Hey, OP here. Thanks for that information. Very useful, especially the part about California because I don't have a good sense of the level of competition.Anonymous User wrote:Hey OP, I'm a UVA 3L with an EE degree but no relevant WE and a similar 1L GPA (maybe very slightly higher - it was between 3.4 and 3.45). That may be enough to out me, but I guess I don't really care.
My OGI experience:
DC: No connections. Bid on about 10 DC firms (including IP boutiques like Finnegan) and got interviews at precisely 0. Also got 0 interviews for offices in other cities of firms that interviewed for both DC and the city I applied to in the same interview room (I know that's horribly worded, but hopefully you know what I mean). People are not exaggerating. DC was brutal last year.
CA: Good but not great connections. Bid on about 15-20 CA firms and got interviews at all but 6. I got bids at all of the IP boutiques I bid for in the area of CA I had ties to and at about half of the ones in the other part CA. Percentage-wise, I did almost equally well with big, general practice firms (everywhere from V10-V100 level). Got a handful of callbacks.
NYC: No interest; didn't bid on it.
Secondary Home Market: Bid on about 15 firms and got interviews at about 10. Got a couple of callbacks. Not many IP boutiques here, so most of the firms were bigger, general practice firms.
If you don't mind me asking, did the order of your bids make any difference? In other words, for the CA firms, were the interviews you received pre-select or lottery? Also, did you rank the DC firms at the top or did you mix it up between CA and DC firms?
I realize that this year is different than last year (60% pre-select, 20% top-5 list, 20% lottery), but I'm curious how you received your interviews. This is valuable just so I know whether it's worthwhile to put certain firms in the top 5 or top 10 bids. If I can receive a preselection (I have no idea if this is remotely possible), then I might as well put them on the bottom of my list.
Thanks again for your post. It was very helpful. Again, very good food for thought in terms of applying to DC.