Columbia EIP 2016 Forum

[Anonymous User]

I guess I should put this out as long as we’ve had some DC discussion, since I've only really bounced it off OCS and I'm wondering if I'm missing anyone I should have. GPA 3.90, strong personal and professional DC ties, very focused on lit. I may end up throwing a few NY firms in, but if they ask me why I want to work there I'm not sure what I'd tell them.

1. Hogan (3)
2. Sidley (6)
3. Holland & Knight (7)
4. MoFo (8)
5. Ropes & Gray (9)
6. Simpson (16)
7. Gibson Dunn (18)
8. Arnold & Porter (19)
9. Covington (20)
10. Williams & Connolly (20)
11. Mayer Brown (20)
12. Akin Gump (18)
13. Skadden (20)
14. Crowell & Moring (21)
15. Debevoise (28)
16. Paul Hastings (22)
17. Latham (23)
18. Perkins Coie (23)
19. WilmerHale (27)
20. Morgan Lewis (24)
21. Steptoe (25)
22. Fried Frank (27)
23. Kirkland (27)
24. Cleary (29)
25. Paul Weiss (29)
26. O'Melveny (*)
27. Willkie (*)
28. Dechert (*)
29. Pillsbury (*)
30. Baker Botts (N/A, first year they’re interviewing for the DC office)

[jbagelboy]

columbia gpa's go that high?

I think with a record that perfect assuming you're not a child molester or anything you could just send your transcript next week to a recruiter at any one of those firms and get a callback long before EIP even starts.

also make sure you interview with kellogg huber.

[Anonymous User]

do you have to rank 30 firms when bidding? Can I rank my top 26-27 and then pick up more during add/drop period?

[Anonymous User]

Emailed a firm for a pre-EIP email and they said that Columbia has a strict policy prohibiting firms from interviewing before EIP. But that if I think Columbia would be willing to make an exception, they would love to meet with me.

How should I respond? Clearly pre-EIP interviewing is a widespread thing and Columbia isn't going to punish a V10 for doing it. Should I just tell the firm that? It's in a secondary market, so I think the recruiter may not understand how common early interviews are.

Also WTF Columbia OCS for putting me (and presumably other students) in this position

[Anonymous User]

Bro, I'd kill to be in that position. Here I am sitting on a 3.4 hoping interviewers ask about my single A.

Can we get some more median and below people posting in here? I need to feel less inadequate.

[pinkiepie]

Bro, I'd kill to be in that position. Here I am sitting on a 3.4 hoping interviewers ask about my single A.

Can we get some more median and below people posting in here? I need to feel less inadequate.

There's probably a correlation between being proactive enough to be mass-mailing and having drafts of bid-lists ready this early and getting good grades.

But this thread should have more medians. Anyone with Kent or near it doesn't need to worry about strategic bid-lists: you're getting lots of offers from top firms that you already know to bid on. It's the lower GPAs who need to plan things carefully.

[smaug]

Bro, I'd kill to be in that position. Here I am sitting on a 3.4 hoping interviewers ask about my single A.

Can we get some more median and below people posting in here? I need to feel less inadequate.

There's probably a correlation between being proactive enough to be mass-mailing and having drafts of bid-lists ready this early and getting good grades.

But this thread should have more medians. Anyone with Kent or near it doesn't need to worry about strategic bid-lists: you're getting lots of offers from top firms that you already know to bid on. It's the lower GPAs who need to plan things carefully.

lol you think grades correlate with things (other than grades: decent correlation there)

[MCFC]

Good grades do probably correlate with willingness to share them in this thread though.

[Anonymous User]

Eh, I'll bite.

Median, looking at NY, hoping for tax or lit. If it matters there is a strong upward grade trend, good interviewer, but no real private sector work experience (lots of non-profit/PI stuff).

