Penn OCI Forum

[Anonymous User]

hogan and akin, maybe king spalding too

[Anonymous User]

27/60. Around 10 NY/10 DC, with regional market making up the rest. Looking to pick up any of Skadden/Hogan/Gibson DC if anyone's looking to trade for NYC/other DC firms.

Also, just echoing a few other posters: where do we see what firms have open slots and where can we swap firms?

- Avon

[CaptainQuaker]

People post on here and on the student commons https://goat.law.upenn.edu/cf/classifieds/

To swap I believe you just send CPP an email stating who is swapping with who and what firm(s) for what firm(s).

[Anonymous User]

Different anon here, but also looking to pick up Hogan, A&P, and Baker Botts (all DC) if anyone wants NY or maybe other DC firms. Seems like Hogan is really popular this year.

[penn278]

Yeah I bid Hogan 4th and didn't get it...crazy. Also looking to pick up Hogan and Skadden DC

[Anonymous User]

During my bidlist review, CPP told me that people didn't get Hogan last year unless they bid them 1 or 2. It also looks like DC was particularly popular this year. GDC and A&P seemed to go pretty early too.

[Anonymous User]

I'm thinking non-NY markets were popular this year. I only picked up 19 and missed out on almost every that was non-NY, even in the top 10. (did not bid any DC firms though) I did pick up some un-selective and previously popular NY firms into the 20s and even low 30s. If true it would be in-line with what it feels like talking to people around school

I would trade just about any of my NY firms for Wilson Sonsini or Cooley CA offices, let me know.

--Q

[PennBull]

Man it seems like the disappointment from last year's group re: DC didn't deter a bunch of y'all. I wish you the best of luck.

[Anonymous User]

Man it seems like the disappointment from last year's group re: DC didn't deter a bunch of y'all. I wish you the best of luck.

Any idea if the disappointment was from people who overestimated their range (ie, 3.4s bidding W&C/A&P), or did a decent number of genuinely competitive bidders strike out?

Personally tried to mix in NYC + regional market with DC even though DC is the goal. Grades seem to be in range for most firms.

[PennBull]

Man it seems like the disappointment from last year's group re: DC didn't deter a bunch of y'all. I wish you the best of luck.

Any idea if the disappointment was from people who overestimated their range (ie, 3.4s bidding W&C/A&P), or did a decent number of genuinely competitive bidders strike out?

Personally tried to mix in NYC + regional market with DC even though DC is the goal. Grades seem to be in range for most firms.

I think everyone who bid DC was disappointed in some way or another

Even if one didn't strike out often times they were left with only a small handful of firms to choose from, often ones they weren't keen on

I mean it's past the point of it mattering, your bids are your bids but I'm genuinely surprised people had trouble even getting bids for DC firms in the lottery is all

[Anonymous User]

Looking to pick up Cahill, Paul Hastings NY and/or Kaye Scholer. Willing to trade 2 for 1.

For the upperclassman: when is the best time to start trading? Should we wait to see what we get from the wait lists? Or will there be so little movement off the wait lists, even for firms we missed out on in our top 10, that we should start trading ASAP? Thank you.

-Regular type dude

[Anonymous User]

Man it seems like the disappointment from last year's group re: DC didn't deter a bunch of y'all. I wish you the best of luck.

Any idea if the disappointment was from people who overestimated their range (ie, 3.4s bidding W&C/A&P), or did a decent number of genuinely competitive bidders strike out?

Personally tried to mix in NYC + regional market with DC even though DC is the goal. Grades seem to be in range for most firms.

I think everyone who bid DC was disappointed in some way or another

Even if one didn't strike out often times they were left with only a small handful of firms to choose from, often ones they weren't keen on

I mean it's past the point of it mattering, your bids are your bids but I'm genuinely surprised people had trouble even getting bids for DC firms in the lottery is all

It wasn't just DC. I missed out on half my high-ranked Philly bids, despite putting them several slots higher than what people got them with last year. I didn't have any problem getting my NY slots.

[Anonymous User]

How late can we trade? Or is that allowed only during the waitlist review period? I have Jones Day DC that I am potentially willing to trade...looking for A&P DC and WilmerHale DC.

-Tyrion

[Nelson]

Man it seems like the disappointment from last year's group re: DC didn't deter a bunch of y'all. I wish you the best of luck.

Any idea if the disappointment was from people who overestimated their range (ie, 3.4s bidding W&C/A&P), or did a decent number of genuinely competitive bidders strike out?

Personally tried to mix in NYC + regional market with DC even though DC is the goal. Grades seem to be in range for most firms.

Expect to have a much more limited range of choices than you would have in NYC even if you have top grades. That said, plenty of people ended up in DC last year, it's just most of those people could have or did have twice as many NYC options as DC.

