCI and two screeners from mailing twenty-five letters to NALP firms in my home (non-law-school) market. I ended up doing at 2L summer internship with a USCOA judge and getting a paid position with the local USAO. During summer the summer, I applied for and accepted a state court clerkship. Pay wasn't great ($50K), but now I've accepted a staff law clerk position for $65K, and I love the job. My colleagues leaving the court aren't getting biglaw, but they're getting midlaw jobs paying in the $80k-$100k range.

I guess what I am trying to say with my own story is this: keep your chin up. It's not "biglaw or bust" (unless you really owe a huge amount of money; then sorry bro). You can do moderately well even if you strike out at OCI. And yes, top 10% + secondary journal + second tier is not automatic biglaw. So don't feel bad if you don't get it. (And even if you do get it, consider if that's what you really want).

FWIW, even people outside the top 10% without LR at my TTT got some federal (non-prestigious) clerkships and decent-paying midlaw firms after getting NO good OCI job.

OP here. Thanks for sharing your story- it's helpful to know that there really can be life after OCI. I just want to clarify that I'm not actually really that interested in biglaw, per se- I'm mostly interested in smaller/mid range firms in my small market. I bid on the big firms too, of course, but I never thought I realistically had much of a shot with them... anyway, thanks again!

[Anonymous User]

I'm top 10% + secondary journal, at a school near the top of the second tier (ranked 50-60) and OCI ain't looking too good from here. I probably could have transferred up, but stayed to be a big(ish) fish in a small(ish) pond. Now I'm thinking I should have tried to get out of here while the gettin' was good.

Any other top percentilers at not-so-top law schools out there? How's OCI treating you?

im at a similar school. ppl w your stats did ok last year. handful of biglaw, but mostly prestigious local midsize firms ($90K-$125K). but none of it is automatic. the good news is that oci isnt everything, despite what biglaw-obsessed tls makes it seem.

[Heartford]

Interesting. Like everything else associated with legal employment, it looks like there's really no way of telling what's going to happen.

[Anonymous User]

Top 3% with Law Review at a TT.

I've had 12 OCI interviews and 0 callbacks.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Top 3% with Law Review at a TT.

I've had 12 OCI interviews and 0 callbacks.

everything was going fine for you, but then...