1. Sidley (2)
2. Skadden (3)
3. Debevoise (4)
4. Weil (6)
5. Milbank (8)
6. Ropes & Gray (9)
7. Wilkie (11)
8. Cahill (12)
9. Cleary (14)
10. Akin Gump (14)
11. Davis Polk (15)
12. Cadwalader (14)
13. Goodwin Proctor (17)
14. Kramer Levin (18)
15. OMM (19)
16. Orrick (19)
17. Baker Botts (21)
18. Dechert (23)
19. Mintz Levin (27)
20. Shearman (*)
21. Hunton & Williams (27)
22. Bracewell (27)
23. Winston Strawn (27)
24. Morgan Lewis (30)

I want to keep Skadden, Cleary, and DPW as my reaches. Not sure if Debevoise, Weil, Akin Gump, and a few other firms in the ~60% honors range are also reaches, so open to feedback there. Also thinking about adding Fried Frank in at 13 and bumping the rest down.

[TheoO]

Most people are going to tell you to remove at least some of your reaches. Pick two or so you'd like to keep.
yea you want fried frank in there. Any firm with 50% or more honors is a reach, so you basically have like 3 reaches and a couple of hail marys.
It's also somewhat careless that you are stacking the first few spots of your list with reaches. Unless you have some serious work experience or maybe urm/have 1L SA, that's too big of a risk.

[Anonymous User]

Emailed a firm for a pre-EIP email and they said that Columbia has a strict policy prohibiting firms from interviewing before EIP. But that if I think Columbia would be willing to make an exception, they would love to meet with me.

How should I respond? Clearly pre-EIP interviewing is a widespread thing and Columbia isn't going to punish a V10 for doing it. Should I just tell the firm that? It's in a secondary market, so I think the recruiter may not understand how common early interviews are.

Also WTF Columbia OCS for putting me (and presumably other students) in this position

tell them you know a friend who is doing pre EIP interviews. I personally know several people doing local job fairs before OCI and/or interviewing after mass mailing

[Anonymous User]

Definitely too tight. You'll probably miss several important firms with this list. You want to be 4-5 spots above FFB for your key firms, and that means taking out a few to save the rest.

Take out Covington since you're not Stone, and probably Cleary as well. That will give you breathing room in your bottom half. I also recommend being conservative in your top ten, taking out a couple that are less strong in FCPA/projects or where you see less fit.

Thanks. Have connections to Covington/Cleary and would like to keep them on the list. Revised based on the advice - still too tight?

1. Paul Hastings (1)
2. Debevoise (4)
3. White & Case (5)
4. Milbank (8)
5. Allen & Overy (8)
6. Ropes & Gray (9)
7. Willkie (11)
8. Schulte (12)
9. Cleary (14)
10. Cadwalader (14)
11. Fried Frank (16)
12. Goodwin (17)
13. Covington (18)
14. King & Spalding (18)
15. OMM (19)
16. Kramer Levin (18)
17. Hughes Hubbard (21)
18. Pillsbury (21)
19. Baker Botts (22)
20. Vinson & Elkins (23)
21. Chadbourne (24)
22. Shearman & Sterling (*)
23. Simpson Thacher (27)
24. Hunton & Williams (27)
25. Winston & Strawn (27)
26. Morgan Lewis (30)
27. Herbert Smith (*)
28. Clifford Chance (DC) (*)
29. Ashurst (*)
30. Norton Rose (*)

[Anonymous User]

If anyone has any thoughts on my bid list, it would be much appreciated. I know that the firms in bold are way below where they need to be, but I put them in the middle (rather than eliminating them completely) in the hopes that one might drop from its high FFB this year. I threw in a couple others at the bottom that are also way too low but figured if I want to go to their hospitality suite it looks good if I at least bid them.

Basically, do I need more safety firms on this list? Mid stone, ok interviewer with 1L SA experience. Also interested in transactional if that helps.

1. Skadden (3)
2. Kirkland & Ellis (1)
3. Debevoise (4)
4. Weil Gotshal (6)
5. Ropes & Gray (9)
6. Paul Weiss (11)
7. Cleary Gottlieb (14)
8. Sullivan & Cromwell (12)
9. Davis Polk (15)
10. Latham & Watkins (17)
11. Milbank (8)
12. Sidley Austin (2)
13. Covington (18)
14. Fried Frank (16)
15. Freshfields (17)
16. Gibson Dunn (3)
17. White & Case (5)
18. Cravath (23)
19. Shearman & Sterling (*)
20. Simpson Thacher (27)
21. Jones Day (24)
22. Paul Hastings (1)
23. Clifford Chance (6)
24. WilmerHale (9)
25. MoFo (8)
26. Proskauer (3)

[wons]

.

