Compiled 2011 OCI Results Forum

[NYC Law]

Here are all the results from last year's OCI as posted by TLS users. Some data has been simplified for coding purposes. If you want to see the data as reported: The Original Thread

A total of 215 users reported their OCI results.
The Raw Data

All data below is sorted primarily by # of Offers.
By Region
New York
Boston
Washington, D.C.
Chicago/Midwest
Texas
West Coast

By School Rank
Top Schools are broken down further because there is much more data for them
HYS
CCN
MVPB
Lower T14
T30-15
All Others

By Class Rank
Top 10%
Top 25%-10%
Above Median
At or Below Median
Transfer Student

By Applicant Attributes
Was on Law Review (Secondary Journals Excluded)
Has Work Experience
IP Background
Diverse (URM, LGBT, Asian)


* Any attempt to analyze the data or put it into graphs would be tricky, since there isn't really a good metric to use. # of CBs or Offers are misleading since MANY students cancelled many of their CBs or pending applications once they received an offer from a desired firm. Which is why this is just data for you to look over and reach your own conclusions.

[5ky]

This is very good, and you should bump it come next summer for those going through the ringer next year.

[005618502]

Here are all the results from last year's OCI as posted by TLS users. Some data has been simplified for coding purposes. If you want to see the data as reported: The Original Thread

A total of 215 users reported their OCI results.
The Raw Data

All data below is sorted primarily by # of Offers.
By Region
New York
Boston
Washington, D.C.
Chicago/Midwest
Texas
West Coast

By School Rank
Top Schools are broken down further because there is much more data for them
HYS
CCN
MVPB
Lower T14
T30-15
All Others

By Class Rank
Top 10%
Top 25%-10%
Above Median
At or Below Median
Transfer Student

By Applicant Attributes
Was on Law Review (Secondary Journals Excluded)
Has Work Experience
IP Background
Diverse (URM, LGBT, Asian)


* Any attempt to analyze the data or put it into graphs would be tricky, since there isn't really a good metric to use. # of CBs or Offers are misleading since MANY students cancelled many of their CBs or pending applications once they received an offer from a desired firm. Which is why this is just data for you to look over and reach your own conclusions.

Dude this is all pretty interesting. Looks like WE really does help many people.

[Anonymous User]

Great work. I figured out mine (weird market mixture) and realized I didn't update/include some of my later offers from higher Vault firms. #prestigewhore

[CGI Fridays]

thank you

[abacus]

Wow this is very helpful and interesting. Thanks.

Although, I'm surprised that there were so few data points for HLS people...

[Guchster]

will tag NYC Law's beautiful/incredible work.TYNG.

[rad lulz]

.

[NYC Law]

Did you make UT/UCLA/Vandy/USC a grouping or something?

Yeah, they're all going to be under T18

[rad lulz]

.

[johansantana21]

This is pretty amazing. Serious props.

[tmon]

Tagging. Thanks.

[mikunta]

Is it just me or do mass mails appear to be completely worthless?

[rad lulz]

.

[5ky]

Is it just me or do mass mails appear to be completely worthless?

Mass-mailing has a low expected value, but unless you're absolutely secure, there's no real reason not to do it. It's mostly beneficial to mass mail firms from an area for which you have excellent ties -- mass-mailing firms in markets to which you have no ties, just because they didn't come to your OCI, has a very low probability rate.

[Anonymous User]

Is it just me or do mass mails appear to be completely worthless?

I got a four V50 CBs and one V20 offer out of pre-OCI mass mailing. I ended up getting an offer from my #1 firm (a V5) out of OCI, so yeah, maybe in the end it was worthless; but that V20 offer bought a lot of peace of mind for a while.

[Anonymous User]

Mass-mailing firms in markets to which you have no ties, just because they didn't come to your OCI, has a very low probability rate.

True, but with the exception of NYC (I'm the poster above who had a mass-mail V20 offer).

Also completely agree with the "what have you got to lose" viewpoint

[Anonymous User]

Is it just me or do mass mails appear to be completely worthless?

I got all my (market-paying) offers out of massmailing. But I had to mail hundreds of firms to get that.

At firms in markets where I had no ties. Gotta learn to bullshit.

[5ky]

Mass-mailing firms in markets to which you have no ties, just because they didn't come to your OCI, has a very low probability rate.

True, but with the exception of NYC (I'm the poster above who had a mass-mail V20 offer).

Also completely agree with the "what have you got to lose" viewpoint

NYC is still a very low probability rate, your anecdotal experiences aside.

[Anonymous User]

Mass-mailing firms in markets to which you have no ties, just because they didn't come to your OCI, has a very low probability rate.

True, but with the exception of NYC (I'm the poster above who had a mass-mail V20 offer).

Also completely agree with the "what have you got to lose" viewpoint

NYC is still a very low probability rate, your anecdotal experiences aside.

