Georgetown OCI 2019 Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone receive an offer from Reed Smith DC?

[Anonymous User]

It looks like OCI 2019 has all but wrapped up.

I guess it's time to start reporting results.

Approx. class rank: Just below median.
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Relevant summer internship
#Years out of undergrad: 3
Prestigious undergrad: Not in the slightest
Target markets: NY
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from mass-mailing: 1
#Screeners received for OCI: 13
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 5
#Offers received: 3 - V20, V25, V85
Offer Accepted: V25

[Anonymous User]

It looks like OCI 2019 has all but wrapped up.

I guess it's time to start reporting results.

Approx. class rank: Just below median.
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Relevant summer internship
#Years out of undergrad: 3
Prestigious undergrad: Not in the slightest
Target markets: NY
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from mass-mailing: 1
#Screeners received for OCI: 13
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 5
#Offers received: 3 - V20, V25, V85
Offer Accepted: V25

Well...I'm like top 40% but looks like I've struck out. Guess I just sucked at interviews

[notinbiglaw]

Don't give up, keep grinding and go to coffee chats, call people up, and just talk to everyone in general as general practice for interviews.

Start asking people about Fed positions as interview prep. SEC, IRS, all the regulatory agencies, will have their honors programs up soon (if not already) and people leverage those into biglaw all the time. DOJ honestly is a bit of a long shot but other parts of Big Fed pay wee enough and are viable paths to biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

Don't give up, keep grinding and go to coffee chats, call people up, and just talk to everyone in general as general practice for interviews.

Start asking people about Fed positions as interview prep. SEC, IRS, all the regulatory agencies, will have their honors programs up soon (if not already) and people leverage those into biglaw all the time. DOJ honestly is a bit of a long shot but other parts of Big Fed pay wee enough and are viable paths to biglaw.

OP: This! The fact that I overperformed might be due to interviewing skills, but imo it had to do more with networking. I spent the entire summer reaching out to associates/partners/recruiters. Had countless phone conversations, and I went out for coffee 5 times.
Thought it was a waste of time, but it really helped! In fact, at one of the offer receptions, the head of the hiring committee told me that they were on the fence re: my candidacy until one of the partners I met with for coffee put in a good word. (Honestly, it was kind of a weird thing to say, but was cool to know what was going on behind closed doors.)
OCI might be over, but your future career hasn't even started yet. Reach out, there is no downside, and you never know what might come of it.

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Top 15%
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Yes
#Years out of undergrad: Multiple
Prestigious undergrad: Decent
Target markets: DC, plus one CA firm and one NY firm at OCI
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 4 CBs
#Screeners received for OCI: 15
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 6
Offer Accepted: DC V5 (per 2020 Vault DC Regional Rankings)

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Top 10%
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Yes
#Years out of undergrad: 10
Prestigious undergrad: No
Target markets: DC
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 2 CB (probably sent 40-50 apps, also did a lot of networking over the summer)
#Screeners received for OCI: 16
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 0
Offer Accepted: 0

It's tough out there.

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Top 15%
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: Yes
IP background?: Yes
Significant work experience?: No
#Years out of undergrad: K-JD
Prestigious undergrad: Yes
Target markets: DC, Boston
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 2 CB, 1 pre-OCI offer
#Screeners received for OCI: 15
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 9 (but declined 5CBs, so only did 4)
Offers: 2 (both ~V20, Boston)
Accepted: V20, Boston

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Slightly below median
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: No
#Years out of undergrad: K-JD
Prestigious undergrad: Yes
Target markets: NYC, Midwest broadly (Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Ohio, Michigan)
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 2 CB
#Screeners received for OCI: 18
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 4 (2 NYC, 1 Pittsburgh, 1 Indianapolis)
Offers: 0

Welp it's tough out here.

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Right at 15%
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.:No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Military/Government
#Years out of undergrad: 4
Prestigious undergrad: Sort of
Target markets: NYC, DC
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: None prior, 3 screeners, 1 CB outside of OCI
#Screeners received for OCI: 18
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 16, Attended only 6 in DC and canceled the rest once I got my first offer.
Offers: V100, V5, and two V20.

Accepted at V20 for practice area and culture. For posterity's sake, networking matters more than I thought. My accepted offer came from a screener resulting from a direct app, and I received one callback without even having a screener due to a partner vouching.

Also for posterity's sake, these forums will give you the impression this year was heinous. That was not my experience.

[Anonymous User]

Obviously, it wasn't heinous for everyone, and we're glad it wasn't for you. But it sure was for a lot of people, so not sure how your pleasant experience helps.

[Anonymous User]

Obviously, it wasn't heinous for everyone, and we're glad it wasn't for you. But it sure was for a lot of people, so not sure how your pleasant experience helps.

