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tralala wrote:Would love to speak to you about your experiences - I'm currently debating over whether or not this is something I should do. If you are an SEO alum:
(1) How was the summer workload?
(2) Did you feel it was educational/gave you a leg up later?
(3) Did you find it a burden to work during your OL summer?

Naturally, if you feel uncomfortable answering these questions here, feel free to PM me. I'd really appreciate it!

If you haven't already applied, you may be SOL b/c I think the deadline has passed. I could be wrong and will defer to you on that.

There is no decision to me made as it concerns doing the program. If you are accepted, drop what you'd otherwise be doing and go.

(1) This varies by where you're at. Some people were regularly doing mad overtime and working with associates will the wee hours, some were strongly encouraged to not be in the office after 5pm. You largely don't control where you end up, so just ask former SEOs when you actually get your firm assignment. Depending on the city, the SEO panels/networking events can be time consuming. I was in NY, so we had like 8-9. Most other cities didn't have more than 3.

(2) Sorta educational, but a huge leg up. If the goal is straight-As, SEO isn't gonna be a game changer. You are the student you are and no program can really change that for you. The educational aspect, outside of experience in a firm and with the day to day associate stuff, is minimal. There are a ton of opportunities to ask questions of associates and partners who are shockingly frank about BigLaw +s/-s, so you'll get a fairly good idea of if you want to do it or not.

The leg up is definitely on the employment side. Firm run the gambit on the advantage they give their own SEOs (hiring them for 1L summer, auto-callbacks for OCI, bupkis), but having SEO on your resume is an advantage. A lot of people applying to firms have really fungible reasons for wanting BigLaw and can struggle to express interest in particular firms in interviews. In the interviews I had for 1L positions in the past couple weeks, I was able to give specific reasons I wanted to work in a particular departments, or at certain firms, and could relay experience speaking with classmates and associates/partners who worked there. Its invaluable.

(3) Is getting firm experience and getting paid a burden? No. Nothing else you do 0L summer is going to increase your chances of full-time post-LS employment more than SEO. BigLaw paralegals I know left their firms early to do SEO. Furthermore, you're gonna meet 90+ incredibly dope people, who are all going to great law schools and, in addition to being really good friends, can be a solid foundation for your future network.

txdude45 wrote:
If you haven't already applied, you may be SOL b/c I think the deadline has passed. I could be wrong and will defer to you on that.

The deadline is tonight at midnight for round four. The application cycle for round five continues until February 20th.

tralala wrote:Would love to speak to you about your experiences - I'm currently debating over whether or not this is something I should do. If you are an SEO alum:
(1) How was the summer workload?
(2) Did you feel it was educational/gave you a leg up later?
(3) Did you find it a burden to work during your OL summer?

Naturally, if you feel uncomfortable answering these questions here, feel free to PM me. I'd really appreciate it!

1. Great.
2. The SEO summer is not meant to be educational (although the institute does a decent job of giving you a sneak peak). The summer is really all about putting you in the pipeline for a top firm job, so my answer to #1 doesnt even matter. SEO is hands down the game changer and gives you a leg up or a cushion if your grades aren't stellar. So far SEO was the best thing that ever happened to my law school career.
3. See #2.

Quick question how do you influence which firms you get placed at? Also lets say your first choice is NY but you take an offer from Georgetown do they then prefer to place you in DC? feel free to pm if this is not general info

W$RKliveWELL wrote:Quick question how do you influence which firms you get placed at? Also lets say your first choice is NY but you take an offer from Georgetown do they then prefer to place you in DC? feel free to pm if this is not general info

In your interview they ask you what firm(s) you'd want to be placed at. It may factor into their placement of you, but I think the question is geared more towards finding out if you've done any research on firms and have an idea of what practice group you want to go into at ones strong in different areas. One of the summers last year asked for a specific firm b/c their SO had been there and ended up getting it. None of this is dispositive though.

As far as school driving placement location, I don't think it's TOO true. 67% of last year's DC school kids went to DC, but that's probably self selection. HLS and CLS make up a disproportionate number of SEOs, so most people in the program are in NY. If the school you're going to is not one of those and is in an SEO market (TX, DC, CA) you're more likely to be there. However, that's probably also self selection. If you want to be in NY, it's unlikely you won't be.

Do you think applying to other SEO prior to the law program helps out? My SEO recruiter suggested I do it and I'm only considering it because it may help me get my foot in the door for when I apply to SEO law.

thnx txdude45

Do they have a list of firms they work with? And where can I get this information?

Black_Swan wrote:Do they have a list of firms they work with? And where can I get this information?

the SEO website