Michigan 2014 OCI Thread!!!!!!! Forum

[Anonymous User]

OCP basically told me that selective firms are going to offer to meet up with anyone who put them on their bid list and didn't get an interview if their grades are highly competitive. I'm just dumping some random Boston and San Fran. firms into the bottom 5 slots as a result.

[Anonymous User]

OCP basically told me that selective firms are going to offer to meet up with anyone who put them on their bid list and didn't get an interview if their grades are highly competitive. I'm just dumping some random Boston and San Fran. firms into the bottom 5 slots as a result.

Huh. If you email them and ask, or they just do it on their own, or what?

[Anonymous User]

OCP basically told me that selective firms are going to offer to meet up with anyone who put them on their bid list and didn't get an interview if their grades are highly competitive. I'm just dumping some random Boston and San Fran. firms into the bottom 5 slots as a result.

Are you trying to be bi coastal?

[Anonymous User]

OCP basically told me that selective firms are going to offer to meet up with anyone who put them on their bid list and didn't get an interview if their grades are highly competitive. I'm just dumping some random Boston and San Fran. firms into the bottom 5 slots as a result.

Rising 3l. Sometimes this is true. Sometimes its not. This is risky advice to blindly follow.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah OCP really can't be trusted. They give advice that they think is best for everyone as a collective rather than you as an individual. I know the advice they were giving would have really hurt the number of interviews I got. I didn't follow it and ended up with over 20.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah OCP really can't be trusted. They give advice that they think is best for everyone as a collective rather than you as an individual. I know the advice they were giving would have really hurt the number of interviews I got. I didn't follow it and ended up with over 20.

What, did they tell you to prioritize bids at firms where you're at least above the GPA median, but you prioritized them based on how hard it was to get an interview? Or was it something else?

[Anonymous User]

Yeah OCP really can't be trusted. They give advice that they think is best for everyone as a collective rather than you as an individual. I know the advice they were giving would have really hurt the number of interviews I got. I didn't follow it and ended up with over 20.

What, did they tell you to prioritize bids at firms where you're at least above the GPA median, but you prioritized them based on how hard it was to get an interview? Or was it something else?

Probably the most egregious was telling a friend to bid high (1-3) on firms that generally could be attained by placing a bid in the low to mid 20s. This meant that ones that are actually fought over had to be placed lower, and you weren't going to get the interview.

[Anonymous User]

OCP basically told me that selective firms are going to offer to meet up with anyone who put them on their bid list and didn't get an interview if their grades are highly competitive. I'm just dumping some random Boston and San Fran. firms into the bottom 5 slots as a result.

Huh. If you email them and ask, or they just do it on their own, or what?

This was part of my bid list review talk. I had a very well gamed list. In the process of suggesting that I should game it a little less, they basically said that if I was seriously interested in a firm and I didn't get an OCI interview there was practically no chance that the firm wouldn't take 10 minutes to speak with me. Some of that may have been just wanting to preserve interview slots for others for whom they may do more good. I'm unsure.

Are you trying to be bi coastal

Not exactly. I already have an offer for next summer. Those last 5 or 10 spots have more value in preserving potential geographically diverse opportunities than in getting an interview with a firm I'm not going to end up at. That's how I'm approaching it at this point.

[Anonymous User]

I was seriously interested in a firm and I didn't get an OCI interview there was practically no chance that the firm wouldn't take 10 minutes to speak with me.

Even if you're in the top 1% of the class, this is such awful advice. Firms don't have many "slots" outside of the ones they are scheduled for. The few people who are able to slide in and interview outside of bids are doing it during a break, during lunch, or after interviews are over. There just isn't the time to listen to every candidate that is seriously interested in your firm. If you can set something up beforehand that says we will interview you at X time, and you can do that before bid lists are due, then that is one thing. But if by the date yoru bid list is due, you haven't heard from "Dream Firm X" regarding setting up an out of slot interview, you should go in assuming you're not going to get one of those special interviews and you should bid on them accordingly.

[Anonymous User]

Here is something that everyone here needs to actually take to heart.

Be conservative. About everything.

Don't take risks, don't try to go for the home run, don't think you're smarter than the system. Be conservative. Be conservative in how you bid, in how you dress, in how you interview. The goal is first and foremost to get A job. It is not to get a job at Skadden or Cravath. It is to get any job you can possibly get. Don't do anything that lowers yoru chances of landing a job. If that means you do something that forces you to work at Willkie when, if you took a risk, you had a shot at Cleary, then that's what you do. Getting a job is the most important thing here. Don't fuck that up by thinking you're one of Michigan's "special snowflakes." You're not.

[BuckinghamB]

^This hits the nail on the head.

