1L Summer - Worth Spending in Secondary Market? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Trying to choose between two 1L summer offers, both in government w/ intern work I'd be interested in. One is in my school's city (and where my spouse/family is), the other is in the smaller secondary market I hope to return to after graduation (and have good ties to already).

On the one hand, I've heard it doesn't matter much where you spend 1L summer, I already have ties to my secondary market, and it'd be nice to spend the summer with my spouse and family where we already are.

On the other, I wonder if there'd potentially be a benefit to working in the secondary market over the summer - maybe hustle and pick up a few interactions w/ places hiring for 2L.

Any thoughts from those who've had similar considerations would be much appreciated.

[Roy McAvoy]

On the other, I wonder if there'd potentially be a benefit to working in the secondary market over the summer - maybe hustle and pick up a few interactions w/ places hiring for 2L.

Overall, I'd suggest taking the one in your school's city. The above is possible, but I doubt it would be worth the difference of having to find somewhere else to live (and apart from your family) the whole summer. I ended up taking an offer last summer to work in the market I'm from/grew up in, rather than go to school in (where I want to end up) because it was a great opportunity and paid well, but if I had had to pay rent in both cities there's no way I would've ended up doing it. Thankfully I was able to live with my parents during the summer, so my situation was a little different. Career-wise it sounds like they would both be fine, so this will really come down to personal preference.

[Lacepiece23]

If you want to return to your secondary market, I'd spend your summer there. In my market, if a summer did not spend there 1L summer here, it would raise a red flag. Maybe not a huge red flag, but it would still be noted. And if you're counting, or want to get a 2L SA there, every last bit of establishing your ties helps.

This advice applies mostly to the median/below median person at a T14. If you're not this person, and you have great grades, then largely it won't matter.

[acr]

Trying to choose between two 1L summer offers, both in government w/ intern work I'd be interested in. One is in my school's city (and where my spouse/family is), the other is in the smaller secondary market I hope to return to after graduation (and have good ties to already).

On the one hand, I've heard it doesn't matter much where you spend 1L summer, I already have ties to my secondary market, and it'd be nice to spend the summer with my spouse and family where we already are.

On the other, I wonder if there'd potentially be a benefit to working in the secondary market over the summer - maybe hustle and pick up a few interactions w/ places hiring for 2L.

Any thoughts from those who've had similar considerations would be much appreciated.

This probably isn't the answer you want to hear, but I think you should take the offer from your target market (the secondary market).

In the short term it will suck to leave your family for ten weeks, but in the long term it gives you the best shot to establish your career where you want to. I had a similar situation a few years ago for 1L summer, and ultimately chose the larger market (let's call it Chicago) instead of the secondary market (let's call it Des Moines) I wanted to work in. Big mistake. I have no doubt that going to the larger city instead of my home town raised serious flags and had a partner straight up tell me "if you would have come here instead of going to X this summer you would have gotten a callback."

If you go to your target market, you will also have the benefit of being in the city for early interviews. It seemed like quite a few firms (more than usual) hired pre-OCI this year, and you could let the firms know that you're in town for your 1L internship and you might snag a pre-OCI callback or even an offer. It would put you in a great position to have a job offer lined up as early as late July. If not, going to your target market will give you a much easier chance to network with employers than it would be from your school's city. Going to your target market will also improve your 2L interviews in your target market because the attorneys you're interviewing with will likely be familiar with whatever agency/attorneys/work you work on over the summer.

If you have the right grades + school then it probably won't matter anyway and you'll be fine regardless. But going to the secondary market would provide some marginal benefit that could be helpful. I would bite the bullet and go to the secondary market.

[dabigchina]

Pre OCI is a huge deal now. Literally half of my offers came from OCI screeners and callbacks. If you aren't doing interviews in your target market over the summer you are at a pretty substantial disadvantage. Being in the market makes this much more feasible.

[RaceJudicata]

The answer here also depends a lot on where you go to school. Better school = better geographic mobility. I.e. If hat HYS or CCN, maybe no reason to go to target market and stay w family. If at a strong regional or T1 type schlll in another market, will definitely need to start establishing a network/meeting people in target city.

[AZ123]

I agree with most of the advice so far. I think that being in your target market is important. It will make your job search easier and your narrative will be stronger during your interviews. Even if you are at a top school with good grades I think it's still important to be there. When I interviewed with my home market, a lot of firms were worried that they were just my backup in case NY/LA/SF/etc didn't work out. Some secondary market firms only give 1-2 SA offers, so they may be hesitant to give offers to people they don't think will accept them.

[mjb447]

Another vote for secondary market. Could really help with your job search, and it sounds like most of your reasons not to go are convenience/'it would be nice' reasons.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks all for the advice - sounds like I'm best off in the long run heading to my target market and sucking up the couple months away from family.

Much appreciated.

[RaceJudicata]

OP here. Thanks all for the advice - sounds like I'm best off in the long run heading to my target market and sucking up the couple months away from family.

Much appreciated.

If you don't mind, what is the secondary market? Or range of markets? Cause if you are Thinking "secondary" as in Chicago or Houston (which arent even secondary) vs NYC, then being there is less important. If you are talking Minneapolis or St. Louis, that's a different story.