I never said my experience was pleasant. OCI can be grueling, point blank, and the fact is that(according to OCS) ~42% of OCI participants have not accepted any offers. But I wanted to provide perspective.I do not think it so obvious when you go to previous pages and see people discussing how only "good looking students" are receiving callbacks.

Did you log on these forums to see what people had said about years past prior to OCI? I did. In some cases it was a source of stress and useless, in some cases the information was helpful. I want to send a clear message that despite the pages previous of those near the top of the class that did not have much luck there are those who have fared well.

There are things within your control regarding OCI (networking, mailing, interviewing skills, grades) and a whole lot of things that aren't. It is an imperfect process but we don't need this place to be a poor reflection on how GULC students did at OCI and we certainly don't need it to be a source of stress for those reading this thread next year.

[Anonymous User]

Obviously, it wasn't heinous for everyone, and we're glad it wasn't for you. But it sure was for a lot of people, so not sure how your pleasant experience helps.

I never said my experience was pleasant. OCI can be grueling, point blank, and the fact is that(according to OCS) ~42% of OCI participants have not accepted any offers. But I wanted to provide perspective.I do not think it so obvious when you go to previous pages and see people discussing how only "good looking students" are receiving callbacks.

Did you log on these forums to see what people had said about years past prior to OCI? I did. In some cases it was a source of stress and useless, in some cases the information was helpful. I want to send a clear message that despite the pages previous of those near the top of the class that did not have much luck there are those who have fared well.

There are things within your control regarding OCI (networking, mailing, interviewing skills, grades) and a whole lot of things that aren't. It is an imperfect process but we don't need this place to be a poor reflection on how GULC students did at OCI and we certainly don't need it to be a source of stress for those reading this thread next year.

Yeeaahhh as someone who was slightly below median and struck out off of 10 screeners and 2 CBs, can't say I'm going to take the experience of the person who was top 15% with 18 screeners as the typical one. Pretty damn tone deaf.

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Median
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: 2 years (work was relevant but not sure I'd consider it "significant")
#Years out of undergrad: 3
Prestigious undergrad: No
Target markets: NY
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 0 (didn't do pre-OCI)
#Screeners received for OCI: 15
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 5
Offers: 2
Accepted: V50

I didn't do pre-OCI because I was way out of town for the summer and not set on snagging a biglaw job enough to go out of my way to set up networking calls / mass mail, so with that and my grades in mind, I feel decent about my results. From what I can tell and have heard it was a tough year and people who networked did better than those who did not.

For posterity I'll mention that I got a "why NY" question in almost all of my interviews. I'm curious if others had the same experience. Since NY is known as not ties-sensitive, I didn't expect anyone to care enough to ask. One interviewer even told me they prefer people with ties to NY. I'm from there so it wasn't an issue but if you have absolutely no ties to NY and are only applying because you think NY is your best shot for a biglaw job, be ready for that question. That might be obvious to most people, idk, but I really did not expect it to come up.

[Anonymous User]

Obviously, it wasn't heinous for everyone, and we're glad it wasn't for you. But it sure was for a lot of people, so not sure how your pleasant experience helps.

I never said my experience was pleasant. OCI can be grueling, point blank, and the fact is that(according to OCS) ~42% of OCI participants have not accepted any offers. But I wanted to provide perspective.I do not think it so obvious when you go to previous pages and see people discussing how only "good looking students" are receiving callbacks.

Did you log on these forums to see what people had said about years past prior to OCI? I did. In some cases it was a source of stress and useless, in some cases the information was helpful. I want to send a clear message that despite the pages previous of those near the top of the class that did not have much luck there are those who have fared well.

There are things within your control regarding OCI (networking, mailing, interviewing skills, grades) and a whole lot of things that aren't. It is an imperfect process but we don't need this place to be a poor reflection on how GULC students did at OCI and we certainly don't need it to be a source of stress for those reading this thread next year.

Yeeaahhh as someone who was slightly below median and struck out off of 10 screeners and 2 CBs, can't say I'm going to take the experience of the person who was top 15% with 18 screeners as the typical one. Pretty damn tone deaf.

I never said my experience was typical. Regardless, what sense would it make to have pages upon pages of students with similar stats? When I browsed these forums before OCI I looked to see if there was anyone with similar stats who posted and if they had any advice. I am trying to do the same, and if you think I am being tone deaf, you probably have some work to do to prepare yourself for billionaire clients and their expectations of you.

I do have sympathy for your strikeout. OCI is not the only way to get a job, I am sure you have heard that already, but keep your head up and keep grinding. And shoot, the way the economy looks who knows if any of us will actually be headed where we think we are in 2021

[Anonymous User]

Obviously, it wasn't heinous for everyone, and we're glad it wasn't for you. But it sure was for a lot of people, so not sure how your pleasant experience helps.

