Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges Forum

[bdubs]

What is the CA representation like at OCI? For someone who is exclusively Cali-centric, it looks like NU does pretty good placing into CA. Anecdotal, but my dad just hired a NU grad for in-house in CA and he spoke so so highly of NU. Plus with the cut in class size, I'm looking more and more at NU.

It's pretty good for the most part but there are a few glaring holes. GDC's CA offices don't come here. For people at the tippy top of the class, MTO doesn't come here either.

MTO came last year but I don't know whether they made any SA offers. They did have 2 NU student SAs in 2011 (?) who had ridiculous qualifications.

I was told GDC has consistently refused to come to OCI (weird, kind of turned me off to them) but considered and made offers to people for SAs when they applied directly.

[Cobretti]

What is the CA representation like at OCI? For someone who is exclusively Cali-centric, it looks like NU does pretty good placing into CA. Anecdotal, but my dad just hired a NU grad for in-house in CA and he spoke so so highly of NU. Plus with the cut in class size, I'm looking more and more at NU.

It's pretty good for the most part but there are a few glaring holes. GDC's CA offices don't come here. For people at the tippy top of the class, MTO doesn't come here either.

MTO came last year but I don't know whether they made any SA offers. They did have 2 NU student SAs in 2011 (?) who had ridiculous qualifications.

I was told GDC has consistently refused to come to OCI (weird, kind of turned me off to them) but considered and made offers to people for SAs when they applied directly.

Judging by the NLJ250 data OMM is pretty active at OCI though, right?

[bdubs]

Judging by the NLJ250 data OMM is pretty active at OCI though, right?

OMM comes and has hiring standards that don't rule out 95% of the class if that is what you mean. How many NU SAs they bring on will vary a lot from year to year though.

[Cobretti]

Judging by the NLJ250 data OMM is pretty active at OCI though, right?

OMM comes and has hiring standards that don't rule out 95% of the class if that is what you mean. How many NU SAs they bring on will vary a lot from year to year though.

ty

[alabamabound]

What is the CA representation like at OCI? For someone who is exclusively Cali-centric, it looks like NU does pretty good placing into CA. Anecdotal, but my dad just hired a NU grad for in-house in CA and he spoke so so highly of NU. Plus with the cut in class size, I'm looking more and more at NU.

It's pretty good for the most part but there are a few glaring holes. GDC's CA offices don't come here. For people at the tippy top of the class, MTO doesn't come here either.

MTO came last year but I don't know whether they made any SA offers. They did have 2 NU student SAs in 2011 (?) who had ridiculous qualifications.

I was told GDC has consistently refused to come to OCI (weird, kind of turned me off to them) but considered and made offers to people for SAs when they applied directly.

MTO gave at least 1 offer this past fall/summer. There's also a 2012 grad there who should be helpful in terms of the pipeline.

[MayBJack426]

Do private public interest firms (plaintiff's firms, civil rights, etc) come to OCI?

[Georgia Avenue]

Plaintiff's firms, yes, but not many. Not sure about civil rights.

[Bumi]

Everyone who is worried about how the bidding mechanics works:

There will be a meeting in April to explain it. There will also be a video online that you can watch over and over until you get it. If you still don't get it at that point, ask 2Ls or 3Ls. It is important that you understand the mechanics, but if you put any effort at all into figuring it out, you will. It really isn't that complicated unless you are making assumptions based on rumors or preconceptions or whatever.

Everyone who is worried about where to rank firms:

Be wary of advice you hear, because things change. Use common sense and critical thinking and take responsibility for your own bid list. We can help you, and others will be willing to help you, but nobody is going to do it for you. This makes people mad at the career office sometimes: why didn't they make my bid list for me?! Why didn't they tell me which firms were right for my personality?! Maybe they should, maybe they shouldn't, but that's a different conversation. Know that they won't and prepare to do it yourself.

The #1 advice for doing well in OCI is that you MUST have a job search strategy OUTSIDE of OCI and you MUST start that strategy BEFORE OCI. Every year people don't start plan B until October or later, when it turns out for sure that OCI failed. Unless you are independently wealthy or you don't want to work in a firm anyway, there is nothing you could be doing this summer with your free time that is more important than working to get your 2L job, and there are no grades/journal combo that will make you guaranteed a job from OCI. You can strike out from law review, you can strike out from 4.0+, you can strike out with 6+ callbacks. Don't wait to strike out. In June of this year I want everyone on TLS to be asking lawyers to meet them for coffee, going to networking events, planning their massmail strategy (what cities? what types of firms?), and if you can, signing up for at least one off-campus interviewing thing.

