Duke Law OCI 2015 (C/O 2017) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Felt it was time to get one of these started.

Last year's thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... t=duke+oci

Utilizing same ground rules from last year's thread as they seemed to work well.

"Welcome to Duke OCI 2015! Let's help each other throughout the process and go get ourselves a job. This is the thread to talk about grades, bid list, callbacks, interviews and so on. Some ground rules rules:

Please Use Anonymous Handles

We all want to maintain some privacy during this process. That said, it is also nice to keep track of who is saying what. I’m going to recommend that everyone pick a handle to sign their anonymous posts with (you obviously don’t have to) so that we can keep track of one another.

Bidding

The basics of bidlist stuff should be straightforward even if you’re not Socrates: if you think other people are more likely to bid on a firm, you should bid it high. Firms that are less grade-selective or that have fewer interview spots are more competitive, so you should probably rank them higher. Don’t rank a firm high just because you want it, but if you really want a particular firm it might be good to rank it high for your peace of mind. Finally, you should probably avoid spreading your bids out between multiple markets unless you have strong ties to all of those markets. We’ve all seen the data: there are just more jobs in New York, so NY is a solid backup for folks who are trying to head to California, Chicago or DC.

Callbacks

Once we’re at least part way through the first rings of interviewing hell, people will get callbacks. In past years, people would post the firm name and the initials of the person who interviewed them when they received a callback so that people would know that callbacks had gone out.

Good luck everyone."

[Anonymous User]

Checking in to bump this and increase visibility.

[Anonymous User]

Big difference between NYC and DC GPAs, huh.

[Anonymous User]

Checking in & accepting recommendations for an anon handle.

-?

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, I didn't realize how much more competitive DC was.

[Anonymous User]

what are the odds the offer report numbers are skewed/inflated?

[Anonymous User]

The numbers are inflated to the extent that high-GPA candidates received multiple offers and firms weren't concerned about YP. But DC is mostly brutal.

[Anonymous User]

Given that the offer sheet is a combination of the past couple of years, is it reasonable to expect that with increased hiring the DC GPAs (and everbody else as well) might be slightly lower for our class?

[Anonymous User]

I hope they're a bit lower. I was told by CSO that you're likely fine GPA-wise if you're between the 25th and median, and that you should still bid on firms where you're just below the 25th. If you're close enough GPA-wise, your interviewing skills need to shine.

Any ideas whatsoever as to what GPA corresponds to class rank? Top 3rd, quarter, etc?

[Anonymous User]

From what I've heard from previous years top third is around 3.45 and top quarter around 3.55

[Anonymous User]

Yay! that makes me get all the good feels.

Does anybody know how many bids we get to submit? Also, do we have to put a firm down two times if we want to interview for multiple offices? NY and DC, for example. I don't want to waste my bids on the same firm 2x.

[Anonymous User]

Do firms actually worry about YP? That's not something that nalp or anyone publishes, right?

[Anonymous User]

we get 30 bids. to your second question, i am not positive, but i would think you would have to bid each location separately, unless the firm is just doing one aggregate pool of interviews. on symplicity, it shows how many spots a firm is offering and whether that number is just for one particular office or for several. also, keep in mind that some firms do not allow multiple interviews (i.e., you cannot interview for more than one office). this info is also on symplicity under the "review" tab.

[Anonymous User]

Just to answer a couple of questions in this thread that I know the answers to:
Top 25% around high 3.5X sounds about right.
Top 10% line is generally around 3.75-3.80.
Firms don't care about YP. We are going to give CBs to the best candidates who we think might actually want to come to the firm. Turn down your CB? We have a ranked list and will offer one to the next person down.

[Anonymous User]

mind if i ask how you are so familiar with the grade data? i assume you've done recruiting at duke in past years?

[Anonymous User]

I've heard median is just a touch over the advertised 3.3?

[Anonymous User]

that seems to be what most folks are suggesting. i suppose its plausible, even though the advertised 3.3 figure is on a per class basis.

[Anonymous User]

anyone heard from rising 3Ls on when journal decisions might be out?

[Anonymous User]

Since there are nine journals, and today is 6/30, and 6+3 = 9, I'm pretty sure journals are coming out today.

[Anonymous User]

mind if i ask how you are so familiar with the grade data? i assume you've done recruiting at duke in past years?

Yes, recruiting, hiring committee, went to Duke and hit some of those cutoffs not too long back.

[Anonymous User]

We should post our experiences for next years students after OCI is over. But idk how useful this thread is going to be without some upperclassmen input--we're all just speculating atm.

[Anonymous User]

mind if i ask how you are so familiar with the grade data? i assume you've done recruiting at duke in past years?


Yes, recruiting, hiring committee, went to Duke and hit some of those cutoffs not too long back.

Remember what top 3rd was? Really just want to know where a 3.46 puts me at.

[Anonymous User]

3.46 is not top third

[Anonymous User]

3.46 is not top third

Last year, 3.45 was top third, so I'm not sure where you're getting your info, buddy.

[Anonymous User]

How could anyone know last years info? Is it not all speculation?