UChicago OCI 2013 Forum

[skers]

Transferring in from USC/WUSTL/GW. Was top 1%. Any idea how aggressively I can bid/what GPA that may equate to at Chicago?

As far as i know, you're kind of in a different boat as a transfer and will be evaluated based on your old school's criteria and not UChi's retarded scale.

[gchatbrah]

Transferring in from USC/WUSTL/GW. Was top 1%. Any idea how aggressively I can bid/what GPA that may equate to at Chicago?

I think you're largely judged based on the standards they would use at your previous school. The benefit of the transfer is being able to get to more employers without a screening process. That being said, that class rank is outrageous, so grades aren't going to be the issue as much as finding the employers that are friendly to transfers. I think that sort of info has been discussed before on TLS, so I'd do some digging.

Edit: whoops, scooped.

[Anonymous User]

Transferring in from USC/WUSTL/GW. Was top 1%. Any idea how aggressively I can bid/what GPA that may equate to at Chicago?

Transfer from 2013 here, so I'm speaking from experience - At top 1% at your old school, your GPA is a complete nonissue for OCI.

Unless you have HYP UG + substantial finance experience, WLRK is out (and even then, 99% still out). Places like Williams & Connolly, Susman, etc. are not happening either. Otherwise, every other firm is in play. Your make-or-break will be everything other than law school GPA - how you interview, work experience, etc.

[Anonymous User]

177.3 - 177.7. Only interested in NY/Philly (the latter being mostly mass-mailed). No post-college work experience but probably more in college than most. Can tell a quasi-convincing transactional story (solid 1L experience in this regard as well), and want to practice transactional law.

Clearly Wachtell/CSM/Sullcrom are out, and DPW is probably not worth pushing other firms out of the way for, despite being reportedly "fit-focused." Any other firms in NY out of my league grade-wise? Thanks.

STB/GDC/Cleary/Paul Weiss/Debevoise. I'm not sure how you would define "out of your league," but it would be a shame to miss out on a screener with a more realistic firm just to have the small shot at one of these firms dipping below their standard and offering a CB.

-Steve Holt!

[Anonymous User]

177.3-177.7. Want Chicago but willing to do NY bids for safety reasons. Would a Jenner bid be completely wasted? Or am I on the bubble enough where it's going to be a crapshoot wherever?

[gchatbrah]

177.3 - 177.7. Only interested in NY/Philly (the latter being mostly mass-mailed). No post-college work experience but probably more in college than most. Can tell a quasi-convincing transactional story (solid 1L experience in this regard as well), and want to practice transactional law.

Clearly Wachtell/CSM/Sullcrom are out, and DPW is probably not worth pushing other firms out of the way for, despite being reportedly "fit-focused." Any other firms in NY out of my league grade-wise? Thanks.

STB/GDC/Cleary/Paul Weiss/Debevoise. I'm not sure how you would define "out of your league," but it would be a shame to miss out on a screener with a more realistic firm just to have the small shot at one of these firms dipping below their standard and offering a CB.

-Steve Holt!

Anybody have additional opinions? The latter 4 make sense, but scouring previous threads seems to indicate that STB is not that grade conscious at CN. Maybe that has something to do with the need to fly us out there, though.

3Ls/Alums that went through OCI with hair-above-median grades would be helpful as well. Thanks all.

[Emma.]

177.3-177.7. Want Chicago but willing to do NY bids for safety reasons. Would a Jenner bid be completely wasted? Or am I on the bubble enough where it's going to be a crapshoot wherever?

I don't think Jenner is especially grade conscious. They are definitely worth a bid. I'd also look at firms like Katten, Jones Day, Morgan Lewis, and Schiff.

Also: Everyone who is considering Chicago should think carefully about whether they want to bid on Winston & Strawn after they screwed 2/3 of their summer class in the 2012 summer.

[gchatbrah]

177.3-177.7. Want Chicago but willing to do NY bids for safety reasons. Would a Jenner bid be completely wasted? Or am I on the bubble enough where it's going to be a crapshoot wherever?

I don't think Jenner is especially grade conscious. They are definitely worth a bid. I'd also look at firms like Katten, Jones Day, Morgan Lewis, and Schiff.

Also: Everyone who is considering Chicago should think carefully about whether they want to bid on Winston & Strawn after they screwed 2/3 of their summer class in the 2012 summer.

1/3 right? They no-offered 11/33 summers didn't they?

[Anonymous User]

http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticl ... Ranks_Thin

I would only take a W&S offer if it was your only one.

[Anonymous User]

177.3-177.7. Want Chicago but willing to do NY bids for safety reasons. Would a Jenner bid be completely wasted? Or am I on the bubble enough where it's going to be a crapshoot wherever?

I don't think Jenner is especially grade conscious. They are definitely worth a bid. I'd also look at firms like Katten, Jones Day, Morgan Lewis, and Schiff.

Also: Everyone who is considering Chicago should think carefully about whether they want to bid on Winston & Strawn after they screwed 2/3 of their summer class in the 2012 summer.

1/3 right? They no-offered 11/33 summers didn't they?

Yup and they no-offered 2/3 Chicago kids that were there.

