UChicago 2011 OCI Discussion and Results Forum

[ndirish2010]

Yeah I would say 330-350 is about right. Kirkland and Sidley account for 40 of the increase on their own.

[courtneylove]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

[Anonymous User]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I think you're okay. I've been talking to a recent UChi grad and he said that NY isn't as sought after as Chicago and it's okay to bid them lower than you would think to otherwise.

[Helmholtz]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I think you're okay. I've been talking to a recent UChi grad and he said that NY isn't as sought after as Chicago and it's okay to bid them lower than you would think to otherwise.

I don't think the problem is knowing what's typically more sought after; it's trying to figure out if people are scared enough by the market (Chicago in particular) to flock to NYC, which might be seen as a less-selective safe haven.

[Emma.]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I think you're okay. I've been talking to a recent UChi grad and he said that NY isn't as sought after as Chicago and it's okay to bid them lower than you would think to otherwise.

I don't think the problem is knowing what's typically more sought after; it's trying to figure out if people are scared enough by the market (Chicago in particular) to flock to NYC, which might be seen as a less-selective safe haven.

This.

I think it is going to be tough to make predictions for this year based on last year. OCS did say that you'll usually get around 15 of your top 20 picks, or something like that...

[tycho_brahe]

This.

I think it is going to be tough to make predictions for this year based on last year. OCS did say that you'll usually get around 15 of your top 20 picks, or something like that...

It would be cool if any 3Ls or beyond weigh in and tell us how many interviews they ended up getting out of their top bids.

[Whatisthis]

Yeah I would say 330-350 is about right. Kirkland and Sidley account for 40 of the increase on their own.

Ugh! It seems like this year isn't going to be much better than last, at least in Chicago.

Any 3Ls able to comment on how difficult Chicago was compared to NYC last year. Looking at last year's OCI thread it seemed substantially more difficult and chaotic.

[Anonymous User]

3L here. I got 20 out of ... I want to say 40ish? I don't remember exactly, but I know I didn't use all 50 bids. Split my bids between Chicago and another major non-NYC market. Hardest ones to get an OCI interview with were small Chicago firms (the ones with 20-30 slots) and mid-range firms (i.e., not the most prestigious but still market-paying or close to it) in the other market.

I didn't bid on NYC, so can't speak to how much harder it was. It seems like though there was lower interest in NYC in my class in general, so I'm not sure how much that played into its perception of being "easier" to land a job in. Definitely MUCH easier to get an interview slot in an NY firm though.

[Anonymous User]

3L here. I got 20 out of ... I want to say 40ish? I don't remember exactly, but I know I didn't use all 50 bids. Split my bids between Chicago and another major non-NYC market. Hardest ones to get an OCI interview with were small Chicago firms (the ones with 20-30 slots) and mid-range firms (i.e., not the most prestigious but still market-paying or close to it) in the other market.

I didn't bid on NYC, so can't speak to how much harder it was. It seems like though there was lower interest in NYC in my class in general, so I'm not sure how much that played into its perception of being "easier" to land a job in. Definitely MUCH easier to get an interview slot in an NY firm though.

Just to clarify - using less bids does not increase your chances at getting a firm, right?

[Anonymous User]

3L here. I got 20 out of ... I want to say 40ish? I don't remember exactly, but I know I didn't use all 50 bids. Split my bids between Chicago and another major non-NYC market. Hardest ones to get an OCI interview with were small Chicago firms (the ones with 20-30 slots) and mid-range firms (i.e., not the most prestigious but still market-paying or close to it) in the other market.

I didn't bid on NYC, so can't speak to how much harder it was. It seems like though there was lower interest in NYC in my class in general, so I'm not sure how much that played into its perception of being "easier" to land a job in. Definitely MUCH easier to get an interview slot in an NY firm though.

Just to clarify - using less bids does not increase your chances at getting a firm, right?

Right. There just weren't 50 that I was interested in. The firms do not know where you ranked them in your bid list.

[duckmoney]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

[fruitjuice]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

[Sentry]

I was bored at work so I made a spreadsheet for Chicago SA positions. I came up with 321 for 2011, but that's probably a little low because a few firms still had TBD on NALP. PM me if you want the link.

[Emma.]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

That might be true as far as Chi and NYC anyway.

[Transferthrowaway]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

Another year without Crane Poole & Schmidt.

[courtneylove]

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

this is so not true... only 18 on my list of "must apply" nyc firms are coming to OCI; i still have 25 to mass mail, and that's before desperate "mass mailing" everyone does on top of targeted applications.