[rgn122000]

What's the corporate group thing for some firms? Like what is the different between Kirkland corporate and Kirkland regular?

[philepistemer]

What's the corporate group thing for some firms? Like what is the different between Kirkland corporate and Kirkland regular?

It means that they interview you to be a corporate associate in the firm.

[rgn122000]

What's the corporate group thing for some firms? Like what is the different between Kirkland corporate and Kirkland regular?

It means that they interview you to be a corporate associate in the firm.

So if I interview in the non-corporate one, I am applying to the litigation group?

[Anonymous User]

GPA = 3.51

Am I missing anything?

1. Kirkland (1)
2. Skadden (3)
3. Morrison & Foerster (8)
4. Ropes & Grey (9)
5. Paul Weiss (11)
6. Willkie Farr (11)
7. Cleary (14)
8. Akin Gump (14)
9. Davis Polk (15)
10. Cooley (16)
11. Latham (17)
12. Freshfields (17)
13. King & Spalding (18)
14. Kramer Levin (18)
15. O’Melveny (19)
16. Cravath (23)
17. Vinson Elkins (23)
18. Chadbourne (21)
19. Crowell (23)
20. Baker and Hostetler (26)
21. Simpson Thatcher (27)
22. Hunton & Williams (27)
23. Sheppard Mullin (29)
24. Haynes and Boone (28)
25. Winston & Strawn (27)
26. Morgan Lewis (30)
27. Shearman (*)
28. McDermott (*)
29. Bryan Cave (*)
30. Paul Hastings (1)

[Anonymous User]

If anyone has any thoughts on my bid list, it would be much appreciated. I know that the firms in bold are way below where they need to be, but I put them in the middle (rather than eliminating them completely) in the hopes that one might drop from its high FFB this year. I threw in a couple others at the bottom that are also way too low but figured if I want to go to their hospitality suite it looks good if I at least bid them.

Didn't know this was a thing. thanks

[pa1901]

If anyone has any thoughts on my bid list, it would be much appreciated. I know that the firms in bold are way below where they need to be, but I put them in the middle (rather than eliminating them completely) in the hopes that one might drop from its high FFB this year. I threw in a couple others at the bottom that are also way too low but figured if I want to go to their hospitality suite it looks good if I at least bid them.

Didn't know this was a thing. thanks

Definitely is a thing that people use. I have no idea if firms would have any way to actually verify that you bid them and missed - though I doubt it. But I and a decent amount of other people I know at CLS got screeners on the day of by going to the hospitality suites and letting them know that you really wanted to interview them and you bid on them but unfortunately didn't get a spot.

I bidded a particular firm very low because it had no FFB the prior year and I ended up not getting a screener from my bid list. It was for one of their non-NY offices so I emailed the local recruiter as soon as the bid lists came back and let her know I was really bummed I didn't get an interview and if it was possible to pick up a spot. She said to go to the hospitality suite the day they were at EIP. When I went to the suite the NY recruiter got one of their interviewers to stay a little late and give me a screener. They were all super helpful and more than willing to help me out.

So you can definitely still work an EIP screener if you miss a firm on your bid list, and it's worth reaching out to the firm's recruiter in the time between receiving your interview schedule and the actual day of EIP.

[Anonymous User]

Emailed a firm for a pre-EIP email and they said that Columbia has a strict policy prohibiting firms from interviewing before EIP. But that if I think Columbia would be willing to make an exception, they would love to meet with me.

How should I respond? Clearly pre-EIP interviewing is a widespread thing and Columbia isn't going to punish a V10 for doing it. Should I just tell the firm that? It's in a secondary market, so I think the recruiter may not understand how common early interviews are.

Also WTF Columbia OCS for putting me (and presumably other students) in this position

tell them you know a friend who is doing pre EIP interviews. I personally know several people doing local job fairs before OCI and/or interviewing after mass mailing

Original anon here. I responded along the lines suggested, and got a message back from the firm that they called OCS, told them they want to interview me, and OCS told them they're not allowed to. So they're not going to do it.