I targeted only two cities in OCI for strategic reasons, but went for Texas and California in an off-campus thing, plus I got an interview from networking in a whole other city I had ties to. Those non-OCI interviews had already happened before OCI even arrived, so I was practiced and relaxed and ready to go by that time. You want to be that way, it is a good way to be.

But right now, you need to be getting the best grades you can.

[Georgia Avenue]

The #1 advice for doing well in OCI is that you MUST have a job search strategy OUTSIDE of OCI and you MUST start that strategy BEFORE OCI. Every year people don't start plan B until October or later, when it turns out for sure that OCI failed. Unless you are independently wealthy or you don't want to work in a firm anyway, there is nothing you could be doing this summer with your free time that is more important than working to get your 2L job, and there are no grades/journal combo that will make you guaranteed a job from OCI. You can strike out from law review, you can strike out from 4.0+, you can strike out with 6+ callbacks.

This this this this. Do not EVER get complacent with OCI no matter what your grades/journal are. Nobody is immune from striking out. Mass mail, do resume drops, check Symplicity, network, do every single thing that you can to get a job. Plenty of V100 firms take candidates outside of OCI, whether it's through resume drops in their hospitality suites, mass mailings (got 2 CBs in a major market this way, including my summer firm), and other sources. The bottom line is you must be prepared to have an outside plan and, as Bumi said, you have to start BEFORE OCI. Waiting until you've gone 1 for 10 on screeners is too late.

If you're targeting non-NYC markets (especially DC/Chicago), and unless you have a combination of great credentials/good interviewing, you're already in more trouble than you might think. Relying solely on OCI for a job in these markets is putting you close to the edge before you even begin.

[purpletiger]

The #1 advice for doing well in OCI is that you MUST have a job search strategy OUTSIDE of OCI and you MUST start that strategy BEFORE OCI. Every year people don't start plan B until October or later, when it turns out for sure that OCI failed. Unless you are independently wealthy or you don't want to work in a firm anyway, there is nothing you could be doing this summer with your free time that is more important than working to get your 2L job, and there are no grades/journal combo that will make you guaranteed a job from OCI. You can strike out from law review, you can strike out from 4.0+, you can strike out with 6+ callbacks.

This this this this. Do not EVER get complacent with OCI no matter what your grades/journal are. Nobody is immune from striking out. Mass mail, do resume drops, check Symplicity, network, do every single thing that you can to get a job. Plenty of V100 firms take candidates outside of OCI, whether it's through resume drops in their hospitality suites, mass mailings (got 2 CBs in a major market this way, including my summer firm), and other sources. The bottom line is you must be prepared to have an outside plan and, as Bumi said, you have to start BEFORE OCI. Waiting until you've gone 1 for 10 on screeners is too late.

If you're targeting non-NYC markets (especially DC/Chicago), and unless you have a combination of great credentials/good interviewing, you're already in more trouble than you might think. Relying solely on OCI for a job in these markets is putting you close to the edge before you even begin.

Co-sign. Of my 9 callbacks, 4 of them came from mass-mailing. Of those 4, 3 of them came from firms that CAME TO OCI but I didn't get an interview with originally.

[lgleye]

.

[Cobretti]

How do you send emails from your nickname address? It sounded like that address was more than a forwarding address but I'm not seeing an option to switch the outgoing address.

[bjsesq]

Hei:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'd like to know how your 3L OCI was, whether most of you spent less energy on it because you had been offerred jobs from your 2L summer internships.

What's the typical percentage of people getting offers of permanent jobs after their 2L summer internships at Big or Mid Law? Did NU clean up as expected? Thanks. Thanks.

3L OCI is a complete fucking joke. Period. I suspect it is that way at most schools. Jobless 3L's make employers squeamish.

There is no typical percentage of offers from summer jobs the past few years because of the unpredictability of the legal market. Generally, however, you can expect to get an offer from a big law job if you are an SA.