[Anonymous User]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

You will not be screwing yourself. Anyone not at the very top of the class who is bidding New York will want to get plenty of interviews with the generally less selective 21 slot firms. Many of the firms with 42 slots are out of reach for at least half the class. Every year we only send around 40 people to New York. Even if a lot of people use leftover bids on New York firms, it is very unlikely that any of the 42 slots firms would fill-up in the first 10 bids. Now, if there is one firm that you think you are well qualified for and that you really want to work for, maybe bid it in your top 10 just so you don't have to worry about it. Otherwise, I think people bidding New York should plan to use at least their first 10 bids, or more if you are median or lower, exclusively on firms with 21 slots.

To address the idea that everyone is going to bid New York this year:
A lot of people come to this UChicago because they want to be in Chicago. This isn't like deciding to bid on New York rather than DC, there are much larger differences in cost of living and quality of life in the minds of most UChicago students. The people most likely to to ignore a desire to be in Chicago and go for New York because it might be easier will be people around and below median. These people will not be even remotely competitive for most of the New York firms with 42 slots, so they will focus their efforts on the 21 slot firms. Basically, it's possible that more people will bid New York this year, but I would expect any increased competitiveness for New York firm interviews to mostly be seen in the firms that are not overly selective and that have only 21 slots.

[Dany]

Any/all info that you guys share as OCI goes on will be greatly appreciated by those of us going through this in a little over a year...

[Anonymous User]

so, if three or four of my top ten picks have 42 interview slots apiece, i'm not going to screw myself by dropping them into the teens? i'm bidding straight new york.

You will not be screwing yourself. Anyone not at the very top of the class who is bidding New York will want to get plenty of interviews with the generally less selective 21 slot firms. Many of the firms with 42 slots are out of reach for at least half the class. Every year we only send around 40 people to New York. Even if a lot of people use leftover bids on New York firms, it is very unlikely that any of the 42 slots firms would fill-up in the first 10 bids. Now, if there is one firm that you think you are well qualified for and that you really want to work for, maybe bid it in your top 10 just so you don't have to worry about it. Otherwise, I think people bidding New York should plan to use at least their first 10 bids, or more if you are median or lower, exclusively on firms with 21 slots.

To address the idea that everyone is going to bid New York this year:
A lot of people come to this UChicago because they want to be in Chicago. This isn't like deciding to bid on New York rather than DC, there are much larger differences in cost of living and quality of life in the minds of most UChicago students. The people most likely to to ignore a desire to be in Chicago and go for New York because it might be easier will be people around and below median. These people will not be even remotely competitive for most of the New York firms with 42 slots, so they will focus their efforts on the 21 slot firms. Basically, it's possible that more people will bid New York this year, but I would expect any increased competitiveness for New York firm interviews to mostly be seen in the firms that are not overly selective and that have only 21 slots.

What are some of the less selective NYC firms with 21 slots? I'm coming in as a transfer so the callback report #s didn't really do anything for me.

[Helmholtz]

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

this is so not true... only 18 on my list of "must apply" nyc firms are coming to OCI; i still have 25 to mass mail, and that's before desperate "mass mailing" everyone does on top of targeted applications.

Woah what? What exactly do you want? You found 25 NYC firms that you wanted that's not coming to OCI, and only 18 that are coming? This seems really odd to me.

[Anonymous User]

How far down can we safely put the big chicago firms

[duckmoney]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

That might be true as far as Chi and NYC anyway.

I was kind of curious about southern firms, FL, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc... do they do OCI or am I going to have to mass mail like crazy?

[Anonymous User]

For us 0Ls who are curious and following the thread, where can we find a list of firms who come to OCI?

Every firm where you'd possibly want to work is coming.

That might be true as far as Chi and NYC anyway.

I was kind of curious about southern firms, FL, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc... do they do OCI or am I going to have to mass mail like crazy?

A few ATL/FL do OCI but otherwise you are going to have to mass mail and have a strong connection to that market in your CL.

[JollyGreenGiant]

How far down can we safely put the big chicago firms

Depends, IMO. People who want Chicago are likely going to put K&E and Sidley both in their top 5 regardless of whether they have the grades or not. If you screw up on those bids you'll be missing out on 1/3rd of the Chicago legal market. It's not worth moving them down so you can try and fit a firm who had 3-5 SAs last year in a spot higher.

[Anonymous User]

I get the feeling tons of people will bid on NY and create a massive glut. This will make things a lot easier for those bidding on Chicago.