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So, it looks like I'll only be having one Callback this season (and am grateful for the one). As such, does anyone know if firms are treating callbacks this year as a "its yours to lose the offer" or are firms looking for more than just someone who reasonably coherent and intelligent. Basically, do I have a good shot at an offer?

I have everything riding on this one callback, so if anyone has any stories of callbacks translating into offers or no offers, please share.

firms vary, usually its like 50%ish. I can tell you that i know someone who works at a top firm and he was told in a recruiting meeting that there would be many more callbacks made than needed to make offers. I would hardly say callbacks=offers barring anything stupid, you still have to earn your 3,000/week

short answer: NO

I can't speak for other firms, but I have already been rejected after a callback. (Since its anonymous, I'll go ahead and say the firm was Cleary). My school has data from previous years, indicating how many students were called back, how many went and how many were given offers. You can see on there how much variety there was between firms. It definitely seemed that a callback was more likely to = offer if it was in a city other than New York (we're in NY). But last year several firms in New York were lower than 50% callback>offer

I don't say this to scare you, you still probably have a good chance. But if you're thinking about whether to, say, apply to government programs that have early deadlines, or work on a backup plan, I'd hedge your bets.

Does a callback mean offer?

No. It's usually around 50/50 shot if you have a callback, from what I've read and heard. Make the best of that one callback.

Depends on the firm. In normal years, biglaw firms have anywhere from 40-90% rates, and smaller firms vary even more. This year, things may be even more unpredictable.

Yes. First question when you walk into the office: "so...where's my desk?"

tits avatar orange

As always, this varies by firm. Obviously, a callback doesn't mean an automatic offer, particularly if you flub your callback.

This year, there are some reports of firms doing callbacks on a rolling basis based on how many SAs they plan to have. In other words, if they are planning to have only 10 SAs, they will only do 10 callbacks at a time. If they extend 10 offers and 10 accept those offers, they don't do any more callbacks.

Many firms are doing fewer callbacks, then giving offers on a similar rolling basis.

Other firms are still doing a huge number of callbacks, far more than they have SA slots available for. Obviously, callbacks with those firms mean less than they do in categories 1 and 2.

Then, of course, there are the POS firms that did OCI and subsequently decided to cancel their summer programs, wasting peoples' time and bids. I've heard of one firm that made this decision after doing a callback or two.

Nothing at all is certain this year.

My V50 firm last year offered slightly less than 25% of the people it invited for callbacks nationwide.