Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break... Forum

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notcool

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Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by notcool » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:35 pm

... in terms of looking for / applying for 1L summer jobs?

Just wondering.

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stillwater

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by stillwater » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:39 pm

ya, its not cool dude.

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JenDarby

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by JenDarby » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:55 pm

I wouldn't worry about it, but get going. All I did over 1L winter break was apply to judges, which was I waste since I realized I didn't want a judicial internship. Start looking at your schools job postings ASAP though. I think these are often severely undervalued. I got my paid 1L firm position through my schools job bank.

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20130312

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by 20130312 » Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:04 pm

Wormfather wrote:
stillwater wrote:ya, its not cool dude.
Totes a notcool thing to do.
No 0Ls allowed breh.

Also, get your shit right, OP.

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thesealocust

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by thesealocust » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:01 am

You're teetering on the verge of being late, but you're not late yet. Plenty of students/schools don't have grades yet and plenty of places won't hire without grades.

Still, you should get on it.

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Myself

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.

Post by Myself » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:09 am

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Last edited by Myself on Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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worldtraveler

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by worldtraveler » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:32 am

Most of the public interest stuff hasn't even been posted yet and if it has been posted they are not looking at resumes yet. Get stuff in by the end of January and you will be fine. For judges and some firms, you might be a little late.

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noleknight16

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by noleknight16 » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:30 pm

I'm a 1L and don't even have all my grades back yet? My resume and cover letter are ready to go, just have to fill in my GPA and class rank when my grades come. How the heck am I supposed to apply when I don't have grades though?

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stillwater

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by stillwater » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:31 pm

noleknight16 wrote:I'm a 1L and don't even have all my grades back yet? My resume and cover letter are ready to go, just have to fill in my GPA and class rank when my grades come. How the heck am I supposed to apply when I don't have grades though?
you still don't have that last grade back? damn man.

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JenDarby

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by JenDarby » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:37 pm

noleknight16 wrote:I'm a 1L and don't even have all my grades back yet? My resume and cover letter are ready to go, just have to fill in my GPA and class rank when my grades come. How the heck am I supposed to apply when I don't have grades though?
Does your school calculate class rank mid year? My school only releases class rank at the end of each year. Granted we could try to guess based off the past years curve, but it wouldn't quite be ethical to throw that on a resume since there's no way to know for sure it will hold true.

You can apply without grades. I assure you many people already have and 1L employers expect it. But if you're just waiting on one grade, there's not much harm in waiting at this point in the game.

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noleknight16

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by noleknight16 » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:42 pm

Nope. Still no last grade. It's been over two weeks. I'm locked into the next semester January 11th so I'm just assuming they'll post the last grade after that so people are obligated for spring tuition regardless of whether or not they choose to continue.

And no, no class rank is released. I guess I'll just play the waiting game.

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BullShitWithBravado

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by BullShitWithBravado » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:45 pm

OP, if you're feeling panicked, it's probably for a reason. Start applying before all the good jerbs get taken by the gunners.

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JenDarby

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by JenDarby » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:50 pm

BullShitWithBravado wrote:OP, if you're feeling panicked, it's probably for a reason. Start applying before all the good jerbs get taken by the gunners.
You really can apply without all your grades in. If your GPA is really good so far you can throw it on and state in your cover letter towards the end that your last grade is forthcoming.

I have waited over a month for a grade in LS, and know many other people at different schools who have as well. So just a heads up, you could still be in for a bit of a wait.

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UVAIce

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by UVAIce » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:59 pm

Grades at UVA often don't come in until February and so far I only have one grade back and a pass in legal writing. I applied for a lot of 1L SA positions that had deadlines of December 31st, arguably before anyone gets all their grades. A lot of positions will interview you and then wait for your 1st semester transcript to make a decision. Some hiring boards will conceivably convene to make a decision before you have all your grades. It's fairly easy to simply put some kind of timeline on grades in your cover letter or as a part of the initial email to a firm or agency's hiring manager.

Here is the tl;dr version: Apply now, submit grades later.

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thesealocust

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by thesealocust » Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:06 pm

UVAIce wrote:Grades at UVA often don't come in until February and so far I only have one grade back and a pass in legal writing. I applied for a lot of 1L SA positions that had deadlines of December 31st, arguably before anyone gets all their grades. A lot of positions will interview you and then wait for your 1st semester transcript to make a decision. Some hiring boards will conceivably convene to make a decision before you have all your grades. It's fairly easy to simply put some kind of timeline on grades in your cover letter or as a part of the initial email to a firm or agency's hiring manager.

Here is the tl;dr version: Apply now, submit grades later.
Yep.

Still other positions won't care about 1L grades for at least some applicants.

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dannynoonan87

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by dannynoonan87 » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:32 pm

signed

Pretty much in the same boat as OP. Worked on my resume a night or two but that was it.

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dextermorgan

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by dextermorgan » Sun Jan 06, 2013 9:14 pm

I can't believe your schools didn't tell you to apply without grades.

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notcool

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by notcool » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:35 pm

Just bumping this to ask... Is there some kind of guide on TLS to the 1L summer job search? Sorry if it's something really obvious that I'm not seeing, but I tried searching and didn't find anything.