[bk1]

How do you send emails from your nickname address? It sounded like that address was more than a forwarding address but I'm not seeing an option to switch the outgoing address.

It's under settings --> accounts.

[09042014]

The average amount of offers is about 90% nationwide, all firms included. I dunno if Northwestern beats that, but I sort of doubt it. Firms aren't going to look at your school when their either offer/no offer you.

But there could be an economic dip and the offer rate will plummet.

3L OCI is a joke.

[homestyle28]

But there could be an economic dip and the offer rate will plummet.

[09042014]

But there could be an economic dip and the offer rate will plummet.

You aren't really safe until you've made it 2-3 years at a firm. Until then, your career is in the hand of the Gods of the Economy.

[homestyle28]

But there could be an economic dip and the offer rate will plummet.

You aren't really safe until you've made it 2-3 years at a firm. Until then, your career is in the hand of the Gods of the Economy.

jokes on them, I'll just declare bankruptcy fake my death and have all my debt discharged...suckers

[homestyle28]

Mandatory Law and ___ clases for 3L:

Law and living off the grid
Law and creating new identification documents
Law and landing your first job as a day laborer in South America


Dat practical education

[09042014]

But there could be an economic dip and the offer rate will plummet.

You aren't really safe until you've made it 2-3 years at a firm. Until then, your career is in the hand of the Gods of the Economy.

jokes on them, I'll just declare bankruptcy fake my death and have all my debt discharged...suckers

My brother just got his loans discharged. It took crashing into a tree going 120 mph and breaking your neck. Then you gotta wait three years.

[homestyle28]

jokes on them, I'll just declare bankruptcy fake my death and have all my debt discharged...suckers

My brother just got his loans discharged. It took crashing into a tree going 120 mph and breaking your neck. Then you gotta wait three years.

prob not worth it then...back to performing occult rituals to keep the economy going.

[Cobretti]

jokes on them, I'll just declare bankruptcy fake my death and have all my debt discharged...suckers

My brother just got his loans discharged. It took crashing into a tree going 120 mph and breaking your neck. Then you gotta wait three years.

prob not worth it then...back to performing occult rituals to keep the economy going.

[lgleye]

.

[Samara]

Hei:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'd like to know how your 3L OCI was, whether most of you spent less energy on it because you had been offerred jobs from your 2L summer internships.

What's the typical percentage of people getting offers of permanent jobs after their 2L summer internships at Big or Mid Law? Did NU clean up as expected? Thanks. Thanks.

3L OCI is a complete fucking joke. Period. I suspect it is that way at most schools. Jobless 3L's make employers squeamish.

There is no typical percentage of offers from summer jobs the past few years because of the unpredictability of the legal market. Generally, however, you can expect to get an offer from a big law job if you are an SA.

So what you're saying is that, if you don't get anything in 2L OCI, we're done..... we get only ONE chance to get it right at 2L OCI, just as we're bombarded with courses from our second year, right? I guess I've gotta rbe careful to rank the "sure bet" firm,s in 1-10....right?

A) Don't worry about this now.
B) There's mass mailing, job fairs, networking, etc. You should employ a comprehensive job search strategy and not rely on 2L OCI.
C) This will be explained to you. There are threads about it if you really want to know.
D) Don't worry about this now.

[bjsesq]

Hei:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'd like to know how your 3L OCI was, whether most of you spent less energy on it because you had been offerred jobs from your 2L summer internships.

What's the typical percentage of people getting offers of permanent jobs after their 2L summer internships at Big or Mid Law? Did NU clean up as expected? Thanks. Thanks.

3L OCI is a complete fucking joke. Period. I suspect it is that way at most schools. Jobless 3L's make employers squeamish.

There is no typical percentage of offers from summer jobs the past few years because of the unpredictability of the legal market. Generally, however, you can expect to get an offer from a big law job if you are an SA.

So what you're saying is that, if you don't get anything in 2L OCI, we're done..... we get only ONE chance to get it right at 2L OCI, just as we're bombarded with courses from our second year, right? I guess I've gotta rbe careful to rank the "sure bet" firm,s in 1-10....right?

Law school is about maximizing 1L success and translating that into and SA position. 3L's can get jobs, but it is not common. But listen: you are getting WAY ahead of yourself here.