2012 UVA OGI Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

For callbacks to NY, can you negotiate with firms to take the train instead of a flight? I've had extremely poor experiences with the Charlottesville airport, with flights getting delayed or cancelled at the last minute, and I was thinking of taking the Amtrak up a day early and staying with friends/family in the city.

- Don Draper

Probably - but cville -> NYC is surprisingly unshitty because it's a direct flight. Amtrak, on the other hand, will at least stop and potentially require a transfer in DC. And while a canceled train is probably less likely than a canceled flight, delays are on the rail are quite common.

Does anyone drive to NYC, or does scheduling make that entirely unrealistic?

[pertristis]

For callbacks to NY, can you negotiate with firms to take the train instead of a flight? I've had extremely poor experiences with the Charlottesville airport, with flights getting delayed or cancelled at the last minute, and I was thinking of taking the Amtrak up a day early and staying with friends/family in the city.

- Don Draper

Probably - but cville -> NYC is surprisingly unshitty because it's a direct flight. Amtrak, on the other hand, will at least stop and potentially require a transfer in DC. And while a canceled train is probably less likely than a canceled flight, delays are on the rail are quite common.

Additionally, unlike when US Airways was operating the direct flight on a turboprop, Delta is running the route on a jet. Be aware, though, that there's a single daily flight to and from NY. The CHO-LGA flight has only been cancelled once, but the LGA-CHO return is regularly cancelled. See: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CHQ6028/history. If that happens, you're either going to have to make a connection in Atlanta, or you're going to be spending an extra night in New York (and you still might have to make the connection in ATL — see the cancellations on concurrent days).

Amtrak has two direct trains from Penn Station to C'Ville: one at 1235, and one at 1415. You might find out too late that your flight is cancelled to be able to switch to Amtrak. Or, you could do what I did for a NY CB: I flew out of DC. When all the NY-DC flights were cancelled, I called the travel agent, and I was booked on Amtrak (Acela!) within a few minutes.

[Anonymous User]

When writing special request, do we still need to address somebody like in a cover letter, or just write the body itself?

[Anonymous User]

For callbacks to NY, can you negotiate with firms to take the train instead of a flight? I've had extremely poor experiences with the Charlottesville airport, with flights getting delayed or cancelled at the last minute, and I was thinking of taking the Amtrak up a day early and staying with friends/family in the city.

- Don Draper

Probably - but cville -> NYC is surprisingly unshitty because it's a direct flight. Amtrak, on the other hand, will at least stop and potentially require a transfer in DC. And while a canceled train is probably less likely than a canceled flight, delays are on the rail are quite common.

Additionally, unlike when US Airways was operating the direct flight on a turboprop, Delta is running the route on a jet. Be aware, though, that there's a single daily flight to and from NY. The CHO-LGA flight has only been cancelled once, but the LGA-CHO return is regularly cancelled. See: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CHQ6028/history. If that happens, you're either going to have to make a connection in Atlanta, or you're going to be spending an extra night in New York (and you still might have to make the connection in ATL — see the cancellations on concurrent days).

Amtrak has two direct trains from Penn Station to C'Ville: one at 1235, and one at 1415. You might find out too late that your flight is cancelled to be able to switch to Amtrak. Or, you could do what I did for a NY CB: I flew out of DC. When all the NY-DC flights were cancelled, I called the travel agent, and I was booked on Amtrak (Acela!) within a few minutes.

Thanks, I might just take a flight to NYC after all. Too bad there aren't any direct trains from Penn to Cville in the afternoon or in the evening.

[StanleyF]

Fly out of Richmond. It's only an hour away, you have many more ways to get home if a flight is cancelled, and firms will reimburse you for mileage and parking.

[Anonymous User]

Spoiler alert: If you're doing a screening interview with Sullivan & Cromwell, a letter is being pointlessly fed-exed to you soon. In case you use a mailing address that's not your cville address, here is roughly what it will say:

Dear [name],

We are delighted that you are interested in Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. [lawyer names] look forward to meeting you when we conduct on ground interviews on [date].