The probability rate may be low, but not really when compared to the insanely low probably rate of getting good news back from a smaller market with which you have no ties. I know maybe half a dozen people at my school who mass mailed. I want to say that when mass-mailing NYC firms, they all had at least a 10 to 20 percent success rate (success = at least getting called in for a screener). I don't consider that very low, but maybe you do. And they all had decent grades from a T10 school, so we might be looking at the very high end of the spectrum. No big deal either way.

[koalatriste]

Mass-mailing firms in markets to which you have no ties, just because they didn't come to your OCI, has a very low probability rate.

True, but with the exception of NYC (I'm the poster above who had a mass-mail V20 offer).

Also completely agree with the "what have you got to lose" viewpoint

NYC is still a very low probability rate, your anecdotal experiences aside.

The probability rate may be low, but not really when compared to the insanely low probably rate of getting good news back from a smaller market with which you have no ties. I know maybe half a dozen people at my school who mass mailed. I want to say that when mass-mailing NYC firms, they all had at least a 10 to 20 percent success rate (success = at least getting called in for a screener). I don't consider that very low, but maybe you do. And they all had decent grades from a T10 school, so we might be looking at the very high end of the spectrum. No big deal either way.

ITE every interview helps. 200 mass mails for 1 screener is worth it IMO. if you don't feel like mass mailing, don't do it.

[5ky]

The probability rate may be low, but not really when compared to the insanely low probably rate of getting good news back from a smaller market with which you have no ties. I know maybe half a dozen people at my school who mass mailed. I want to say that when mass-mailing NYC firms, they all had at least a 10 to 20 percent success rate (success = at least getting called in for a screener). I don't consider that very low, but maybe you do. And they all had decent grades from a T10 school, so we might be looking at the very high end of the spectrum. No big deal either way.

No, you're right, that is pretty high. But you're also right that T10 + decent grades is about as good as it's going to get -- there won't be much need for many students above a T10 to mass-mail NYC, as most of those schools have almost all of them, so a T10 + decent grades is going to be the absolute cream of the crop for a NYC firm looking at mass-mailed applications. I suspect the drop-off after that is pretty severe.

I also agree that 200 applications for 1 screener is worth it, however. If you're top 25% at a T14, I think doing more targeted mass-mailing is a good idea if you want to be safe, but the pure shotgun approach might not be worth it. But for everyone else, yeah.

[philosoraptor]

But it can be very helpful if done early (before or during OCI), especially in markets you have ties to, where the firms don't really come to your OCI. As an example, you go to Vandy/Texas and are from FL, so you mail FL firms. Those firms don't show up at OCI, because it's expensive and there are so few FL people at these schools, but they like students from these schools, so you get called back.

It's particularly effective especially when you can say you're gonna be in town at a certain time and would like to meet.

Yeah, I had multiple offers originate this way -- didn't need to mass-mail 200 firms, just the seven or eight biggest ones in the target market. Several called me back, and one set up a screener at UT's OCI, even though they were interviewing for the Texas offices, not the one I was looking for.

As long as you have a serious, specific interest in a market for which your school's not a feeder, make your connections clear in the first paragraph of your cover letter. Send them several weeks before OCI so you're on the firms' radar at the right time. And if you're going to be in that area at all during the fall, say so.

[mikunta]

Agree with the responses, my comment was mostly prompted by the huge list of zeros in the mass mail CB column. I would've expected the percentage to be low, like 1 CB per (let's say) 50/100 mass mails. But it was pretty much zero across the board, even for t10/t14ers with good grades. Some guy really sent 2000 and got nothing? I guess they were probably not tailored at all but still, dudes at median at T14 you figure 2000 letters gotta get at least one bite.

I completely agree with the targeted non-OCI home-market comments, the guy from T18 with ties to nashville/birmingham etc was 9 for 55 which is great. I guess I was just surprised to see how low the success rate actually seems to be across the board.

[LawIdiot86]

Agree with the responses, my comment was mostly prompted by the huge list of zeros in the mass mail CB column. I would've expected the percentage to be low, like 1 CB per (let's say) 50/100 mass mails. But it was pretty much zero across the board, even for t10/t14ers with good grades. Some guy really sent 2000 and got nothing? I guess they were probably not tailored at all but still, dudes at median at T14 you figure 2000 letters gotta get at least one bite.

I completely agree with the targeted non-OCI home-market comments, the guy from T18 with ties to nashville/birmingham etc was 9 for 55 which is great. I guess I was just surprised to see how low the success rate actually seems to be across the board.

I was that guy. I didn't get no bites, just very very few. Out of about 1,700 actual cold mailings (as opposed to resume drops), I got 11 screeners; 4 V100, 1 NLJ 250, rest unranked; 3 of those 11 also included being able to name-drop partners at the firms in the cover letter. Those 11 led to 4 callbacks (1 from a name drop), but all ended in rejections (one firm annoyingly rescinded a callback when they over-yielded, one canceled their entire program, and one lost my file and made me re-interview at OCI). Got my eventual job through a school resume drop.