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Hi,

I am 1L and had a few phone/on-site interviews over the break.

But most of them were dings. They were all small to mid-sized patent boutiques. I go to a T10 and have a Ph. D. in EE. I think I look good on papers. There must be something wrong with the firms or my interviews or myself.

My defense mechanism tells me that I am overqualified. The firms must think that I will get better offers at OCIP and will never come back. Having me in their summer programs will waste their time and money.
(but if they had so thought, they would have never interviewed me . . .)

I don't know. So, is it polite and proper for me to ask my interviewers why they don't want me?

Every ding letter takes away a bit of my self confidence.

P.S.: I am an international student. I know and accept that this is my weakness. I was hoping that patent firms might overlook this because of my strong technical backgrounds.

Hope every one can find a perfect summer internship.

Thank you for your precious time and kind reply.

It would depend on how you phrased your question.

I think that if you mentioned your motivation, i.e self betterment and improvement, it may make it easier for some interviewers to give a reason.

I'd suspect your question would put off some interviewers too.

You'd really have nothing to loose either way since they already dinged you.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if you just word it so it looks like an inquiry of self-improvement and not of anger or frustration it shouldn't be a problem. Just be aware that you're probably going to be replied to with a canned response about competitiveness or divergent interests or something like that.

You can ask, but I can guarantee that no one is going to give you an honest answer. From there point of view, it's just asking to be sued so it's better not to say anything. The answer you'll get is, "we had a lot of good candidates, it was a tough choice, and we couldn't hire everyone. Sorry."

Are you on an F1 visa?

I'll save you the time and bust out my crystal ball, which tells me what the employers you applied to will tell you (if anything): "Thank you for your inquiry concerning possible employment with XYZ Firm. While we are impressed with your qualifications, our Firm is in the fortunate position this year of having a large number of highly qualified applicants, such as yourself, for very few summer associate positions. As a result, we have been forced to make difficult decisions and regret that we are unable to invite you to our office for additional interviews. Once again, thank you for your interest in our Firm. We wish you success in your career search."

Renzo wrote:You can ask, but I can guarantee that no one is going to give you an honest answer. From there point of view, it's just asking to be sued so it's better not to say anything. The answer you'll get is, "we had a lot of good candidates, it was a tough choice, and we couldn't hire everyone. Sorry."

Well, OP could frame the question specifically w/o being offensive or sounding spoiled or entitled. In fact, phrased correctly, the inquiry might impress the interviewer so that he gives OP another look later. You never know. Ex: "I understand from my research that xyz firm values pdq skill-set in its associates. Is there a particular skill you might advise me to develop in order to better position myself for your firm or the profession in general?"