UChicago OCI 2014 Forum

[skers]

I just said something along the lines of 'I would definitely prefer to work in Chicago, but I picked a selection of firms that provided awesome opportunities to do x and I'll pick based on where I fit in best'. Goes over well b/c it gives them am opportunity to sell you and it's a normal fucking way to answer the question.

[Anonymous User]

is any one else doing a Dentons Chi CB? how do we feel about them?

[Anonymous User]

Are people sending thank you letters?

[Anonymous User]

OCS does its best, but there are limitations to what a team of school administrators can predict. Many factors go into consideration for callbacks and offers, among which are GPA, work experience, and personality -- this is not a conclusive list. OCS's job is to help all of you; it doesn't take into account that all else being equal, some of you might come across as more likable than others; you might be one of these people.

Understood; this is among the less weird pieces of advice I've had from OCS. I guess I have just been surprised by the extent to which they present their advice as unquestionable -- and, honestly, the extent to which I've accepted their presentation of it as such, which was affected by my awareness that I know squat about legal hiring. My own fault for being spineless, more than anything else. But I've never met advisors who are so… certain that they know what's best for you.

Yeah, I did schedule my first CBs for down times during OCI -- also some this week. But the Jenner and McDermott were post-screener dings via email. (That Jenner interview was unbelievably bad…yikes.)

There are definitely a ton of ways to satisfactorily explain multi-market bidding. I've got pretty good ties to both Chi and my other market, so I've been a bit worried about showing no flight risk to whichever city I've been talking to. I don't think the OCS advice explanation has gone over poorly so far, but of course I don't just say "OCS told me so."

[WheninLaw]

Scarier for 1L's is what was posted in the other thread that 40% of people don't get something out of oci. I did not know that but that seems way higher than i thought, even if thats not counting the quinn (lol) offers

Step 1: Spend a year posting lots of stats until people start trusting you
Step 2: Build up a reputation of being extremely derpy and assburgerish
Step 3: Slowly start posting fake-ass stats to see how many people believe you
Step 4: When questioned about the source of the stats, vaguely state "file on Chalk"
Step 5: Successfully troll classmates for no reason other than because you can

Step 6: Summer at Irell & Manella

Oh boy tell me this is true

[2014]

I'd put the out of OCI numbers at about 30% if you include the 15% PI/Strike Outs in that. If they meant that of the 85% who work at firms, nearly half of those get jobs out of OCI they are full of shit.


Also lol @ the K&E aspie dude saying that "grades matter duh". What really matters in screeners is your resume. K&Es just happen to be able to put something on your resume that signals grades. You all have been through OCI now, how many interviewers did you see look at your transcript in any sort of detail while you were in the room? A number rapidly approaching zero I imagine. Now for those of you who had an interview following a break did you ever look in the peephole and see what they were doing? It was one of two things 1. checking their blackberry, 2. glancing at resumes for upcoming interviews. And then magically callbacks happen usually the same day, sometimes two. Just think about it, the amount of fucks given at the screener-->cb stage for grades has to be exceedingly low. Then once you hit the CB stage (especially for CA/NY/DC) they have spent like $1200 getting you in front of them and wasted a half day of attorney billables to talk to you so the odds are in your favor.

For firms that are ACTUALLY grade selective (Wachtell, W&C, Irell, Munger, maybe Boies) I'm sure they care more but even then most of the work is done for them by people self selecting out of the screeners and they can just proxy grades with K&E or LR and call it a day.

I'm also relatively convinced that the above holds true for Chicago but I could be persuaded otherwise more easily since they often CB a day or two later which means the recruiting people have time to get their hands on your transcript and they are the ones with the time and attention to actually calculate a GPA.

[Anonymous User]

I'd put the out of OCI numbers at about 30% if you include the 15% PI/Strike Outs in that. If they meant that of the 85% who work at firms, nearly half of those get jobs out of OCI they are full of shit.


Also lol @ the K&E aspie dude saying that "grades matter duh". What really matters in screeners is your resume. K&Es just happen to be able to put something on your resume that signals grades. You all have been through OCI now, how many interviewers did you see look at your transcript in any sort of detail while you were in the room? A number rapidly approaching zero I imagine. Now for those of you who had an interview following a break did you ever look in the peephole and see what they were doing? It was one of two things 1. checking their blackberry, 2. glancing at resumes for upcoming interviews. And then magically callbacks happen usually the same day, sometimes two. Just think about it, the amount of fucks given at the screener-->cb stage for grades has to be exceedingly low. Then once you hit the CB stage (especially for CA/NY/DC) they have spent like $1200 getting you in front of them and wasted a half day of attorney billables to talk to you so the odds are in your favor.

For firms that are ACTUALLY grade selective (Wachtell, W&C, Irell, Munger, maybe Boies) I'm sure they care more but even then most of the work is done for them by people self selecting out of the screeners and they can just proxy grades with K&E or LR and call it a day.

