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I'm at MVP and just found out I got onto LR. My GPA is only so-so (maybe ~36 percentile), and I didn't really expect to make LR, so I formed my bid strategy conservatively.

My question:

Is Law Review at an MVP so prestigious that I can afford to use my bids more aggressively? For example, I'd eliminated D.C. from my market search in large part because I didn't feel my GPA was competitive enough.

Dear TLSers, do you think getting Law Review warrants a less conservative bidding strategy? Or should I stay just as cautious and keep my bidding to firms who have historically taken students around my GPA?

Thanks.

EDIT: Should be top %36 not "percentile."

If I were you, I would just throw in some reaches at the top of your list. Might make a difference, but might not. GPA is the A-#-1 thing firms care about, so I would not adjust too much.

I would not suggest more aggression. I would be proud and encouraged, and hope to do better than without law review, but LR is not a panacea. At roughly top third with LR you have solid prospects, but I have encountered no evidence that writing on to LR alone makes a candidate enough stronger to warrant an entirely new bid list / focus.

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LR isn't worth a huge bump. LR is usually considered prestigious because it's often correlated to grades. Keep your bidding the same (conservative). LR matters much more for clerkships than biglaw. It's better to have than not, but is not worth a single .1 of GPA, make no mistake. Just outside top 1/3 at an MVP is by no means guaranteed any placement, regardless of LR ITE.

Bid very conservatively and research the firms heavily so you can make a good impression in the screening interview.

disco_barred wrote:I would not suggest more aggression. I would be proud and encouraged, and hope to do better than without law review, but LR is not a panacea. At roughly top third with LR you have solid prospects, but I have encountered no evidence that writing on to LR alone makes a candidate enough stronger to warrant an entirely new bid list / focus.

This makes sense and was the answer I thought would ring truest. I think I'll view the LR as an extra layer of security for what I'm currently bidding. Thanks!

Sure thing. Good luck! I have an extra layer of information that might be useful to you if you would like to send me a PM.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm at MVP and just found out I got onto LR. My GPA is only so-so (maybe ~36 percentile), and I didn't really expect to make LR, so I formed my bid strategy conservatively.

My question:

Is Law Review at an MVP so prestigious that I can afford to use my bids more aggressively? For example, I'd eliminated D.C. from my market search in large part because I didn't feel my GPA was competitive enough.

Dear TLSers, do you think getting Law Review warrants a less conservative bidding strategy? Or should I stay just as cautious and keep my bidding to firms who have historically taken students around my GPA?

Thanks.

Since our calls went out today, I'm assuming you're at my school Feel free to PM me if you have Q's regarding my take on it (assuming I'm correct about your school).

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NYAssociate wrote:I think a places like Cleary, Simpson, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, Kirkland, and Debevoise are within reach with that GPA and LR.

I have data from two of MVP, and both Cleary and Davis Polk hire more like top 10%. The rest might be in play. Since LR is an X factor, none are probably a waste of a bid, but OP should still bid broadly just in case.

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OP, first, congrats.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm at MVP and just found out I got onto LR. My GPA is only so-so (maybe ~36 percentile), and I didn't really expect to make LR, so I formed my bid strategy conservatively.

My question:

Is Law Review at an MVP so prestigious that I can afford to use my bids more aggressively? For example, I'd eliminated D.C. from my market search in large part because I didn't feel my GPA was competitive enough.

Dear TLSers, do you think getting Law Review warrants a less conservative bidding strategy? Or should I stay just as cautious and keep my bidding to firms who have historically taken students around my GPA?

Thanks.

I think people will need some more info: What cities are you interested in? What cities do you have connections to? and, I assume you mean your top 36% or 67th percentile.

The guy said 36 percentile, not top 36%. This means he in about top 2/3, not top 1/3. V-anything is probably going to be an uphill battle, even with law review.

Also, Georgiana, when someone specifically obfuscates their school by saying MVP, that is not a cue for you to out them. I realize that the OP posted anon, but this is still poor form.

Person wrote:The guy said 36 percentile, not top 36%. This means he in about top 2/3, not top 1/3. V-anything is probably going to be an uphill battle, even with law review.

Also, Georgiana, when someone specifically obfuscates their school by saying MVP, that is not a cue for you to out them. I realize that the OP posted anon, but this is still poor form.

