The Official OCI Megathread: Drama Welcome! Forum

[Traynor Brah]

doing some more mass mailing and noticed that for 2 cover letters, although i had the firm names correct, the city was wrong. oh well, 2 out of like 60+ isn't bad i guess.

Yeah that's a good rate to only fuck up so few.

[ManoftheHour]

How dumb is it to bid high on mid sized firms in a market in which you do have extensive ties to? Good idea/bad idea?

Depends on the market, how many bids you have, how many slots the mid-sized firms are giving vs. the larger or smaller firms.

Every year a larger law firm intending to hire a lot of students at a given school might allocate sixty interview slots to that school, while another similarly large firm planning to hire fewer students at the same school might have only thirty or forty. Say you are at a school with less than 300 students, it would be a waste to high-bid a large, New York firm of middling selectiveness coming to your school with 60 slots. Because they will probably have interview slots sitting empty in the end, that you can just snatch up by signing up later.

This is the basic consideration, but of course, if you're targeting some secondary market's mid-size firms from an out-of-state NON-T6 school, I'd be very very careful. It is unlikely you'll strike gold through OCI, and more likely that you would hit by networking like crazy.

I see. You have any insight on the CA market? If so, could I send you my bid list to critique?

[whats an updog]

doing some more mass mailing and noticed that for 2 cover letters, although i had the firm names correct, the city was wrong. oh well, 2 out of like 60+ isn't bad i guess.

Yeah that's a good rate to only fuck up so few.

Well 2 that I found. Fuck ups are like cockroaches

[isuperserial]

Question: How much does Law Review matter? Lots of firms have "preferred top 33%, Law Review/Moot Court preferred". I'm below that on grades (just a little better than top 40%), but I do have Law Review.

Can I expect law review to make much of a difference if I don't quite have the grades? Not sure if anyone has an answer to this, I understand OCI is quite difficult to predict.

I think it matters. Here's an anecdote since from what I recall, we go to similarly ranked schools. Two rising 3Ls at my school performed similarly at OCI last year. One dude got only 1 A in his entire 1L year (which would probably put him top 50% but not quite top 1/3) but he made LR and the other dude was top 20% but missed LR. I mean, don't get me wrong. They both sweated bullets until the very end, but finally got one offer each.

The point is, own it. So you didn't have the best grades, but you're still top half. And LR is kinda a big deal. I missed it and I feel like it's my greatest professional failure thus far.

Sounds like good advice. For what it's worth for anyone else who wants to chip in, I'm at a T1 that has send ~25% to Biglaw over the past three years, and I'm shooting for Chicago, if possible. Pretty standard work experience.

If you're at UIUC then LR will definitely help, but grades will matter the most. Bid everything, but based on earlier years you probably won't get more than 5 or 6 interviews. Firms that tend to be less focused on grades and care about LR would probably be Morgan Lewis, Schiff Hardin, McGuireWoods, Burke Warren, Troutman Sanders if they are interviewing, and Vedder Price.

HAH! Apparently I was like a tenth as discreet about my school as I thought I was. But yeah, I am from UIUC. If I get anything out of OCI, I'll be happy. Even if I don't, it's not the end of the world, I know most folks from my school don't get anywhere with OCI, and most get jobs elsewhere.

[ManoftheHour]

In GENERAL, lower Vault ranking = less selective? Is that credited?

[JustHawkin]

In GENERAL, lower Vault ranking = less selective? Is that credited?

Also interested in this. It seems very hard to broadly generalize when comparing different markets, but curious as to whether this rings true when comparing vault firms with HQ in the same market. For example, would a #83 with a NYC HQ be less selective than a #73 with a NYC HQ? (I just picked numbers arbitrarily).

[chuckbass]

In GENERAL, lower Vault ranking = less selective? Is that credited?

Also interested in this. It seems very hard to broadly generalize when comparing different markets, but curious as to whether this rings true when comparing vault firms with HQ in the same market. For example, would a #83 with a NYC HQ be less selective than a #73 with a NYC HQ? (I just picked numbers arbitrarily).

It seems somewhat like that for NYC firms, but not the others, even when just comparing the same markets.

[BigZuck]

Really tough to say and might change depending on what office you're talking about and what market you're talking about.

[sublime]

..

[jbagelboy]

In GENERAL, lower Vault ranking = less selective? Is that credited?

No. It functions as a proxy in very broad strokes, but "generally" Vault correlates very poorly with selectivity.

It's not even really credited in New York, where vault has the most cognizable accuracy. It also varies from school to school. Even schools that place very comparably in general may be treated differently by different firms. "Selectivity" also has multiple meanings; there are firms that are known as more grade selective, and then firms that are more fit selective. But make no assumptions based on vault.

