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Grades are out. Time to talk about OCI

Think we made NU OCI threads at the same time. One of them should be deleted, don't know how though.

3.48 cumulative. Grades dropped a good amount this semester. Only interested in transactional. Any and all advice appreciated.

Gunners.


Yet here I am.

Below median. Yolo.

when is OCI data coming out?

(reposting here in what seems like the real deal)

Anonymous User wrote:when is OCI data coming out?

(reposting here in what seems like the real deal)

Anyone participating in OTIP?

So I talked with a DC market advisor (through career services) who said because NW's grades are inflated historically, we should post our approximate percentile if it's good. Am I the only one who thinks this is BS?

Anonymous User wrote:So I talked with a DC market advisor (through career services) who said because NW's grades are inflated historically, we should post our approximate percentile if it's good. Am I the only one who thinks this is BS?

(Rising 3L here) I agree it's BS & I would NOT follow this advice. Since NU doesn't rank, you have no idea what percentile you are, and I'm hesitant to say the #s sometimes floated on the other thread for post-1L percentile estimates are anywhere near correct. There's no real way to gauge this, IMO, so you'd likely be misrepresenting your percentile. Career Services would also freak out if they knew and it's probably a violation of the honor code or something that could get you in trouble. In any case, firms have an idea of what NU's grading system is. They've generally been coming to OCI and interviewing our students for years & they know which GPA ranges they would prefer from NU.

If you want advice about DC firms, I would wait until they send out the list of students who are summering at which firms and contact rising 3Ls who are at firms in DC this summer. I don't know when that gets released, maybe when OCI stuff does? If you really want to speak with someone before that PM me and I'll see if I can connect you with someone.

Anonymous User wrote:So I talked with a DC market advisor (through career services) who said because NW's grades are inflated historically, we should post our approximate percentile if it's good. Am I the only one who thinks this is BS?

No one can include an "approximate percentile" next to their GPA.

Anonymous User wrote:when is OCI data coming out?

(reposting here in what seems like the real deal)

Career Services posted it last year on 6/10 (second Friday in June).

Is the consensus on Chicago lit still that it's a bloodbath? I'm prepared to go to New York if need be, but how should I feel with a 3.8 and strong ties to Chicago?

Anonymous User wrote:Is the consensus on Chicago lit still that it's a bloodbath? I'm prepared to go to New York if need be, but how should I feel with a 3.8 and strong ties to Chicago?

You should be okay with a 3.8 and strong Chicago ties. Especially is you're a good interviewer. I'd be pretty surprised if you struck out in Chicago (but it's happened before). You might want to bid a few V20 NY firms just to make sure you get an offer somewhere.

Network as much as you can in Chicago this summer and try to get some pre-OCI callbacks.

Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

if we're contacting a firm that previously had our resume from a resume drop and updating it and providing a transcript, do we need a cover letter like a regular mass mail or is a brief message in the body of the email ok?

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

Do we note on the resume "journal offer pending" or something like that? Not to be presumptuous..

Anonymous User wrote:

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

if we're contacting a firm that previously had our resume from a resume drop and updating it and providing a transcript, do we need a cover letter like a regular mass mail or is a brief message in the body of the email ok?

I would still do a cover letter. You can mention in the body of your email that you attended xyz event. But I'll defer to others if they weigh in on that and disagree; I didn't do a lot of resume drops/receptions/etc.

Also, if you haven't heard from these firms by the time write-on results are announced, that's a great reason to update your resume and reach out to them again.

Also re journal--you should note in your email and cover letter that you won't hear until July.

Anonymous User wrote:

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

if we're contacting a firm that previously had our resume from a resume drop and updating it and providing a transcript, do we need a cover letter like a regular mass mail or is a brief message in the body of the email ok?

The latter. Keep the message short (4 sentences is plenty) and include a sentence on why x firm, practice group, and/or location. I don't think a formal cover letter makes sense here.

Do not write "journal offer pending."

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Kinky John wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on sending out updated resumes/transcripts for pre-OCI before write-on results come out? Want to get started on pre-OCI prospects as early as possible. I'm interested in transactional but still did write on.

Do it

if we're contacting a firm that previously had our resume from a resume drop and updating it and providing a transcript, do we need a cover letter like a regular mass mail or is a brief message in the body of the email ok?

The latter. Keep the message short (4 sentences is plenty) and include a sentence on why x firm, practice group, and/or location. I don't think a formal cover letter makes sense here.

Do not write "journal offer pending."

edit: wow, totally asked the same question already asked. My bad.

for mass mailing, if we are just cold sending an email without previously contacting the firm, how do we word the email?

would it be something like:
"I am a Northwestern rising 2L and I am very interested in X firm. Please find attached a cover letter, resume, and transcript." ???

would this change if we are emailing a firm that is coming to OCI?

Went from a 3.4 to a 3.6 cumulative, which is nice, but is such a small bump going to impact how I should approach OCI? I'm hoping for Chicago lit (have decent ties), but would also be open to smaller Midwest markets. Just trying to identify if I have a realistic shot, although I should probably wait until employer reveal before I over-analyze this whole process.

-H

Anonymous User wrote:Went from a 3.4 to a 3.6 cumulative, which is nice, but is such a small bump going to impact how I should approach OCI? I'm hoping for Chicago lit (have decent ties), but would also be open to smaller Midwest markets. Just trying to identify if I have a realistic shot, although I should probably wait until employer reveal before I over-analyze this whole process.

-H

I actually think it's a pretty big bump because you meet a lot of firm's GPA floors with this new GPA. Also, it brings you from barely above median to top 35-ish? Think it should affect your strategy here in that you can bid on higher firms, but others should chime in.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Went from a 3.4 to a 3.6 cumulative, which is nice, but is such a small bump going to impact how I should approach OCI? I'm hoping for Chicago lit (have decent ties), but would also be open to smaller Midwest markets. Just trying to identify if I have a realistic shot, although I should probably wait until employer reveal before I over-analyze this whole process.

-H

I actually think it's a pretty big bump because you meet a lot of firm's GPA floors with this new GPA. Also, it brings you from barely above median to top 35-ish? Think it should affect your strategy here in that you can bid on higher firms, but others should chime in.

I was under the impression that 3.6 is closer to 25% (not op here), 3.7 is ~15, and 3.8 is 10-12% after 1L (with these all subject to rise over next two years). I think 4.0+ is 5% and higher as of now, which would mean 10ish people are at 4.0 or higher, or roughly 2-3 per section. Wish NU gave at least ranges.

Any upper classpeople ITT find career services helpful for non NY bid advice?

Preliminary list of employers are up.

Anonymous User wrote:Preliminary list of employers are up.

Wait so despite CSO's OCI data, if an employer's data on Symplicity says top X% required and we aren't in that percentage, should we not even waste our bid?