In our experience, a good deal of the anxiety experienced by law students at the beginning of the interview process is the result of uncertainty. Among other things, you're probably wondering "what can I expect in the interview" and "what do law firms expect from me?" This letter attempts to resolve some of that uncertainty for you by explaining a few details about our process.

We will conduct 30-minute long screening interviews rather than the 20-minute schedule that we understand is more typical. We like to take the extra time to get to know you better and to get a better understanding of your interest in our practice. For the interview, we will be dressed in "business casual" attire, and we invite you to do the same, although we understand that you may have other interviews the same day that require more formal attire. Please wear whatever makes you most comfortable and works best for your schedule.

We will be making call-back decisions immediately after the day's interviews are completed, and we will host a dinner at [time] for all students who receive a callback invitation. We will let you know if you have received an invitation by email as soon as possible after our end of day meetings have concluded. Accordingly, please do not leave your interview without confirming that we have your correct email address and please plan to check your messages between [times].

Attendance at the dinner is not mandatory, but we strongly encourage you to join us if you are invited. Among other things, we will explain what to expect when you visit the Firm for your callback interview. We are also inviting the UVA law students who participated in our 2012 summer program, and hope that you will have an opportunity to speak with some of them.

We look forward to meeting you,

[partner]

Kudos to S&C for making OGI even more like reality TV than it already was.

[Anonymous User]

Following up on my earlier questions re: timing -- being that NYC firms get back relatively quickly on callbacks, what are the theoretical (or actual-past) earliest times you could have an offer? Mid/Late-September?

[thesealocust]

Some people at UVA already have offers from big NYC firms.

Even for those whose first interviews come during OGI, it's not impossible to have an offer before OGI is over.

Those are certainly the extremes though. More likely is late August and early September for the first crop of offers.

Fast means fast!

[Anonymous User]

Following up on my earlier questions re: timing -- being that NYC firms get back relatively quickly on callbacks, what are the theoretical (or actual-past) earliest times you could have an offer? Mid/Late-September?

It's possible to have an offer any time after you do your first callback. Firms vary wildly in how quickly they make offer decisions--S&C usually gives offers immediately following the callback, and at the other extreme, some major-market V100 firms don't make decisions until October (!!!)--but generally it seems that offers are given out within a week or two of doing a callback, and it's certainly not uncommon for firms to give offers just a day or two after the callback. I'd recommend scheduling callbacks as early as possible (without cancelling screeners, of course) for this reason; once you get an offer this whole process becomes a lot less stressful, so you want that first offer as early as possible.

[Anonymous User]

Following up on my earlier questions re: timing -- being that NYC firms get back relatively quickly on callbacks, what are the theoretical (or actual-past) earliest times you could have an offer? Mid/Late-September?

It's possible to have an offer any time after you do your first callback. Firms vary wildly in how quickly they make offer decisions--S&C usually gives offers immediately following the callback, and at the other extreme, some major-market V100 firms don't make decisions until October (!!!)--but generally it seems that offers are given out within a week or two of doing a callback, and it's certainly not uncommon for firms to give offers just a day or two after the callback. I'd recommend scheduling callbacks as early as possible (without cancelling screeners, of course) for this reason; once you get an offer this whole process becomes a lot less stressful, so you want that first offer as early as possible.

This all seems right to me. My offers ranged from 18 hours after the CB at the quickest to about 4 days at the slowest -- I withdrew from a few after waiting for about 2 weeks, so I think my experience in getting offers was somewhat on the faster side. My rejections took about two weeks for me to get the snail mail letter.

[Anonymous User]

Had an interview with a secondary market firm today, they gave me an offer on the spot. Have another interview with their competitor tomorrow.

[Anonymous User]

Had an interview with a secondary market firm today, they gave me an offer on the spot. Have another interview with their competitor tomorrow.

Wow that's awesome, congrats!!! =) Mind sharing which region (Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, etc.)?

[Anonymous User]

Had an interview with a secondary market firm today, they gave me an offer on the spot. Have another interview with their competitor tomorrow.

Wow that's awesome, congrats!!! =) Mind sharing which region (Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, etc.)?

