UVa OGI 2011 thread Forum

[Cavalier]

We can only take 20 interviews total this year.

It's capped at 20? Last year it was 30, which I think was excessive, but 20 seems a bit restrictive.

[thesealocust]

Last year "the average number of preselects was around 9" and then people got lottery picks (generally the fewer preselects you got, the more lottery picks you got). Most people were "likely to receive 1-4" lottery picks. As some people declined preselects or canceled / rearranged schedules more slots opened up, people also did special requests, etc.

Market played a large role in number of interviews, not just grades. People without near-perfect credentials got fewer preselects looking at DC, and people looking at NYC were comparatively flush with interviews.

[barry]

if we feel that our writing sample isn't stellar is it better to bid on firms that don't require writing sample (all things being equal) ?

I don't think that's a good reason for not bidding a firm. A lot of firms that ask for writing samples and cover letters don't actually care; someone at the firm simply checked the box saying they wanted that from applicants on Symplicity. And it shouldn't be that hard to produce a passable writing sample. It doesn't have to be stellar; it just needs to contain legal analysis and be error-free.

Thanks that's reassuring haha

[Anonymous User]

Question about cover letters:

If I am bidding on Charlotte office for a firm and have information about their recruiting coordinator for Charlotte, should I address my cover letter to her, even if the "Contact Information" section on Symplicity has information for their recruiting coordinator for another (say DC) firm?

Thanks!

OP follow-up I talked to career services, and they said to use symplicity info

[Anonymous User]

how can we see how many interviewing rooms a firm has?

[5ky]

how can we see how many interviewing rooms a firm has?

It's in that massive document that career services sent out a few weeks back. It doesn't have all the markets coming, and doesn't have that info for all firms.

[gladiator]

Interview pointer...

[Anonymous User]

Hey guys. Late to the party.

Bottom third-ish GPA. I realize it's not a great position to be in, but I'm going to try anyway.

I'm looking to bid in NYC and California, have ties to both Northern and Southern California. Anyone with experience at this GPA range that bid in these markets?

Others: Non-URM, 1 year work experience but not strong, summer job is at a court.

[mighttransfer]

hey guys, i'm late to the party as well. incoming transfer student. anyone familiar with how UVA transfers have done at OGI in the past? i'm shooting for VA and NYC markets. top 6% at former T2 school in VA; summer associate position at a solid VA firm this summer; interested in litigation.

[Anonymous User]

Say you get 19 preselects and 10 alternates. You then accept all of those alternates and subsequently you get all those alternate interviews. Wouldn't you then have 29 interviews total?

[Anonymous User]

Bid list below. I'm one of several people on the forum with a 3.59 so hopefully others can benefit here. I feel like my list is all over the place, but hopefully you guys can help to tweak it. I'm on a secondary journal, I have some lit. related stuff on my resume, no work experience before school. I do want to do litigation. I'd like to be in NYC, the DC bids are more to round out the list, but there is no need to waste them. Let me know what you think.

1. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (New York, NY)
2. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (New York, NY)
3. Linklaters (New York, NY)
4. Jones Day (New York, NY)
5. Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP (New York, NY)
6. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (New York, NY)
7. Boies, Schiller & Flexner - Litigation Practice (New York, NY)
8. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (New York, NY)
9. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (New York, NY)
10. Latham & Watkins (New York, NY)
11. WilmerHale (New York, NY)
12. freshfields bruckhaus deringer (New York, NY)
13. Allen & Overy (New York, NY)
14. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (New York, NY)
15. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (New York, NY)
16. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (New York, NY)
17. Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
18. White & Case (New York, NY)
19. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel (New York, NY)
20. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (New York, NY)
21. Dewey & LeBoeuf (New York, NY)
22. Willkie Farr & Gallagher (New York, NY)
23. Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York, NY)
24. Ropes & Gray (New York, NY)
25. Dechert (New York, NY)
26. Shearman & Sterling (New York, NY)
27. hogan lovells US LLP (New York, NY)
28. Proskauer Rose (New York, NY)
29. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (New York, NY)
30. Bracewell & Giuliani (New York, NY)
31. Brown Rudnick (New York, NY)
32. Covington & Burling LLP (New York, NY)
33. Cravath Swaine & Moore (New York, NY)
34. Sullivan & Cromwell (New York, NY)
35. mayer brown llp (New York, NY)
36. Jones Day (Washington, DC)
37. O'Melveny & Myers (Washington, DC)
38. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
39. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
40. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
41. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
42. WilmerHale (Washington, DC)
43. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Washington, DC)
44. Sidley Austin (Washington, DC)
45. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (Washington, DC)
46. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Washington, DC)
47. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld (New York, NY)
48. Alston & Bird (New York, NY)
49. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (New York, NY)
50. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (New York, NY)
51. Crowell & Moring (New York, NY)
52. Crowell & Moring (Washington, DC)
53. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (New York, NY)
54. hogan lovells US LLP (Washington, DC)
55. Vinson & Elkins (Washington, DC)
56. Vinson & Elkins (New York, NY)
57. Latham & Watkins (Washington, DC)
58. Sidley Austin (New York, NY)

[Anonymous User]

A PSA for anyone who still may need to upload your ug transcript: http://docupub.com/pdfconvert/
You can compress PDFs quickly, and if that won't work, convert to .tif and when you upload to Symplicity it will convert it back to PDF.

