Top Law Schools

i have heard this term thrown around a lot...can someone tell me what it means?

the interviewers blindfold themselves so there is no visual bias. they won't know if you are a urm or disabled. sometimes they wear cute eyemasks with eyelashes! usually just biglaw though.

At many schools, firms get to prescreen applicants and only interview the students that meet their hiring criteria. At most of the very top schools, employers must interview everybody who the school selects (usually through lottery/bidding process). Firms will still only consider the students who meet their academic (and other) criteria, but, in theory, all students get a chance because they get an interview.

It seems like this process would be really disadvantageous to students without top grades (i.e. you still get an interview even if they would never consider you, wasting an interview slot where you could have interviewed with a firm who would actually consider you.) Is there a general tactic for bidding/firms that are specifically known to be grade sensitive to avoid that, but without underbidding?

Anonymous User wrote:It seems like this process would be really disadvantageous to students without top grades (i.e. you still get an interview even if they would never consider you, wasting an interview slot where you could have interviewed with a firm who would actually consider you.) Is there a general tactic for bidding/firms that are specifically known to be grade sensitive to avoid that, but without underbidding?

Well most students are pretty aware of which firms are grade conscious and their own chances. If you're totally clueless going in, you can get a better idea through talking with a career counselor, looking at the Vault ranking of the firm (a rough proxy for grade-consciousness, although there are exceptions both ways), and looking at statistics for the school as to what proportion of the offers went to honors students (at CLS, they have a sheet with the number of offers going to Stone--top 30%--scholars out of the total offers). So, I guess the general tactic is bidding on only a couple of the more grade-conscious firms in hopes you'll really click with the interviewer and spreading the rest of your bids out at V-50ish firms.

deneuve39 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:It seems like this process would be really disadvantageous to students without top grades (i.e. you still get an interview even if they would never consider you, wasting an interview slot where you could have interviewed with a firm who would actually consider you.) Is there a general tactic for bidding/firms that are specifically known to be grade sensitive to avoid that, but without underbidding?

Well most students are pretty aware of which firms are grade conscious and their own chances. If you're totally clueless going in, you can get a better idea through talking with a career counselor, looking at the Vault ranking of the firm (a rough proxy for grade-consciousness, although there are exceptions both ways), and looking at statistics for the school as to what proportion of the offers went to honors students (at CLS, they have a sheet with the number of offers going to Stone--top 30%--scholars out of the total offers). So, I guess the general tactic is bidding on only a couple of the more grade-conscious firms in hopes you'll really click with the interviewer and spreading the rest of your bids out at V-50ish firms.

Yeah, I am not in the most students who know what firms are grade conscious/own chances. I am one of the IP kids at my school, and I have gotten a very wide range of suggestions of what to do from the 2L/3L IP guys. Our career center is very sketch in general, but the advice they gave makes me fear underbidding (aiming for V75-V100), as I know several people with similar tech. backgrounds with slightly worse grades than mine who got offers at V20 firms without connections. Trying to demystify this process is frustrating.

Hmm yeah well with an IP background you're definitely in a better position--I even know students at CLS who got 1L summer associate positions because they had a really strong science background. It sucks that your career services can't help you out more, but I would say bid conservatively for maybe half of your bids and use the other half to bid for more grade-conscious firms with strong IP departments. Chambers has a list of NY firms that meet this description: http://www.chambersandpartners.com/USA/Editorial/36799

The firms coming to our OCI post their desired student when they enter an application to be at OCI. So it says "3.X required; law review preferred, etc."

Ostensibly, this helps to weed out the lower grades, but I wouldn't be surprised if morons applied to a higher GPA required firm anyway

The best strategy with OCI is to bid on the firms that seem like the closest match with your experience, grades and interests. When firms post their experience/grades requirements, those are generally the minimum requirements for new associates. There are always exceptions. If you can articulate a strong reason why you should be an exception and if you have your heart set on working there, it may make sense to bid on that firm. Even better if your school has a blind OCI process where have a better chance of getting the interview. Otherwise, it's best to bid on interviews where you have a real chance of getting hired by the firm.

But remember: OCI is the first of many opportunities to get the job you're looking for! I know it can seem all-important, and it is one of the easiest ways to get a job. But you can still get a great job outside of OCI.

Not sure what to make of the minimum reqs. Both career services and older students at my school say to not pay that much attention, since a lot of firms purportedly send the same reqs to every school they recruit at. And being at a high ranking school...where we don't have GPA or class rank....

Anonymous User wrote:Not sure what to make of the minimum reqs. Both career services and older students at my school say to not pay that much attention, since a lot of firms purportedly send the same reqs to every school they recruit at. And being at a high ranking school...where we don't have GPA or class rank....

If you are at a highly ranked law school that doesn't have GPA or class rank, you're in a great spot. My comment was really meant to advise people not to waste their bid on a firm that requires a 3.5 GPA when they have a 2.9. (And firms do have similar requirements for schools that are in the same range of rankings.) If you think you are in the firm's ballpark requirements, go for the interview! Most firms would be happy to have someone with decent grades at a highly ranked school in their summer class. Best of luck.