Chance at OCI as rising 3L at UCLA? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey there,

I want to try my hand one more time at OCI this year (I largely struck out last time). But whereas I had a 3.28 at last year's OCI, I'm almost certain I'll have a 3.5 this time (I got a 4.1 last semester, and I'm virtually guaranteed, based on the classes I'm taking to get good grades this semster). I realize there are less opportunities for 2Ls/rising 3Ls. But what do you think my chances are? Anything I should aim for?

[09042014]

80 3L offers went out nationwide last year. That's counting people who had big law and traded up.

[Anonymous User]

80 3L offers went out nationwide last year. That's counting people who had big law and traded up.

Is this a joke? so it's 1l and 2l OCI or else you're screwed??

edit- Not OP.

[de5igual]

if a 3.5 places you pretty high in the class, you can always go for clerkships and take another bite at the apple after that

[Anonymous User]

80 3L offers went out nationwide last year. That's counting people who had big law and traded up.

Is this a joke? so it's 1l and 2l OCI or else you're screwed??

edit- Not OP.

Pretty much. Yep.

[rad lulz]

Is this a joke? so it's 1l and 2l OCI or else you're screwed??

edit- Not OP.

If you wanted a big firm job and don't have the grades for a clerkship, pretty much.

[deebs]

I knew a guy who was top 15% going into 3L year at UCLA this year. Considering he's still looking for a job, I'm going to go with zero. Sorry

[Anonymous User]

Hello fellow UCLA'er. Congrats on the good semester.

People I know at 3L OCI who got interviews ---> jobs either had GPAs in the 3.7-3.9 ranges and/or were trading up. I know Orrick, Latham, and SullCrom hired 3sL here. I'm sure there are some more I'm missing. For Latham is helps if you can target a non-LA office, say OC or San Diego or New York.

I know one guy who got a firm job view a resume book ... he had roughly a 3.8.

You've still got a chance, but it's far from a lock. And statistically, the odds are against you. I had a 3.5 roughly and didn't get any resume book bites. I did get a CB with a firm from 3L OCI, though.

You might consider Labor and Employment if you can burnish that part of your resume. Littler was hiring 3Ls for LA and SF this year, plus another OC l&e shop came by. That practice area seems to be in demand for 3Ls. That area is exclusively where my 3L job leads have come.

[dysonfree]

Your chance is near zero. That is reality, sad but true.

[Anonymous User]

Hello fellow UCLA'er. Congrats on the good semester.

People I know at 3L OCI who got interviews ---> jobs either had GPAs in the 3.7-3.9 ranges and/or were trading up. I know Orrick, Latham, and SullCrom hired 3sL here. I'm sure there are some more I'm missing. For Latham is helps if you can target a non-LA office, say OC or San Diego or New York.

I know one guy who got a firm job view a resume book ... he had roughly a 3.8.

You've still got a chance, but it's far from a lock. And statistically, the odds are against you. I had a 3.5 roughly and didn't get any resume book bites. I did get a CB with a firm from 3L OCI, though.

You might consider Labor and Employment if you can burnish that part of your resume. Littler was hiring 3Ls for LA and SF this year, plus another OC l&e shop came by. That practice area seems to be in demand for 3Ls. That area is exclusively where my 3L job leads have come.

Do you know what median and top 25% are at UCLA? I'm here too and it boggles my mind that they don't tell us anything.

[Dman]

Hello fellow UCLA'er. Congrats on the good semester.

People I know at 3L OCI who got interviews ---> jobs either had GPAs in the 3.7-3.9 ranges and/or were trading up. I know Orrick, Latham, and SullCrom hired 3sL here. I'm sure there are some more I'm missing. For Latham is helps if you can target a non-LA office, say OC or San Diego or New York.

I know one guy who got a firm job view a resume book ... he had roughly a 3.8.

You've still got a chance, but it's far from a lock. And statistically, the odds are against you. I had a 3.5 roughly and didn't get any resume book bites. I did get a CB with a firm from 3L OCI, though.

You might consider Labor and Employment if you can burnish that part of your resume. Littler was hiring 3Ls for LA and SF this year, plus another OC l&e shop came by. That practice area seems to be in demand for 3Ls. That area is exclusively where my 3L job leads have come.

Do you know what median and top 25% are at UCLA? I'm here too and it boggles my mind that they don't tell us anything.

My understanding is median is around 3.2-3.3 and top 25% is 3.5-3.6, top 10% fall around 3.7-3.75, Or course there are no specifics because nothing is formally released.

[somewhatwayward]

^
Medians often go up A LOT 2L and 3L year because not every class is on a strict curve anymore. Some schools even have an easier curve for 2L and 3L. CLS does. Thus, a 3.5 may be a lot closer to median than you think. For example, someone posted the medians of 1L, 2L, and 3L at UMN, and by 3L year the median was 3.48. I don't remember 2L year but 1L year was like 3.28, so you can see the inflation.