[Anonymous User]

Bid list below. I'm one of several people on the forum with a 3.59 so hopefully others can benefit here. I feel like my list is all over the place, but hopefully you guys can help to tweak it. I'm on a secondary journal, I have some lit. related stuff on my resume, no work experience before school. I do want to do litigation. I'd like to be in NYC, the DC bids are more to round out the list, but there is no need to waste them. Let me know what you think.

1. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (New York, NY)
2. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (New York, NY)
3. Linklaters (New York, NY)
4. Jones Day (New York, NY)
5. Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP (New York, NY)
6. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (New York, NY)
7. Boies, Schiller & Flexner - Litigation Practice (New York, NY)
8. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (New York, NY)
9. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (New York, NY)
10. Latham & Watkins (New York, NY)
11. WilmerHale (New York, NY)
12. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (New York, NY)
13. Allen & Overy (New York, NY)
14. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (New York, NY)
15. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (New York, NY)
16. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (New York, NY)
17. Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
18. White & Case (New York, NY)
19. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel (New York, NY)
20. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (New York, NY)
21. Dewey & LeBoeuf (New York, NY)
22. Willkie Farr & Gallagher (New York, NY)
23. Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York, NY)
24. Ropes & Gray (New York, NY)
25. Dechert (New York, NY)
26. Shearman & Sterling (New York, NY)
27. Hogan Lovells US LLP (New York, NY)
28. Proskauer Rose (New York, NY)
29. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (New York, NY)
30. Bracewell & Giuliani (New York, NY)
31. Brown Rudnick (New York, NY)
32. Covington & Burling LLP (New York, NY)
33. Cravath Swaine & Moore (New York, NY)
34. Sullivan & Cromwell (New York, NY)
35. Mayer Brown LLP (New York, NY)
36. Jones Day (Washington, DC)
37. O'Melveny & Myers (Washington, DC)
38. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
39. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
40. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
41. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
42. WilmerHale (Washington, DC)
43. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Washington, DC)
44. Sidley Austin (Washington, DC)
45. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (Washington, DC)
46. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Washington, DC)
47. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld (New York, NY)
48. Alston & Bird (New York, NY)
49. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (New York, NY)
50. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (New York, NY)
51. Crowell & Moring (New York, NY)
52. Crowell & Moring (Washington, DC)
53. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (New York, NY)
54. Hogan Lovells US LLP (Washington, DC)
55. Vinson & Elkins (Washington, DC)
56. Vinson & Elkins (New York, NY)
57. Latham & Watkins (Washington, DC)
58. Sidley Austin (New York, NY)

I'm similar to you, but question: why Cleary/Weil 1/2? Aren't those firms probably going to preselect you anyways. Weil has multiple rooms I believe.

[Anonymous User]

Bid list below. I'm one of several people on the forum with a 3.59 so hopefully others can benefit here. I feel like my list is all over the place, but hopefully you guys can help to tweak it. I'm on a secondary journal, I have some lit. related stuff on my resume, no work experience before school. I do want to do litigation. I'd like to be in NYC, the DC bids are more to round out the list, but there is no need to waste them. Let me know what you think.

1. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (New York, NY)
2. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (New York, NY)
3. Linklaters (New York, NY)
4. Jones Day (New York, NY)
5. Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP (New York, NY)
6. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (New York, NY)
7. Boies, Schiller & Flexner - Litigation Practice (New York, NY)
8. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (New York, NY)
9. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (New York, NY)
10. Latham & Watkins (New York, NY)
11. WilmerHale (New York, NY)
12. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (New York, NY)
13. Allen & Overy (New York, NY)
14. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (New York, NY)
15. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (New York, NY)
16. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (New York, NY)
17. Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
18. White & Case (New York, NY)
19. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel (New York, NY)
20. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (New York, NY)
21. Dewey & LeBoeuf (New York, NY)
22. Willkie Farr & Gallagher (New York, NY)
23. Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York, NY)
24. Ropes & Gray (New York, NY)
25. Dechert (New York, NY)
26. Shearman & Sterling (New York, NY)
27. Hogan Lovells US LLP (New York, NY)
28. Proskauer Rose (New York, NY)
29. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (New York, NY)
30. Bracewell & Giuliani (New York, NY)
31. Brown Rudnick (New York, NY)
32. Covington & Burling LLP (New York, NY)
33. Cravath Swaine & Moore (New York, NY)
34. Sullivan & Cromwell (New York, NY)
35. Mayer Brown LLP (New York, NY)
36. Jones Day (Washington, DC)
37. O'Melveny & Myers (Washington, DC)
38. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
39. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
40. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
41. Redacted secondary mkt. firm that would out me
42. WilmerHale (Washington, DC)
43. Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Washington, DC)
44. Sidley Austin (Washington, DC)
45. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (Washington, DC)
46. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Washington, DC)
47. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld (New York, NY)
48. Alston & Bird (New York, NY)
49. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (New York, NY)
50. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (New York, NY)
51. Crowell & Moring (New York, NY)
52. Crowell & Moring (Washington, DC)
53. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (New York, NY)
54. Hogan Lovells US LLP (Washington, DC)
55. Vinson & Elkins (Washington, DC)
56. Vinson & Elkins (New York, NY)
57. Latham & Watkins (Washington, DC)
58. Sidley Austin (New York, NY)