[Anonymous User]

177.3-177.7. Want Chicago but willing to do NY bids for safety reasons. Would a Jenner bid be completely wasted? Or am I on the bubble enough where it's going to be a crapshoot wherever?

I don't think Jenner is especially grade conscious. They are definitely worth a bid. I'd also look at firms like Katten, Jones Day, Morgan Lewis, and Schiff.

Also: Everyone who is considering Chicago should think carefully about whether they want to bid on Winston & Strawn after they screwed 2/3 of their summer class in the 2012 summer.

1/3 right? They no-offered 11/33 summers didn't they?

Yup and they no-offered 2/3 Chicago kids that were there.

*scratches off of bidlist.

[HoratioHornblower]

.

[Anonymous User]

Looking at NY firms, GPA between 178 and 179. Clearly WLRK, Cravath, probably S&C not happening, right? I remember OCS saying 178 was solid territory for a number of other V10s, but then again, is OCS to be believed?

[Anonymous User]

Looking at NY/Chi transactional with a 180 - would it be safe to assume I'm in the grade range for most firms (maybe with the exception of WLRK)? And in terms of filling out the first 20 bids (since it seems like it's harder to get interviews after that), what mix of selective and less selective firms should I be aiming for?

[Anonymous User]

random ? have K&E designations come out?

[Anonymous User]

I'm a transfer student from a 15-20 school, top 15%, wrote on to law review, work experience, and strong chicago ties. With that lower class rank but solid other factors, are there any firms that are completely off the table? Anything else I should know? Focusing on Chicago but also looking at DC and California.

[Anonymous User]

Looking at NY firms, GPA between 178 and 179. Clearly WLRK, Cravath, probably S&C not happening, right? I remember OCS saying 178 was solid territory for a number of other V10s, but then again, is OCS to be believed?

WLRK is almost certainly not happening, Cravath might depending on which side of the 178 - 179 spectrum you fall in. SullCrom is absolutely worth the bid, they took 9 UChi SAs last year only 3 of which were on LR from what I can tell.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know if I should be emailing OCS to get answers to bidlist questions?

No reason not to, although in all likelihood they'll just rubberstamp it.

[Emma.]

Looking at NY/Chi transactional with a 180 - would it be safe to assume I'm in the grade range for most firms (maybe with the exception of WLRK)? And in terms of filling out the first 20 bids (since it seems like it's harder to get interviews after that), what mix of selective and less selective firms should I be aiming for?

If you end up grading on to LR, there's almost no NY firm that is out of reach. WLRK is possible with a 180 if you have relevant work experience. Don't waste a top 20 bid on Wachtell though. My year only 10–12 masochists bid them, so they had a ton of empty slots.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a transfer student from a 15-20 school, top 15%, wrote on to law review, work experience, and strong chicago ties. With that lower class rank but solid other factors, are there any firms that are completely off the table? Anything else I should know? Focusing on Chicago but also looking at DC and California.

C/O 2013 transfer here going to a Chicago firm, so I will speak to that market.

Does your old school feed to Chicago? Firms here may be more likely to take a look at your GPA than the top 1% transfer who posted. But that fact is probably entirely mitigated by LR + ties + work experience though, so I doubt any Chicago firm is out of the question.

[Xifeng]

Good luck, everyone! Feel free to PM me with questions about bidding NYC/general questions, I'll see what I remember from last year.

[RodneyRuxin]

Whoever the OP is should update the OP to request that people a) show their bidlist when they say where they missed firms and b) post GPA/office when they get callbacks.

Looking back on the past threads these are things that I think will be really valuable to others.




Not that our class even gets on tls....

[Anonymous User]

Emma, thank you for the help.

180 average here. Multiple years of WE. Want CA and only CA. Solid CA ties. Didn't do write-on. Questions:

1. Is MTO or Gibson Dunn out of the question since LR isn't happening?
2. Are there any CA firms that I need to rank particularly high due to popularity? Thinking OMM, MOFO, etc.

[Emma.]

Emma, thank you for the help.

180 average here. Multiple years of WE. Want CA and only CA. Solid CA ties. Didn't do write-on. Questions:

1. Is MTO or Gibson Dunn out of the question since LR isn't happening?
2. Are there any CA firms that I need to rank particularly high due to popularity? Thinking OMM, MOFO, etc.

Congrats on the grades. You are going to be super sought after by most firms, and I don't see LR being an obstacle for GDC. MTO is also worth a shot, but they probably care a little more about LR. Of the CA firms, I'd say Keker & Van Nest is the only one that is probably a wasted bid without LR. Just curious, why no write-on?

You should probably just rank firms in order of your preference. At least in my year almost all the CA offices had the same number of interview slots, and it was always the same ~20 kids at each interview. FWIW, MoFo is a great self-promoter, but I think the firm is really miserable. I had an awful experience when I interviewed.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a transfer student from a 15-20 school, top 15%, wrote on to law review, work experience, and strong chicago ties. With that lower class rank but solid other factors, are there any firms that are completely off the table? Anything else I should know? Focusing on Chicago but also looking at DC and California.

Congrats onto writing onto Law Review! It's been a couple years since a transfer has done that. I think that the top DC firms (e.g. W&C and Covington) are probably out. The top Cali firms (e.g. Irell and Munger) also are probably going to be out. In terms of Chicago, no firms are completely off the table.