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I wouldn't recommend overloading and working a lot of weeks because you'll have oci to deal with at the end of the summer.

Between the writing competition right after finals (at NYU, it starts right after finals, but you have two weeks to work on it and you definitely won't need all that time, so you'll have at least a few days to relax; I think it works similarly at Columbia) and OCI right before school starts (assuming you're interested in working in a large firm), the summer goes by very quickly. I agree that it's kind of exhausting to work the full fourteen weeks without a break at the beginning/end.

You don't really need to focus full-time on OCI until just a few days before it starts, but you need to carve out time throughout the summer to research firms, figure out your bid list, prepare your resume, prepare mass mail materials, work on networking/interviewing, et cetera. OCI prep is not something you really cram for right beforehand since things like researching firms, your bidlist, resume, mass mail, etc. are all very important/time consuming and most are due/should be prepared early- to mid-summer. The few days right beforehand is mostly so you have time to really make sure all your research is set, questions prepared, logistics figured out, etc.

That said, if you are really excited about the non-profit, I would pursue both, especially since the judge seems flexible about your hours/commitments. 1L summer jobs tend to be less hours-intensive and stressful generally, and if you don't particularly think you need a lazy summer, you should go for it. Personally, I very much enjoyed a rather cushy summer after the stress/exhaustion of spring finals and writing competition, but I'm not a terribly driven individual in the first place, so your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll have to ponder over it a bit.

Any other thoughts?

I can't speak to your specific options but I will say that over-loading your summer can be worth it but is still a pain. I went straight from finals to the journal competition to my first job to my second job to OCI to classes with no more than a weekend between any of them. It wasn't as fun as working for eight weeks and chillaxing for a few weeks.

But, I got on law review, I got to work at both a firm and the government, and I killed it at OCI. So I would say it was worth it.

I would avoid working during the journal competition if at all possible. That didn't seem to go well for people. I knew a number who tried it and either gave up or ended up on secondary journals.

I did the math and realized that I could do:

1 week of- Write-on / recovery
6 weeks of judge
4 weeks of non-profit
and then OCI starts.

Or do people work during OCI and do 6/6 or 7/5 or whatever?

Im going to talk to the career people about this, but I just honestly have no idea what the norm is or what is considered reasonable.

Thanks!

ps, Im a high mileage kind of guy and dont mind being a bit overloaded.

No, do not work during OCI. That doesn't even make sense, since OCI is basically interviews all day, every day for 4-5 days.

Working during the journal competition is probably okay depending on the school. Some schools' LR is mostly about grades anyway, so if you don't have the grades to make it on to the main law review you're better served spending 2-3 solid days working on the competition to get your best pick of secondary journals and then just being done with it. My CCN had a two week competition that could have been finished in a weekend easily if you spent a full 8-10 hours/ day on it.

See if you can work at the non-profit part-time. Ideal IMO would be working with the judge 4 days a week for 10 weeks, one day a week at the non-profit (or 3 days / 2 days) and be willing to work at home over weekends. Or if they'd be interested in having you as a term-time intern during your 2L year.

MapsMapsMaps wrote:I did the math and realized that I could do:

1 week of- Write-on / recovery
6 weeks of judge
4 weeks of non-profit
and then OCI starts.

Or do people work during OCI and do 6/6 or 7/5 or whatever?

Im going to talk to the career people about this, but I just honestly have no idea what the norm is or what is considered reasonable.

Thanks!

ps, Im a high mileage kind of guy and dont mind being a bit overloaded.

This is fine. Don't work once OCI starts.

So i decided to give it a whirl. What's the best thing to do? Mention that I'd be splitting in the cover letter or to not mention it at all until the interview or if/after I receive an offer?

MapsMapsMaps wrote:So i decided to give it a whirl. What's the best thing to do? Mention that I'd be splitting in the cover letter or to not mention it at all until the interview or if/after I receive an offer?

I wouldn't mention until you have an offer unless they directly ask.

Interesting. I hesitate because I feel like that's a bit rude since I knew that I'd be splitting the entire time and didnt mention anything. Anyone care to second this opinion?