Yes this is an incredibly important point. Anyone who is in median-ish territory (3.4-3.6 - the bell portion of the bell curve) should prioritize firms near their GPA that have the largest class sizes, even if it means throwing in more reaches. Firms like Cadwalader, Fried Frank, Wilkie, White and Case, and others have relatively big classes and are not incredibly selective. It's much easier to get an offer for a class of 40 than a class of 5.redsox550 wrote:Also - one thing you should note which is echoed around here quite a bit i that the more selctive firms tend to have bigger SA classes. So for instance sure at Cooley your GPA might be awesome, but they are only hiring 3-4 SA it appears so one might imagine that you would really have to impress them to be one of the few they choose. A larger firm may be more willing to accept someone with a good GPA merely based off of that or would liekly be willing take more of a risk on someone who they arnt positive that would personality be a good fit. So basically, keep class size in mind a bit. Wilson has 1 SA, I can't imagine that the chance of being that one is so high.
Check NALP for historic information on the number of SAs. In general NY headquartered firms will have larger classes than firms with NY-branch offices.
Also email any secondary market you can reasonably demonstrate ties to, and this can be a stretch. If you're from Philly for example mass mail DE, NJ, Pittsburgh, MD etc. Let firms decide that you're not interested in the area, don't make that decision for them.
