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1L urm in the top 35-40% at a t40 school. I got a bunch of interviews at firms which had much higher grade cut-offs than what my grades were, but was shut out at firms with lower "preferred gpa" requirements.

I know the general consensus is that if they gave you an interview, you at least have a shot. However, I have spoken to some of my non-urm classmates who said during their interviews, the interviewer was basically disinterested from the jump. To me that indicates that, at least in some instances, interviews are handed out fairly arbitrarily.

I'm left to wonder if i'm just filling some sort of "interview quota" at the better firms without really having a shot at competing for a position. Then I feel screwed because the firms at which I would have been competitive completely snubbed me.

Any thoughts on this?

op here: would really like ANY thoughts on this...

URMS are often held to a different standard. Maybe you're just getting jerked around, but maybe you're not.

Hard to say. Some of the better firms that you are getting interviews from may have work from corporate clients that require a certain amount of diversity in legal staff. They may be lacking a prerequisite to bid for certain companies' work. You may be fitting a quota but you have a legitimate chance.