Which is why I said to PM, for all you know several schools announced yesterday (and had you done some research you'd know that is in fact the case).

Person wrote:The guy said 36 percentile, not top 36%. This means he in about top 2/3, not top 1/3. V-anything is probably going to be an uphill battle, even with law review.

Also, Georgiana, when someone specifically obfuscates their school by saying MVP, that is not a cue for you to out them. I realize that the OP posted anon, but this is still poor form.

Actually, I did mean top 36%. I'm just poor with math jargon and forgot the difference.

Also, after doing a little more research on what class ranks typically are at my school, I think my GPA puts me closer to top %33. It's very hard to tell, though, with the lack of solid information. I do know that I'm a couple of hundredths of a point from the first latin honors, if that helps figuring it out at all.

Also, Chicago is my primary target. I'm originally from the Midwest and I'd only go to the coasts for D.C., which I'm not even sure if I'm going to put bids into. Although I will certainly mail some apps that way

Anonymous User wrote:

Person wrote:The guy said 36 percentile, not top 36%. This means he in about top 2/3, not top 1/3. V-anything is probably going to be an uphill battle, even with law review.

Also, Georgiana, when someone specifically obfuscates their school by saying MVP, that is not a cue for you to out them. I realize that the OP posted anon, but this is still poor form.

Actually, I did mean top 36%. I'm just poor with math jargon and forgot the difference.

Also, after doing a little more research on what class ranks typically are at my school, I think my GPA puts me closer to top %33. It's very hard to tell, though, with the lack of solid information. I do know that I'm a couple of hundredths of a point from the first latin honors, if that helps figuring it out at all.

Also, Chicago is my primary target. I'm originally from the Midwest and I'd only go to the coasts for D.C., which I'm not even sure if I'm going to put bids into. Although I will certainly mail some apps that way

Honestly, if you want to stay in Chicago that makes bidding a lot easier. Depending how many Chicago firms are headed to your OCI, you can probably bid on all the Chicago firms and have plenty of bids left.

Do firms really only value law review as a proxy for grades? I would think that they'd also care about the writing and editing experience of review members, no? If not, what's the use in doing law review if you can simply put your class rank--or some approximation thereof--on your resume?

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PKSebben wrote:

tamlyric wrote:Do firms really only value law review as a proxy for grades? I would think that they'd also care about the writing and editing experience of review members, no? If not, what's the use in doing law review if you can simply put your class rank on your resume?

The editing experience on a journal could really be done by a bunch of monkeys. Article editing is one thing, but rank-and-file journal work is pretty mechanical. Being on the e-board of a journal is good experience for managing projects, people, etc. The real value of LR is in its honor value, not in its experience value.

Thanks! So, just to be clear, though, the honor value of being on law review does not go beyond the honor of one's class rank?

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It can be compared a little bit to graduating with Latin honors. The difference is that you have to do a bunch of monotonous work to get those honors. Law firms like people who are willing to work hard on sometimes boring assignments.

PKSebben wrote:

tamlyric wrote:Do firms really only value law review as a proxy for grades? I would think that they'd also care about the writing and editing experience of review members, no? If not, what's the use in doing law review if you can simply put your class rank on your resume?

The editing experience on a journal could really be done by a bunch of monkeys. Article editing is one thing, but rank-and-file journal work is pretty mechanical. Being on the e-board of a journal is good experience for managing projects, people, etc. The real value of LR is in its honor value, not in its experience value.

So... not to hijack the thread, but would it not make any difference employment-wise for someone who is top 1/3rd at BU? I'm not into the whole firm-thing, but am hoping LR will help with gov. employment.

Blindmelon wrote:

PKSebben wrote:

tamlyric wrote:Do firms really only value law review as a proxy for grades? I would think that they'd also care about the writing and editing experience of review members, no? If not, what's the use in doing law review if you can simply put your class rank on your resume?

The editing experience on a journal could really be done by a bunch of monkeys. Article editing is one thing, but rank-and-file journal work is pretty mechanical. Being on the e-board of a journal is good experience for managing projects, people, etc. The real value of LR is in its honor value, not in its experience value.

So... not to hijack the thread, but would it not make any difference employment-wise for someone who is top 1/3rd at BU? I'm not into the whole firm-thing, but am hoping LR will help with gov. employment.

Hijack away. I've gotten the advice that I wanted. Thanks again, guys.