[wildcatatpenn]

Looking to pick up Cahill, Paul Hastings NY and/or Kaye Scholer. Willing to trade 2 for 1.

For the upperclassman: when is the best time to start trading? Should we wait to see what we get from the wait lists? Or will there be so little movement off the wait lists, even for firms we missed out on in our top 10, that we should start trading ASAP? Thank you.

-Regular type dude

PM me. I have Cahill and Kaye Scholer. Willing to hear offers for Kaye, but I bid extremely highly to get Cahill.



Also, this was me:

I would trade just about any of my NY firms for Wilson Sonsini or Cooley CA offices, let me know.

--Q

If anyone has and could be willing to trade those CA firms for almost anything that I have, let me know. Got some good stuff to offer

[PennBull]

How late can we trade? Or is that allowed only during the waitlist review period? I have Jones Day DC that I am potentially willing to trade...looking for A&P DC and WilmerHale DC.

-Tyrion

I traded during the OCI period

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any ida about GPA to percentile conversions? The pie charts on the excel spreadsheet kind of flew over my head because I didn't know what top 10 or 15% were

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any ida about GPA to percentile conversions? The pie charts on the excel spreadsheet kind of flew over my head because I didn't know what top 10 or 15% were

The pie charts represent individual grades, not student averages or percentiles. So if "A+" occupies 10% of the chart, all that means is that 10% of the grades of offered students were A+'s, not that 10% of offered students had an A+ average.

Penn doesn't allow us to put any of our own GPA or class rank guesstimations on our resumes, btw. Since we don't know actual percentiles there's no real way to calculate them anyway.

--Brady

[PennBull]

Anyone have any ida about GPA to percentile conversions? The pie charts on the excel spreadsheet kind of flew over my head because I didn't know what top 10 or 15% were

Just use them as rough approximations. If you're close, that's good enough. If you're not close, you're 99% probably not good enough.

[Anonymous User]

I've been told to reach out to Penn alums at firms you're interested in. Should we be talking to summer associates or associates? If there are no Penn summers this year is it inappropriate to talk to an associate? What if that associate is one of the interviewers for OCI this year?

-Yak

[run26.2]

I've been told to reach out to Penn alums at firms you're interested in. Should we be talking to summer associates or associates? If there are no Penn summers this year is it inappropriate to talk to an associate? What if that associate is one of the interviewers for OCI this year?

-Yak

A summer associate is not a Penn alum. Furthermore, SAs don't have pull and would be useful only as an information source. You should reach out to the attorneys, whether an associate or, more rarely, a partner.

[Nelson]

I've been told to reach out to Penn alums at firms you're interested in. Should we be talking to summer associates or associates? If there are no Penn summers this year is it inappropriate to talk to an associate? What if that associate is one of the interviewers for OCI this year?

-Yak

A summer associate is not a Penn alum. Furthermore, SAs don't have pull and would be useful only as an information source. You should reach out to the attorneys, whether an associate or, more rarely, a partner.

The point is to get information. It's not like junior associates can affect hiring either. IME you'll have a higher response rate from summers (ie the rising 3Ls) than you will from associates and a much higher response rate from associates than partners.

[Anonymous User]

Can we go ahead and send out mailers to the firms we unsuccessfully bid on, or is it appropriate to wait until after the waitlist/cancellation period?

If so, what's a good way to phrase that in a cover letter? Something to the effect of "I unfortunately was not successful in bidding on Smith & Jones through my school's on-campus interview process, but I would still very much appreciate the opportunity to interview with you at your convenience"?

[PennBull]

I've been told to reach out to Penn alums at firms you're interested in. Should we be talking to summer associates or associates? If there are no Penn summers this year is it inappropriate to talk to an associate? What if that associate is one of the interviewers for OCI this year?

-Yak

A summer associate is not a Penn alum. Furthermore, SAs don't have pull and would be useful only as an information source. You should reach out to the attorneys, whether an associate or, more rarely, a partner.

The point is to get information. It's not like junior associates can affect hiring either. IME you'll have a higher response rate from summers (ie the rising 3Ls) than you will from associates and a much higher response rate from associates than partners.

Also it helps show interviewers you're genuinely interested by referencing a conversation you had with xyz

I would never contact a partner just because I wouldn't want to screw anything up with anyone who has pull

Associates and summers are totally fine for the purpose

I also had better luck with graduates of my undergrad, we had more to talk about

[Skump]

Speak to associates with several years under their belts. You want to talk to someone who's been at a firm long enough to have valuable insights, but not so long as to be utterly removed from the kind of work you will actually be doing (::cough:: partners).

Senior associates are particularly valuable because there is a respectable chance they will end up interviewing you at OCI. This happened several times to me.

Don't bother with summer associates-their firm "experience" has only the most tennuous connection to reality.