Top of the class at T14--not relative? Forum

[oppotomus]

. . .

[09042014]

Almost exactly the same rank.

As to employers, it depends on what firms. They seem to vary in prestige whoring.

[rayiner]

There is a misconception, which I shared until I did OCI, that firms have an idea in their head that Top X% at UVA = top Y% at CLS, an idea informed by median LSAT scores, etc.

It's not like that. Most firms just schedule schools for a certain number of interview slots and then give each interviewer a target % of callbacks. They may have different grade-cutoffs as well. This is all based largely on a combination of: (a) what they did last year; (b) random favoritism; (c) partners' pet schools.

This is why Penn does so well despite having pretty much the same numbers as the rest of T7-14. People think "oh, it's Penn, they must be good" and remember "oh, we hired 4 Penn grads last year, they were fine" and boom, there is the Penn quota for the year.

[legends159]

There is a misconception, which I shared until I did OCI, that firms have an idea in their head that Top X% at UVA = top Y% at CLS, an idea informed by median LSAT scores, etc.

It's not like that. Most firms just schedule schools for a certain number of interview slots and then give each interviewer a target % of callbacks. They may have different grade-cutoffs as well. This is all based largely on a combination of: (a) what they did last year; (b) random favoritism; (c) partners' pet schools.

This is why Penn does so well despite having pretty much the same numbers as the rest of T7-14. People think "oh, it's Penn, they must be good" and remember "oh, we hired 4 Penn grads last year, they were fine" and boom, there is the Penn quota for the year.

my experience as well. There's no science behind it

[chadwick218]

I strongly agree with rayiner's comment above.

To answer the OP's question and while outside of the T14, I did observe the following cutoffs at an off-campus recruiting fair for a couple of V20-V50 firms.

Northwestern: Top 40%
Texas: Top 30%
GW: Top 15%
BC/BU: Top 10%

Keep in mind, there is a huge difference b/w getting in at NU and BC/BU.

[sperry]

Just going to echo what everyone else is saying. Top of the class at any T14 would probably be top of the class at any other T14. In fact, at my T14, a couple of the people I know who are top 5% + LR got into HYS, and are at my school because of a full ride. Probably the case at many T14 as well.