I'm also relatively convinced that the above holds true for Chicago but I could be persuaded otherwise more easily since they often CB a day or two later which means the recruiting people have time to get their hands on your transcript and they are the ones with the time and attention to actually calculate a GPA.

K&E Chicago is pretty grade selective. Both sharepartners had my GPA written in big black letters and circled on my transcript. I heard from someone on the inside that it's rare (though not entirely impossible) for someone with below a 178 to get a callback.

[Anonymous User]

I've also heard of their 178 cutoff. But past that I think other factors matter a lot more relatively. Also 178 isn't crazy high.

[Anonymous User]

Dings from OMelveny and Goodwin Procter SF, via email.

[Anonymous User]

I have roughly a 175.5 and am sitting on 9 CBs (I'll probably strike out but whatever).

What market(s) did you bid?

[Anonymous User]

Steptoe DC ding, MH, email

[Anonymous User]

I have roughly a 175.5 and am sitting on 9 CBs (I'll probably strike out but whatever).

What market(s) did you bid?

Split NYC and Chicago 50/50, received 5 Chi CBs and 4 NYC. I have pretty strong Chicago ties fwiw, so I'm sure that was at least a little bit of a factor for Chicago firms

[Anonymous User]

Cadwalader DC ding

[Anonymous User]

K&E summer here. Buddy of mine was told he had the lowest GPA they'd given an offer to, so you can probably cross-reference that cut-off with the CB report.

[Anonymous User]

K&E summer here. Buddy of mine was told he had the lowest GPA they'd given an offer to, so you can probably cross-reference that cut-off with the CB report.

the new report only has the 25th percentile, so we don't know what the lowest GPA is anymore

[Anonymous User]

cravath offer, cb today

[Anonymous User]

K&E summer here. Buddy of mine was told he had the lowest GPA they'd given an offer to, so you can probably cross-reference that cut-off with the CB report.

what was it? URM? WE?

[Anonymous User]

cravath offer, cb today

Does anyone know how many people from UChicago get Cravath callbacks?

[Anonymous User]

Got an invitation to do a Willkie screener after sending in a cover letter + transcript/resume on Aug 26

[Anonymous User]

So...what happens if I end up with 0 callbacks?

I've heard suggestions to apply to non-OCI firms, but if I just suck at interviewing is that likely to be successful? Could I do something else (like RAing) next summer and then try for 3L OCI?

I'd appreciate any encouragement about this. Feel like I jumped through all these stupid fucking hoops to get good grades, made myself miserable over the summer, and it was all for nothing.

[WheninLaw]

So...what happens if I end up with 0 callbacks?

I've heard suggestions to apply to non-OCI firms, but if I just suck at interviewing is that likely to be successful? Could I do something else (like RAing) next summer and then try for 3L OCI?

I'd appreciate any encouragement about this. Feel like I jumped through all these stupid fucking hoops to get good grades, made myself miserable over the summer, and it was all for nothing.

I would mass mail...immediately. Obviously there is something amiss with your interviewing ability, so maybe speak to OCS/upperclassmen to fix it. Also, firms will give CBs for quite a while, so do not lose hope yet. I don't think RA'ing is a viable fallback.

[Anonymous User]

So...what happens if I end up with 0 callbacks?

I've heard suggestions to apply to non-OCI firms, but if I just suck at interviewing is that likely to be successful? Could I do something else (like RAing) next summer and then try for 3L OCI?

I'd appreciate any encouragement about this. Feel like I jumped through all these stupid fucking hoops to get good grades, made myself miserable over the summer, and it was all for nothing.

Apply NOW to government jobs.

Also, this is just something that might make life shittier, but if you aren't already on a journal, try doing the topical thing to get onto LR to improve your resume before 3L OCI.

Maybe some of the other upperclassmen have more experience with what options there are.

[Anonymous User]

So...what happens if I end up with 0 callbacks?

I've heard suggestions to apply to non-OCI firms, but if I just suck at interviewing is that likely to be successful? Could I do something else (like RAing) next summer and then try for 3L OCI?

I'd appreciate any encouragement about this. Feel like I jumped through all these stupid fucking hoops to get good grades, made myself miserable over the summer, and it was all for nothing.

For whatever it's worth I'm right there with you.

[Anonymous User]

So...what happens if I end up with 0 callbacks?

I've heard suggestions to apply to non-OCI firms, but if I just suck at interviewing is that likely to be successful? Could I do something else (like RAing) next summer and then try for 3L OCI?

I'd appreciate any encouragement about this. Feel like I jumped through all these stupid fucking hoops to get good grades, made myself miserable over the summer, and it was all for nothing.

For whatever it's worth I'm right there with you.

Thanks...:(

[Anonymous User]

A&P DC ding by email.

Kids, don't underestimate how selective DC is.