I never said my experience was pleasant. OCI can be grueling, point blank, and the fact is that(according to OCS) ~42% of OCI participants have not accepted any offers. But I wanted to provide perspective.I do not think it so obvious when you go to previous pages and see people discussing how only "good looking students" are receiving callbacks.

Did you log on these forums to see what people had said about years past prior to OCI? I did. In some cases it was a source of stress and useless, in some cases the information was helpful. I want to send a clear message that despite the pages previous of those near the top of the class that did not have much luck there are those who have fared well.

There are things within your control regarding OCI (networking, mailing, interviewing skills, grades) and a whole lot of things that aren't. It is an imperfect process but we don't need this place to be a poor reflection on how GULC students did at OCI and we certainly don't need it to be a source of stress for those reading this thread next year.

Yeeaahhh as someone who was slightly below median and struck out off of 10 screeners and 2 CBs, can't say I'm going to take the experience of the person who was top 15% with 18 screeners as the typical one. Pretty damn tone deaf.

I never said my experience was typical. Regardless, what sense would it make to have pages upon pages of students with similar stats? When I browsed these forums before OCI I looked to see if there was anyone with similar stats who posted and if they had any advice. I am trying to do the same, and if you think I am being tone deaf, you probably have some work to do to prepare yourself for billionaire clients and their expectations of you.

I do have sympathy for your strikeout. OCI is not the only way to get a job, I am sure you have heard that already, but keep your head up and keep grinding. And shoot, the way the economy looks who knows if any of us will actually be headed where we think we are in 2021

Military people do get a boost in biglaw hiring, though it looks like you outperformed even that, which is to your credit. If it is true that 58% of OCI participants have accepted an offer, that would actually suggest that this was a very strong year for hiring.

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: Transfer - top 25%
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: 6 internships
#Years out of undergrad: K-JD
Prestigious undergrad: yes (but not an IVY)
Target markets: DC, Miami
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 1 (didn't do pre-OCI)
#Screeners received for OCI: 10
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 2
Offers: 2
Accepted: V20 Miami

also, i would just like to note that 16 call backs according to my research is the equivalent of a miracle/you are a unicorn. People were lucky to get 1 call back let alone 16 - of course the market doesn't seem difficult for any person who got anything more than 3 call backs (which it seems was the minority of people)

[Mephistopheles09]

Approx. class rank: top 1%
Journal: Main
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Yes and specialized
#Years out of undergrad: 3
Prestigious undergrad: No
Target markets: DC, NY, Boston
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 1
#Screeners received for OCI: 19
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 17 (cancelled 8 once got an offer)
Offers: 8
Accepted: V5

As long as your personable and prepared, OCI is very manageable. Good luck future Hoyas

[Anonymous User]

As long as your personable and prepared, OCI is very manageable. Good luck future Hoyas

I imagine being Top 1% matters a lot more than being personable.

[Mephistopheles09]

As long as your personable and prepared, OCI is very manageable. Good luck future Hoyas

I imagine being Top 1% matters a lot more than being personable.

I know people who finished top 5% and got only one offer or struck out because they were not prepared and did not know how to interview. I know folks at the other side of the spectrum too. I agree finishing top of first year section matters, but I think being a solid interviewer and knowing the firm inside and out matters more than you might think. You are already in the door by the time you get to the interview; what’s left is closing the deal.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

As long as your personable and prepared, OCI is very manageable. Good luck future Hoyas

I imagine being Top 1% matters a lot more than being personable.

I know people who finished top 5% and got only one offer or struck out because they were not prepared and did not know how to interview. I know folks at the other side of the spectrum too. I agree finishing top of first year section matters, but I think being a solid interviewer and knowing the firm inside and out matters more than you might think. You are already in the door by the time you get to the interview; what’s left is closing the deal.

1) one biglaw offer is still a good outcome

2) you don't need to know a firm "inside and out" to get an offer

3) interviewing matters, but only a handful of students are exceptionally good or bad at it. most students have middle-of-the-road interview skills, which is why grades end up being the main differentiator

4) much of employability is outside the applicant's control. Race, gender, undergrad prestige, height/looks, the way someone speaks, work experience... that stuff all matters, but once you're at OCI you can't change it.

Congratulations on the offers and good luck next summer

[Anonymous User]

Approx. class rank: bottom 45% (probably between 35-45%)
Journal: Secondary
Moot Court, Mock Trial, etc.: No
IP background?: No
Significant work experience?: Yes
#Years out of undergrad: 3
Prestigious undergrad: Yes
Target markets: NY, DC
#Screeners or callbacks prior to OCI from online applications and mass-mailing: 1, several informal office invites
#Screeners received for OCI: 18
#Callbacks received from OCI screeners: 6 (cancelled 4 after receiving offer)
Offers: 1
Accepted: V40 (NY)

I think it comes down to grades>networking=personality>work experience=specialty area>journals/moot court etc.