Thanks. Really excited. Midwest.

[Anonymous User]

mind sharing state?

[Anonymous User]

mind sharing state?

Ohio. Rather not say anymore. Also, had another interview today and the firm said they would get back to me in one week. Hopefully this gives some insight into turn-around offer time.

[Anonymous User]

wtf is up w/some of these firms requiring you to essentially reapply for SAs thru their websites, even tho you already applied for them once thru symplicity? why did i stress out finishing my cover letter for the symplicity deadline if you were just going to ask me to resubmit it six weeks later?

[socraticmethodman]

mind sharing state?

Ohio. Rather not say anymore. Also, had another interview today and the firm said they would get back to me in one week. Hopefully this gives some insight into turn-around offer time.

--

[Anonymous User]

so- when is everyones last interview? 3L not participating on OGI this year, but I am meeting a partner after interviews that liked me last year to catch up. Except, I don't know when all the interviews end

Insight appreciated peeps.

[Anonymous User]

Above anon: My last interview is Friday the 24th.

Question about callbacks: I know you need to schedule them as soon as possible but what's the general wisdom about scheduling them the day before a screener interview? The way my schedule worked out, I have a few empty days in between screeners but I was wondering if that might be too risky in case Charlottesville has a thunderstorm and needs to shut the airport down.

[5ky]

Above anon: My last interview is Friday the 24th.

Question about callbacks: I know you need to schedule them as soon as possible but what's the general wisdom about scheduling them the day before a screener interview? The way my schedule worked out, I have a few empty days in between screeners but I was wondering if that might be too risky in case Charlottesville has a thunderstorm and needs to shut the airport down.

I think that would be fine. I tried to do a similar thing, but couldn't get in that early when I tried to schedule my first round of CBs.

[Anonymous User]

Above anon: My last interview is Friday the 24th.

Question about callbacks: I know you need to schedule them as soon as possible but what's the general wisdom about scheduling them the day before a screener interview? The way my schedule worked out, I have a few empty days in between screeners but I was wondering if that might be too risky in case Charlottesville has a thunderstorm and needs to shut the airport down.

I think that would be fine. I tried to do a similar thing, but couldn't get in that early when I tried to schedule my first round of CBs.

Gotcha. I know different markets do different things, but do most callbacks occur the week after OGI ends (the week classes start) going into the first weeks of September?

[5ky]

Above anon: My last interview is Friday the 24th.

Question about callbacks: I know you need to schedule them as soon as possible but what's the general wisdom about scheduling them the day before a screener interview? The way my schedule worked out, I have a few empty days in between screeners but I was wondering if that might be too risky in case Charlottesville has a thunderstorm and needs to shut the airport down.

I think that would be fine. I tried to do a similar thing, but couldn't get in that early when I tried to schedule my first round of CBs.

Gotcha. I know different markets do different things, but do most callbacks occur the week after OGI ends (the week classes start) going into the first weeks of September?

Greatly depends on firm. I didn't have an overwhelming number of CBs (8-9), but I had CBs scheduled the last week of August, the first week of Sept, the second week of Sept, the third week of Sept, and the fourth week of Sept. I scheduled them all for as early as I could, but for whatever reason, I was not able to schedule them all immediately.

[Anonymous User]

Do lots of firms ask for a writing sample if they didn't ask for one on Symplicity? Wondering how many I should print. Also don't have a locker, and don't want to stuff my padfolio on my busy days.

[5ky]

Do lots of firms ask for a writing sample if they didn't ask for one on Symplicity? Wondering how many I should print. Also don't have a locker, and don't want to stuff my padfolio on my busy days.

I'm not sure I was ever asked for a writing sample in the interview; maybe once. But it's good to have just to be careful -- print a bunch out and just stick them in your mailbox, that way they'll be in reach if you need to grab one quickly.

[thesealocust]

Do lots of firms ask for a writing sample if they didn't ask for one on Symplicity? Wondering how many I should print. Also don't have a locker, and don't want to stuff my padfolio on my busy days.

Nope. I was never asked for one at any stage of the process (interviewed with primarily NYC and DC firms).