Gorki

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by Gorki » Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:07 pm

notcool wrote:Just bumping this to ask... Is there some kind of guide on TLS to the 1L summer job search? Sorry if it's something really obvious that I'm not seeing, but I tried searching and didn't find anything.
Just use search feature bro. There are hella, i mean HELLA, threads about basically everything job related. But use the Legal Employment forum, not this one.

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by gnuwheels » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:13 pm

thesealocust wrote:You're teetering on the verge of being late, but you're not late yet. Plenty of students/schools don't have grades yet and plenty of places won't hire without grades.

Still, you should get on it.
My school keeps telling 1Ls that everyone is pretty much all-but-guaranteed to find a 1L summer position and that there is no rush, that a lot of people find things (good things) in the spring. Now i'm getting nervous, but why would they lie to us?

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dextermorgan

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by dextermorgan » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:21 pm

gnuwheels wrote:
thesealocust wrote:You're teetering on the verge of being late, but you're not late yet. Plenty of students/schools don't have grades yet and plenty of places won't hire without grades.

Still, you should get on it.
My school keeps telling 1Ls that everyone is pretty much all-but-guaranteed to find a 1L summer position and that there is no rush, that a lot of people find things (good things) in the spring. Now i'm getting nervous, but why would they lie to us?
I don't think it's hard to find something for 1L summer. Something good might be a different matter.

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:27 pm

gnuwheels wrote:
thesealocust wrote:You're teetering on the verge of being late, but you're not late yet. Plenty of students/schools don't have grades yet and plenty of places won't hire without grades.

Still, you should get on it.
My school keeps telling 1Ls that everyone is pretty much all-but-guaranteed to find a 1L summer position and that there is no rush, that a lot of people find things (good things) in the spring. Now i'm getting nervous, but why would they lie to us?
It kinda depends on where you are and what you're aiming for. If you're aiming for a paying SA, you're probably close to late (I'm going to guess and say especially if you're looking NYC/DC/LA, that kind of thing). If you're looking for someone to let you show up and do work for them, you shouldn't have any problem. I didn't get a 1L summer gig until February (externing for SSC justice), and it turned out I was pretty early for my school (not on a coast) - lots of people got stuff later. And there was in fact a steady stream of positions being advertised on our symplicity right up through spring finals. So your school's probably not lying to you, depending on their definition of good positions. It's not actually generally that hard to find someone who will let you show up for free; it's getting paid stuff that's hard, but I'd bet your CSO is talking about the universe of non-paid stuff.

(For context: almost no one at my school gets paid 1L work; most stay local, and firms only hire a few people through a local diversity program. The vast majority of people intern for state/federal judges at all levels, or for various PDs/DAs, or legal aid, or RA for profs [which pays, but not much], or some combo thereof. Or crazy things like intern for the supreme court of Ghana. So if your career people were at my school, they would totally not be lying. YMMV.)

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Br3v

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by Br3v » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:33 pm

dextermorgan wrote:
gnuwheels wrote:
thesealocust wrote:You're teetering on the verge of being late, but you're not late yet. Plenty of students/schools don't have grades yet and plenty of places won't hire without grades.

Still, you should get on it.
My school keeps telling 1Ls that everyone is pretty much all-but-guaranteed to find a 1L summer position and that there is no rush, that a lot of people find things (good things) in the spring. Now i'm getting nervous, but why would they lie to us?
I don't think it's hard to find something for 1L summer. Something good might be a different matter.
Asking a question, which I think is allowed as an OL, but what about paid work? Does that fall solely in the "good" category?

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cinephile

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by cinephile » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:17 pm

Br3v wrote:
dextermorgan wrote:
gnuwheels wrote: My school keeps telling 1Ls that everyone is pretty much all-but-guaranteed to find a 1L summer position and that there is no rush, that a lot of people find things (good things) in the spring. Now i'm getting nervous, but why would they lie to us?
I don't think it's hard to find something for 1L summer. Something good might be a different matter.
Asking a question, which I think is allowed as an OL, but what about paid work? Does that fall solely in the "good" category?
It's not hard to find something for most 1Ls (although I have heard stories of some students from lower ranked schools in crowded markets getting nothing). I knew a girl who got something literally the day after our last exam in May. She wasn't even looking before then because she was too focused on school/forgot.

Also, if you want something paid, often professors don't advertise for research assistant positions until later in the spring semester. I don't believe we heard about any until spring break at the earliest with some professors placing announcements during spring finals. Those are paid better than the public interest stipend the school offers. Even though some people might recommend doing something in government/public interest during the summer to demonstrate your interest if this is your ultimate goal, I'd say save that for a clinic or externship during the school year. Might as well get credit for it and save your summer for paid employment. Or you could try to do both, many people are part time RAs and volunteer somewhere else part-time.

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Re: Is it bad if you haven't done anything over winter break...

Post by manofjustice » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:46 pm

JenDarby wrote:
noleknight16 wrote:I'm a 1L and don't even have all my grades back yet? My resume and cover letter are ready to go, just have to fill in my GPA and class rank when my grades come. How the heck am I supposed to apply when I don't have grades though?
Does your school calculate class rank mid year? My school only releases class rank at the end of each year. Granted we could try to guess based off the past years curve, but it wouldn't quite be ethical to throw that on a resume since there's no way to know for sure it will hold true.

You can apply without grades. I assure you many people already have and 1L employers expect it. But if you're just waiting on one grade, there's not much harm in waiting at this point in the game.
Is your Tar actually a picture of you, Jen Darby?

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