Plus everyone is right about the dearth of 3L offers. All of the people I knew who got 3L offers were people trading firms for whatever reason. I don't know a single person who didn't have an offer and got one....and I know a decent portion of the people who received the 80 offers (note that it is 80 offers not 80 people - typically if Cravath wants you, Skadden does too, so I bet it is way less than 80 people who got offers). One of my friends who summered at a V5 but wanted to change firms bc of location told me that he contacted places in the region he wanted to work in and most of them basically said to him that we're not really hiring 3Ls but we are willing to take a look a you because of your background (V5, high grades at CLS, etc). The point of that is to say that some of those 80 offers are also to people who got them outside the traditional system and that probably are not accessible if you did not summer somewhere else.

I am not trying to be a downer, but you should definitely figure out another strategy in addition to 3L OCI. The one glimmer of hope I could imagine is that the economy is sort of improving so I suppose it is possible that firms will need more bodies especially since firms hired less of c/o 2014 than c/o 2013. I really can't imagine the number dropping below 80 because that is just so damn low....80 offers across the whole country is less than two per state (of course it is not spread out like that but my point is how low one's chances are).

TL; DR: go in there and sell the hell out of yourself but make backup plans.

[Anonymous User]

Hello fellow UCLA'er. Congrats on the good semester.

People I know at 3L OCI who got interviews ---> jobs either had GPAs in the 3.7-3.9 ranges and/or were trading up. I know Orrick, Latham, and SullCrom hired 3sL here. I'm sure there are some more I'm missing. For Latham is helps if you can target a non-LA office, say OC or San Diego or New York.

I know one guy who got a firm job view a resume book ... he had roughly a 3.8.

You've still got a chance, but it's far from a lock. And statistically, the odds are against you. I had a 3.5 roughly and didn't get any resume book bites. I did get a CB with a firm from 3L OCI, though.

You might consider Labor and Employment if you can burnish that part of your resume. Littler was hiring 3Ls for LA and SF this year, plus another OC l&e shop came by. That practice area seems to be in demand for 3Ls. That area is exclusively where my 3L job leads have come.

Do you know what median and top 25% are at UCLA? I'm here too and it boggles my mind that they don't tell us anything.

My understanding is median is around 3.2-3.3 and top 25% is 3.5-3.6, top 10% fall around 3.7-3.75, Or course there are no specifics because nothing is formally released.

[same poster as Apr 19th @ 12:54pm]

This is my understanding of the curve as well, from talking with people who get class ranks for clerkship applications.

[Anonymous User]

Hello fellow UCLA'er. Congrats on the good semester.

People I know at 3L OCI who got interviews ---> jobs either had GPAs in the 3.7-3.9 ranges and/or were trading up. I know Orrick, Latham, and SullCrom hired 3sL here. I'm sure there are some more I'm missing. For Latham is helps if you can target a non-LA office, say OC or San Diego or New York.

I know one guy who got a firm job view a resume book ... he had roughly a 3.8.

You've still got a chance, but it's far from a lock. And statistically, the odds are against you. I had a 3.5 roughly and didn't get any resume book bites. I did get a CB with a firm from 3L OCI, though.

You might consider Labor and Employment if you can burnish that part of your resume. Littler was hiring 3Ls for LA and SF this year, plus another OC l&e shop came by. That practice area seems to be in demand for 3Ls. That area is exclusively where my 3L job leads have come.

Do you know what median and top 25% are at UCLA? I'm here too and it boggles my mind that they don't tell us anything.

My understanding is median is around 3.2-3.3 and top 25% is 3.5-3.6, top 10% fall around 3.7-3.75, Or course there are no specifics because nothing is formally released.

[same poster as Apr 19th @ 12:54pm]

This is my understanding of the curve as well, from talking with people who get class ranks for clerkship applications.

Do you know of any specific GPAs and where they fall? If you dont mind. I'm puzzled because my GPA is around high 3.4ish, and I know it's not top 25% forsure.

[shotsfired12]

They play baseball in puerto rico.

[Dman]

Is success rate higher if you want to work in Asia/HK/Singapore and are mandarin fluent?

Unfortunately, of the firms visiting at 3L oci (or at least during my 3L year) only 1 was looking for an associate in Asia. That being said, I did very well at 3L OCI as a mandarin fluent non-Asian. Mandarin skills helped me net 4 CBs with less than amazing GPA of 3.4 (at the time). So based on my experience, I would think, yes, you would fare better due to language skills but not so much due to region preference.

[shotsfired12]

They play baseball in puerto rico.

[Anonymous User]

Where is this 80 offer figure coming from?

I got a 3L big law offer without a prior big law SA position. I doubt I'm included in your statistic.

[de5igual]

Where is this 80 offer figure coming from?

I got a 3L big law offer without a prior big law SA position. I doubt I'm included in your statistic.

http://www.nalp.org/uploads/Perspective ... uiting.pdf

[Pokemon]

You probably are not. The statistic is just people who got it via 3L OCI. Some people get via mass-mailing/simplicity and those people are not included in the statistic. At least that is my impression, since how can they be included if such people can be hired after the statistic is published?

[Golden Bear 11]

How did you improve your grades so much? easy classes or changed studying?