[Anonymous User]

so 8 out of the 10 of my first bids are to firms that I'm .05-.1 above the median and with large classes.. is that conservative enough?

[Anonymous User]

so 8 out of the 10 of my first bids are to firms that I'm .05-.1 above the median and with large classes.. is that conservative enough?

Depends on the bid to interview ratio of those firms.

[Anonymous User]

Law review has offered AE spots to at least some, in case anyone was curious.

[Anonymous User]

has anyone received an offer from the Private Equity journal?

[Anonymous User]

Here is something that everyone here needs to actually take to heart.

Be conservative. About everything.

Don't take risks, don't try to go for the home run, don't think you're smarter than the system. Be conservative. Be conservative in how you bid, in how you dress, in how you interview. The goal is first and foremost to get A job. It is not to get a job at Skadden or Cravath. It is to get any job you can possibly get. Don't do anything that lowers yoru chances of landing a job. If that means you do something that forces you to work at Willkie when, if you took a risk, you had a shot at Cleary, then that's what you do. Getting a job is the most important thing here. Don't fuck that up by thinking you're one of Michigan's "special snowflakes." You're not.

As someone who almost struck out last year by being risky and thinking I was justified in doing it, I second the above.

The difference between getting a job at a V5 and a V100 means nothing in comparison to the difference between getting biglaw and not getting biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

Law review has offered AE spots to at least some, in case anyone was curious.

Does LR + high grades (3.8+) open up any opportunities that would not be available to someone with those grades in the first place (DC firms, Munger, etc...)?

Basically I am wondering if LR confers any benefit for OCI purposes. I realize it helps for clerkships/ academia.

[potted plant]

Law review has offered AE spots to at least some, in case anyone was curious.

Does LR + high grades (3.8+) open up any opportunities that would not be available to someone with those grades in the first place (DC firms, Munger, etc...)?

Basically I am wondering if LR confers any benefit for OCI purposes. I realize it helps for clerkships/ academia.

Yes, LR helps for OCI. Though, 3.8+ grades, are pretty much competitive for everything anyway. Feel free to PM if you want. I had similar stats last year.

[Anonymous User]

has anyone received an offer from the Private Equity journal?

Yeah, they called about an hour ago.

[Anonymous User]

Ok, here goes:
2.85 GPA
good work experience before and during law school (incl summer position after 1L)

so...what is the strategy here for EIW? Lesser markets? thanks

[Anonymous User]

Hey guys- 3.5, MLR. Should I approach the bidding process any differently with MLR? Let's assume average interviewer, 2yrs D.C. WE, looking at NYC & DC. Of course I've got a few dream firms with GPA medians floating around ~3.7 that I wasn't going to bid on before MLR, but now do you think it's worth throwing one or two in just for shits? Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Ok, here goes:
2.85 GPA
good work experience before and during law school (incl summer position after 1L)

so...what is the strategy here for EIW? Lesser markets? thanks

Where are your ties? I think the general strategy would be bid all the least selective NY firms and then hit any secondary market firms where you may have ties. And of course, mass mail heavily.

[Anonymous User]

Does LR + high grades (3.8+) open up any opportunities that would not be available to someone with those grades in the first place (DC firms, Munger, etc...)?

Your grades and LR make you competitive for every firm that does OCI at Michigan, including Munger and various DC firms. (Even 3.8+s without MLR would be very competitive at almost every firm to come. Maybe a few want to also see MLR, but those are very, very few.) Still, I would not only bid only very selective firms. I would include several large NYC V10s (using the term very loosely) that have large summer classes in your bid lists. But assuming you can interview well (and if not, you have plenty of time to practice), you should do fine. Do not be complacent though.

Hey guys- 3.5, MLR. Should I approach the bidding process any differently with MLR? Let's assume average interviewer, 2yrs D.C. WE, looking at NYC & DC. Of course I've got a few dream firms with GPA medians floating around ~3.7 that I wasn't going to bid on before MLR, but now do you think it's worth throwing one or two in just for shits? Thanks!

In my experience, firms do not reach below their cutoffs for LR folk. LR makes you more attractive to firms that your GPA makes you competitive for. So I would not change your bidlist because you got MLR. But I think, as a 3.5, it is fine to include a handful of firms where your GPA makes you less competitive towards the bottom of your bid list. (You have a higher chance of scoring interviews this way too.) But I would tread carefully: LR does not ensure you will not strike out (nor does a 3.5). You can always mass mails firms you are unable to bid on. And some very selective firms will not fill up their schedules, so that is another way you can get interviews.

[Anonymous User]

has anyone received an offer from the Private Equity journal?

Yeah, they called about an hour ago.

I got an offer via e-mail this morning. I wonder what determines whether you get a call or an e-mail?

[Anonymous User]

Have all MLR invites gone out?