[trebekismyhero]

In GENERAL, lower Vault ranking = less selective? Is that credited?

Definitely not outside of NYC. A quick example is Jenner and Block. They are ranked number 54 in vault, but they are probably the most selective firm in Chicago and one of the most in DC.

Best bet to understand the selectivity of firms is talking to ppl at your school that have already gone through the process. Also posting your bidlist and school here and ppl can tell you, though that might kill anonymity.

[beepboopbeep]

Also worth keeping in mind that selectivity doesn't always = grades. Very possible to get dinged with great grades for someone who had better WE/background/fit, and not just by being a turd in the interview--and whatever non-vault, non-super-grade-conscious firm might end up being the most "selective" of your interviews just in terms of # of CBs/offers compared to screeners. Even if culture is mostly thought of as a flame around these parts, some places seem to take it pretty seriously. Reverse is also true.

Alongside practice group interest, etc. Specialized shops like Axinn, Wilkinson Barker, Ivins are not just selective on grades but also how convincingly you can sell interest/etc in their niche.

[Traynor Brah]

When they schedule your flights for cbs do they include a checked bag? Or do you pay for it and they reimburse you?

[beepboopbeep]

I only took a checked bag once last year but it was fine, just ask the travel agent when you book if you're concerned about it

TCR is carry-on though. You'll potentially be going through a lot of airports, losing 30-45 minutes of your life waiting for baggage check each time is a sure way to make you hate everything

[BmoreOrLess]

I'd also be worried about a bag getting lost with stuff (e.g., shoes) I need for the CB.

[Traynor Brah]

Yeah but I'll be there for a like a week, so clothes shoes, suits etc. in a carry on is probably not going to work. Thanks beepbop.

[acijku2]

Yeah but I'll be there for a like a week, so clothes shoes, suits etc. in a carry on is probably not going to work. Thanks beepbop.

I used to fly a decent amount at my old job and I would always bring a garment bag and a carry on. Little known fact is that most airplanes have a place to hang a garment bag, just ask the flight attendants when you get on.

[JustHawkin]

Yeah but I'll be there for a like a week, so clothes shoes, suits etc. in a carry on is probably not going to work. Thanks beepbop.

I used to fly a decent amount at my old job and I would always bring a garment bag and a carry on. Little known fact is that most airplanes have a place to hang a garment bag, just ask the flight attendants when you get on.

Recommendations for a carry on regulation sized garment bag?

[BmoreOrLess]

Recommendations for a carry on regulation sized garment bag?

I have this. It's serviceable for a suit and a few shirts. I even put it under my seat on the reg so I can put a regular suitcase in the overhead.

[acijku2]

Recommendations for a carry on regulation sized garment bag?

I just used one that my GF got from her work for free. It wasn't a very large or fancy one, just a standard cheap one that got the job done.

[Anonymous User]

Question: is it OK to take a cab from laguardia to your cb (and get it reimbursed), or are you expected to take the subway? There's going to be a short turnaround from landing to my start time and I don't really want to cut it close.

[BigZuck]

Question: is it OK to take a cab from laguardia to your cb (and get it reimbursed), or are you expected to take the subway? There's going to be a short turnaround from landing to my start time and I don't really want to cut it close.

I don't know anything about NYC and how much it costs to cab from that airport but you're good unless this is like outrageously expensive.

If you're ever in doubt about something like this just ask recruiting.

[arklaw13]

Question: is it OK to take a cab from laguardia to your cb (and get it reimbursed), or are you expected to take the subway? There's going to be a short turnaround from landing to my start time and I don't really want to cut it close.

I did this and never had any issues.

[swampman]

Question: is it OK to take a cab from laguardia to your cb (and get it reimbursed), or are you expected to take the subway? There's going to be a short turnaround from landing to my start time and I don't really want to cut it close.

There's no subway to LaGuardia. If the firm required you to take the bus from the airport, in your interview suit, that would be a good hint to ditch the callback.

[beepboopbeep]

Question: is it OK to take a cab from laguardia to your cb (and get it reimbursed), or are you expected to take the subway? There's going to be a short turnaround from landing to my start time and I don't really want to cut it close.

I don't know anything about NYC and how much it costs to cab from that airport but you're good unless this is like outrageously expensive.

If you're ever in doubt about something like this just ask recruiting.

You can get really fucked price-wise by airport cabs in NYC especially if you come in/leave later at night

But just comp it anyway, it's nbd, I had to comp a >$100 cab for a CB once and it didn't end up mattering at all

I mean there's really no other good way to go between airport / downtown in some cities if you don't have a car