Thread for Questions about Callbacks & Poor Grades

[Anonymous User]

Hey,

I'm HYS, prob bottom 10% and have 5 cbs from OCI (V50-V100 firms). What is the strategy for addressing grades in cbs? Can I assume that I just need to impress on my personality or that it's still a hard road to hoe/long shot to get anything?

Am I getting a job here? Do I bring them up?

EDIT: anyone who has poor grades and still is in the OCI game, feel free to add insight.

[Anonymous User]

Common knowledge suggests that if your grades were going to be a deal-breaker, you wouldn't have received a CB in the first place. Keep on doing what you're doing -- charm your interviewers, be knowledgeable about the firm, confident in your plans for the future, etc. -- and you will likely be fine.

[Anonymous User]

Definitely don't bring up your grades unless the other person specifically asks about it. Of course have some kind of answer prepared, but most likely at this stage they already saw your grades and are still willing to offer you.

[Anonymous User]

Hey,

I'm HYS, prob bottom 10% and have 5 cbs from OCI (V50-V100 firms). What is the strategy for addressing grades in cbs? Can I assume that I just need to impress on my personality or that it's still a hard road to hoe/long shot to get anything?

Am I getting a job here? Do I bring them up?

EDIT: anyone who has poor grades and still is in the OCI game, feel free to add insight.

Situation slightly different, probably 40th percentile at CCN with callbacks at one of "Big TX 3" and Dallas/Houston office of a V20 firm. I am concerned that grades are still a barrier to a callback and I am also unsure what are the typical grounds for a no offer at this stage. Any insight appreciated.

[bjsesq]

Hey,

I'm HYS, prob bottom 10% and have 5 cbs from OCI (V50-V100 firms). What is the strategy for addressing grades in cbs? Can I assume that I just need to impress on my personality or that it's still a hard road to hoe/long shot to get anything?

Am I getting a job here? Do I bring them up?

EDIT: anyone who has poor grades and still is in the OCI game, feel free to add insight.

Situation slightly different, probably 40th percentile at CCN with callbacks at one of "Big TX 3" and Dallas/Houston office of a V20 firm. I am concerned that grades are still a barrier to a callback and I am also unsure what are the typical grounds for a no offer at this stage. Any insight appreciated.

They called you back. According to career services at NU, GPA may be used as a final balancing factor when you have two very close candidates. You can't do anything about it now. Just be the person you were in the screener because it's clear that person was worth spending additional billable hours to bring into a callback. You are costing the firm money through this callback. They consider you worth it.

[Anonymous User]

Good luck, "Texas" anon.

Are we the only people with poor grades and callbacks? LOL

[Anonymous User]

Good luck, "Texas" anon.

Are we the only people with poor grades and callbacks? LOL

for what it's worth I am 40% at CLS and did cbs at three v15 firms already and got offers from two of them. the grades never came up, although the partners who interviewed me all had it in front of them. i think the fact you even have a cb means your personality made up for your grades at the initial round, so just keep doing what you're doing and don't mention the grades. it might be a tiebreaker if you and another interviewer are identical and he has better grades, but other than that I don't think it's a big deal.

[Anonymous User]

Hey,

I'm HYS, prob bottom 10% and have 5 cbs from OCI (V50-V100 firms). What is the strategy for addressing grades in cbs? Can I assume that I just need to impress on my personality or that it's still a hard road to hoe/long shot to get anything?

Am I getting a job here? Do I bring them up?

EDIT: anyone who has poor grades and still is in the OCI game, feel free to add insight.

Worth mentioning that "HYS" doesn't mean that much in the OCI context. If you are "probably" bottom 10% at YLS, then you would have a LP (presumably), which would probably require some sort of explanation. But no employer will think of you as 'bottom 10%' there because the grading system is borderline nonsensical. Different for HLS, where employers can get a better understanding of where you stand through the grades you earn. Not sure on SLS, but it seems to be somewhere in the middle.

[Anonymous User]

Good luck, "Texas" anon.

Are we the only people with poor grades and callbacks? LOL

Hardly! CCNer here, probably around the bottom 30% mark. Two CBs, a handful of rejections, still silence from a number of places -- some of them are probably just slow in getting out dings, and others are places where I really hit it off with the screener and am hoping that I'm in a reserve pile of sorts.

At any rate, I'm certainly nervous about having lower grades, but if they called you back it means they liked you enough to do so in spite of your transcript. We've all obviously got charm/impressive resumes/whatever it was that made the screeners like us. Capitalize on your strengths, just like you did during OCI. I think we'll come through this alright.

[Anonymous User]

I'm H, bottom 30% probably, with a bunch of V20 cbs coming up. It seems like grades don't matter so much if you have something that can overcome them, so I'm not too worried about that factor going into cbs. (I'm also aware of similar grades with V10 cbs.) Of course I think that as a balancing factor, it'll probably edge me out if their choosing between me and a similar candidate with better grades.

[Anonymous User]

Op here. This all makes sense. I'm crossing fingers that I can convert my first (and favored) callback into a job.

then cancel the rest and move on!