Am I right to think it's really out of line for OCS to essentially veto a callback for me? Not only are they not helping me get a job, they're actively blocking me

[Anonymous User]

Emailed a firm for a pre-EIP email and they said that Columbia has a strict policy prohibiting firms from interviewing before EIP. But that if I think Columbia would be willing to make an exception, they would love to meet with me.

How should I respond? Clearly pre-EIP interviewing is a widespread thing and Columbia isn't going to punish a V10 for doing it. Should I just tell the firm that? It's in a secondary market, so I think the recruiter may not understand how common early interviews are.

Also WTF Columbia OCS for putting me (and presumably other students) in this position

tell them you know a friend who is doing pre EIP interviews. I personally know several people doing local job fairs before OCI and/or interviewing after mass mailing

Original anon here. I responded along the lines suggested, and got a message back from the firm that they called OCS, told them they want to interview me, and OCS told them they're not allowed to. So they're not going to do it.

Am I right to think it's really out of line for OCS to essentially veto a callback for me? Not only are they not helping me get a job, they're actively blocking me

that's absolutely fucking ridiculous. I've told OCS that I was participating in pre EIP interviews and they seemed to be supportive. Hell, they circulated an email with a list of career fairs...

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

Would anyone mind critiquing my bidlist? Any glaring omissions? 3.48 GPA, targeting NY Lit.


Rank // Firm // FFB 2015
1. Paul Hastings 1
2. Sidley Austin 3
3. Debevoise 4
4. Weil Gotshal 6
5. Ropes & Gray 9
6. Milbank 8
7. Willkie 11
8. Schulte Roth 12
9. Cleary 14
10. Davis Polk 15
11. Akin Gump 14
12. Fried Frank 16
13. Latham 17
14. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel 18
15. O’Melveney 19
16. Orrick 19
17. Cravath 23
18. Shearman & Sterling *
19. Pillsbury 21
20. Dechert 23
21. Jones Day 24
22. Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman 24
23. Simpson Thatcher 27
24. Hunton & Williams 27
25. haynes and boone llp 28
26. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton 29
27. Morgan Lewis 30
28. Axinn *
29. Curtis Mallet Prevost *

[Anonymous User]

If anyone has any thoughts on my bid list, it would be much appreciated. I know that the firms in bold are way below where they need to be, but I put them in the middle (rather than eliminating them completely) in the hopes that one might drop from its high FFB this year. I threw in a couple others at the bottom that are also way too low but figured if I want to go to their hospitality suite it looks good if I at least bid them.

Didn't know this was a thing. thanks

Definitely is a thing that people use. I have no idea if firms would have any way to actually verify that you bid them and missed - though I doubt it. But I and a decent amount of other people I know at CLS got screeners on the day of by going to the hospitality suites and letting them know that you really wanted to interview them and you bid on them but unfortunately didn't get a spot.

I bidded a particular firm very low because it had no FFB the prior year and I ended up not getting a screener from my bid list. It was for one of their non-NY offices so I emailed the local recruiter as soon as the bid lists came back and let her know I was really bummed I didn't get an interview and if it was possible to pick up a spot. She said to go to the hospitality suite the day they were at EIP. When I went to the suite the NY recruiter got one of their interviewers to stay a little late and give me a screener. They were all super helpful and more than willing to help me out.

So you can definitely still work an EIP screener if you miss a firm on your bid list, and it's worth reaching out to the firm's recruiter in the time between receiving your interview schedule and the actual day of EIP.

Firms can 100% see if you bid on them or not. I'm sure other upper-years can confirm this but this is pretty common knowledge. The real question is whether they can see where you bid them...

On another note, for upper-years that added screeners by going to the hospitality suite, did you notice any trend in success/failure in converting to CBs? I'm worried that since these are usually added at the end of the day you'll be tired and your interviewer will be tired and thats not an ideal equation.

[Anonymous User]

mid stone. skipping eip. what are my options if i later want to go to a firm? do 2Ls get hired in spring oci, 3ls? what do people who strike out do for firm gigs?