I'm similar to you, but question: why Cleary/Weil 1/2? Aren't those firms probably going to preselect you anyways. Weil has multiple rooms I believe.

Cleary makes sense to me. With 1 room there's really no guarantee that you'll get preselected. Like 70 people bid on them last year...seems safer to hedge your bets and put them up there. Weil, though...that seems like a tougher call. I've got loads of two room firms in my top 20 (roughly the same grades as you folks), but I'm starting to feel like I'm not playing it fast and loose enough.

[TigerBeer]

If we are preselected for the firm we used our #1 bid on, but not for the #2 bid, does the #2 bid now become a #1? Or is the #1 bid essentially wasted?

[Anonymous User]

Going back to the GPA on resume discussion: my GPA is in the top 25% but outside of the top 10%. CSO was pretty adament about not putting it on my resume, but advice earlier in this thread was to put it on if better than a 3.48. Do you guys still think I should put it on and ignore the CSO's advice? I'm concerned that if I leave it off employers will assume my GPA is worse that it is.

[thesealocust]

Going back to the GPA on resume discussion: my GPA is in the top 25% but outside of the top 10%. CSO was pretty adament about not putting it on my resume, but advice earlier in this thread was to put it on if better than a 3.48. Do you guys still think I should put it on and ignore the CSO's advice? I'm concerned that if I leave it off employers will assume my GPA is worse that it is.

They'll have your damn transcript and are highly trained, well educated, intelligent people. They're going to look at your grades, not make assumptions about them. Your talking about minute differences in psychology with this question, it's really, honestly not going to matter.

[Anonymous User]

They'll have your damn transcript and are highly trained, well educated, intelligent people. They're going to look at your grades, not make assumptions about them. Your talking about minute differences in psychology with this question, it's really, honestly not going to matter.

I guess I'm just overthinking things.

[TigerBeer]

If we are preselected for the firm we used our #1 bid on, but not for the #2 bid, does the #2 bid now become a #1? Or is the #1 bid essentially wasted?

Anyone know? Or is this such a basic question that im an idiot for not knowing the answer?

[dailygrind]

If we are preselected for the firm we used our #1 bid on, but not for the #2 bid, does the #2 bid now become a #1? Or is the #1 bid essentially wasted?

Anyone know? Or is this such a basic question that im an idiot for not knowing the answer?

I don't think the bid changes if you're pre selected. I didn't see anything in the handbook that says it does, no one has ever told me it does, and the way the upperclassmen tell us to strategize implies that it does not. Until someone comes in and tells us otherwise, I'd proceed under the assumption that it doesn't change.

[RVP11]

If we are preselected for the firm we used our #1 bid on, but not for the #2 bid, does the #2 bid now become a #1? Or is the #1 bid essentially wasted?

Anyone know? Or is this such a basic question that im an idiot for not knowing the answer?

I don't think the bid changes if you're pre selected. I didn't see anything in the handbook that says it does, no one has ever told me it does, and the way the upperclassmen tell us to strategize implies that it does not. Until someone comes in and tells us otherwise, I'd proceed under the assumption that it doesn't change.

If you are preselected by your #1, your #2 does not become your new #1, but I think it is factored into the algorithm. But your overall number of preselects is also factored into the algorithm, so it balances out. If you get 20+ preselects, don't expect any lottery interviews.

[uvahooo]

we are done. wooohooo.

[Morgan12Oak]

wait, i thought bidding opened at 11 pm?

[thesealocust]

wait, i thought bidding opened at 11 pm?

I think I remember that last year it had to be open later because of a million things going wrong.

[joeshmo39]

I has confusion.

So July 28th they get back to use with our pre-selects, totally separate from the lottery. At that point, we have to pick which firms we want to interview at. The thing is, the lottery hasn't run yet so we don't know if we may pick up bids later. Right? Do people intentionally take fewer pre-selects to give themselves a better shot in the lottery? How do we know what firms we want if we don't know our lottery pickups yet?