Columbia EIP 2014 Forum

[Anonymous User]

any idea at chances for LA litigation firms w/ a 3.48 like gibson, o'melveny, munger, quinn, irell?

Look at Latham and Paul Hastings too, maybe Manatt Phelps. Hearsay too (rising 2L too so take this with a grain of salt) but I've heard attorneys group Gibson with MTO and Irell on occasion... haven't seen that for Latham, etc. It's not on the same level for selectivity, but it's probably as close as you'll get for a full range firm in LA. They're just undisputedly good across the board there. I don't know if they have strict grade cut-ffs or anything, and you certainly did well, so I don't want to say to not bid them, either. Might be worth a shot just be wary that it's a reach.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

No clue exactly how selective Quinn is.

[Anonymous User]

any idea at chances for LA litigation firms w/ a 3.48 like gibson, o'melveny, munger, quinn, irell?

Look at Latham and Paul Hastings too, maybe Manatt Phelps. Hearsay too (rising 2L too so take this with a grain of salt) but I've heard attorneys group Gibson with MTO and Irell on occasion... haven't seen that for Latham, etc. It's not on the same level for selectivity, but it's probably as close as you'll get for a full range firm in LA. They're just undisputedly good across the board there. I don't know if they have strict grade cut-ffs or anything, and you certainly did well, so I don't want to say to not bid them, either. Might be worth a shot just be wary that it's a reach.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

No clue exactly how selective Quinn is.

OP here-
i'm pretty sure MTO and Irell are out, but any idea what the cutoffs have been for gibson and o'melveny? My dream is Gibson, but i'm not sure how far off I am to even warrant a bid.

[Anonymous User]

OP here-
i'm pretty sure MTO and Irell are out, but any idea what the cutoffs have been for gibson and o'melveny? My dream is Gibson, but i'm not sure how far off I am to even warrant a bid.

Someone told me top quarter'd put you in good standing, I'm not sure what that is at Columbia. You're probably very close, though. Stone's a 3.41 and is equivalent to... top 35-40%? It definitely warrants a bid.

If there is a grade cut-off for O'Melveny, I'd imagine you've met it with a 3.48. It's hard to say though since they had 20 interviews last year and gave just two callbacks. That's probably a ties thing though or some other non-GPA factor.

Edit: Checked out Offers by Honors and 3 total students got offers from the CC/LA offices, all Stone/Kent. I'd still imagine you're competitive, though... looking at their website, they have four CLS alums as current associates, two of which are Kent and two of which have no honors. Jesus that's opaque

[brazleton]

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[brazleton]

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[Anonymous User]

Do we know what median is? How do we ever go about figuring that out?

[Anonymous User]

Do we know what median is? How do we ever go about figuring that out?

Should be around 3.3 but we will never know for sure.

[Anonymous User]

Do we know what median is? How do we ever go about figuring that out?

I assumed 3.33 (or B+, but then again do we know for sure that a B+ is a 3.33?)

[Anonymous User]

Do they ever tell us what class percentile Stone is, or is that speculation too?

[Anonymous User]

Do they ever tell us what class percentile Stone is, or is that speculation too?

Speculation, I think. It's around top third to 35 percent from what I hear

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if an A+ is a 4.33 on the GPA scale? Or is it just a 4 that looks prettier (or uglier if you are a minimalist) on your transcript?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if an A+ is a 4.33 on the GPA scale? Or is it just a 4 that looks prettier (or uglier if you are a minimalist) on your transcript?

I didn't know those existed. Bravo! I assume it has to be a 4.33, otherwise what's the point?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if an A+ is a 4.33 on the GPA scale? Or is it just a 4 that looks prettier (or uglier if you are a minimalist) on your transcript?

Oh you fucker. Haha congrats though!

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if an A+ is a 4.33 on the GPA scale? Or is it just a 4 that looks prettier (or uglier if you are a minimalist) on your transcript?

Oh you fucker. Haha congrats though!

I asked an A+ recipient 2L this year and she said the "+" is just an honorary designation. It is still calculated as a 4.0.

[Anonymous User]

Whelp, last grade finally came in. 3.18 is gonna have to carry me far.

I think I'm gonna bid very very aggressively and see what happens. I interview well and have lots of pre-law BigLaw paralegal experience, so hopefully I'll get some bites.

-Voltron

[NYSprague]

Whelp, last grade finally came in. 3.18 is gonna have to carry me far.

I think I'm gonna bid very very aggressively and see what happens. I interview well and have lots of pre-law BigLaw paralegal experience, so hopefully I'll get some bites.

-Voltron

Sorry, this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Post your bid list for comment. You need to get a job. No one cares about your paralegal experience unless you have solid connections from it. Just be realistic.
Sorry if you don't want comments in this thread but the anonymity makes a PM impossible.

[Anonymous User]

I know I'll have an offer from the firm I worked at. With 1 in my pocket (V50), which I would take over 90% of available firms, I'm willing to gamble on my resume and interview skills at the risk of striking out at EIP.

-Voltron

[Anonymous User]

Is it even worth applying to Quinn at median? No strong desire to work there but it doesn't cost a bid and I want to do lit in NYC

[smaug_]

Is it even worth applying to Quinn at median? No strong desire to work there but it doesn't cost a bid and I want to do lit in NYC

There's no real cost to applying to Quinn, so why not? Don't say no for them.

[Anonymous User]

I know it's conjecture but any idea where 3.48 places me percentile wise?

[Anonymous User]

I know it's conjecture but any idea where 3.48 places me percentile wise?

My standard conservative advice would be to take 3.3 median, 3.41 as top 35% and test it on mylsn. It's a basic regression

- little finger

[Anonymous User]

I know it's conjecture but any idea where 3.48 places me percentile wise?

Somewhere right around top quarter.

[smaug_]

I know it's conjecture but any idea where 3.48 places me percentile wise?

Somewhere right around top quarter.

that sounds optimistic to me

[Anonymous User]

I know it's conjecture but any idea where 3.48 places me percentile wise?

Somewhere right around top quarter.

that sounds optimistic to me

Op here, lsn is useless. Says Kent is top 1-2%, which is clearly wrong.

[Tiago Splitter]

Tiago, in general I think your estimates are a touch optimistic. Someone sub 3.6 has a shot at Cravath/DPW/whatever but I think it's difficult. Interviewing skill and everything else is obviously very important.

I think that's consistent with what I said, and I certainly don't want people to think they are V10 secure just because they are comfortably above Stone. But when a place like DPW is calling back 100 people I have to imagine they are cutting things off well below 3.6.

I definitely agree. I just think that at the end of the season, the same people end up with the lion's share of offers, and most of the people getting offers from prestigious firms will have good grades, an interesting background or will be great interviewers. I get that's a truism and I don't mean to dissuade people from bidding on those firms. I just think it helps to have realistic expectations going in.

I'd be happy to set some really realistic expectations: I had a GPA slightly below 3.6 and didn't get a callback from any of S&C/DPW/STB/Cleary. I'd still bid those firms with a 3.5+ GPA but once you are outside of S&C auto-callback range nothing is guaranteed.

Regarding LA: I'm not convinced that offices in Southern California see Columbia as being all that different from USC/UCLA.