BigZuck wrote:philosoraptor wrote:Don't get bogged down in this line of thinking. I doubt employers (firms, government agencies, public interest outfits) will lower their standards if the number of UT students shrinks. Put another way, if they don't like you, they won't hire you, regardless of how many classmates you have. Focus on your own prospects instead of a statistical hypothesis.BigZuck wrote:Can anyone speculate on what they think the dramatic cut in class size means for incoming UT students when it comes to biglaw hiring?
What I mean is: let's say for the sake of the argument that there used to be 400 UT students and 100 big law jobs. And again for the sake of the argument say that these 100 jobs were given to the top 100 kids in the class, so the top 25% (oversimplifications, I know, just bear with me).
Now, instead of there being 400 UT students there are 300. But there are still 100 big law jobs. Should we now assume that the top 33% of the class will get those jobs? Or, will firms hold tight to their (hypothetical) top 25% cut off and only 75 UT kids will get those jobs and the other 25 spots will be filled from other schools?
Hopefully that wasn't too confusing, I can try and clarify if need be. I'm just wondering if we should consider the cut in class size as removing the bottom of the class and it will be better for everyone or if the employment scores will roughly stay the same percentage wise (and yes I know what we are looking at on places like LST is from the worst year in recent history).
I'll bet you can count on a better chance at a good parking spot, though.
If you're saying you think that cut offs will remain the same then thanks, that's helpful. The other part of your response I'm a little leery of. I'm trying to avoid thinking that I am a special snowflake and figure out what my statistical chances are from each school I am applying to. Forgive me if I misinterpreted what you said and thanks for responding.
TBF, I think you're correct in thinking that a smaller class size could increase your chances at biglaw. Most firms have large enough cutoffs that they will be giving 2L summer spots to a lot less people than those that fit within the cutoff. Thus, if a firm is used to taking around a certain amount of UT students, if hiring needs stay consistent I think a firm would probably stay around that same amount--meaning that there should be less competition among UT students for those spots. That said, I think the current 1L class size is a bit of anomaly, and the administration is hoping to get the size closer to the average of ~380 for the next class (whether they can do that without hurting their medians remains to be seen though).