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Can anyone report how bidding went at Yale? Is is what we all imagined it to be?

How did you imagine it to be? We have no pre-selects, so it's just a lottery system. We ranking our choices. I got ~15 interviews (that's basically what I bid on). My only disappointment is that I did not get a FIP interview at Sullivan & Cromwell despite ranking them 6th. I got the rest of my top 15 bids, including Cravath, Williams & Connolly, Skadden, etc (and then a bunch that are good in my specialty area of interest).

I imagined it to be spectacular- (kind of like Teri Hatcher's boobs on that famous Seinfeld epioside)

I guess I was just wondering whether you all got all your choices through the lottery even though some employers might be interviewing only a relatively small number of students.

Obviously I can figure out from your statement that S&C is pretty popular at YLS. Any others you know of that were oversubscribed?

Maybe more interestingly, were there any that were undersubscribed?

Anonymous User wrote:How did you imagine it to be? We have no pre-selects, so it's just a lottery system. We ranking our choices. I got ~15 interviews (that's basically what I bid on). My only disappointment is that I did not get a FIP interview at Sullivan & Cromwell despite ranking them 6th. I got the rest of my top 15 bids, including Cravath, Williams & Connolly, Skadden, etc (and then a bunch that are good in my specialty area of interest).

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering if you've gathered much of an impression about how firms differentiate between YLS students. Is the amount of H v. P grades really all that critical? Is it primarily interview skills? The presence of more 'corporate' classes on the transcript? Job experience? In other words, what separates the YLS student who has a shot at Williams & Connolly from one who is less likely to get a callback and how does that influence bidding strategy.

westbayguy wrote:Can anyone report how bidding went at Yale? Is is what we all imagined it to be?

I did not receive 72 virgins as imagined. I did, however, receive 10 out of my top 12. And #19 as well. Bids 13 through 18 and 20 through 30 were not as fertile--none came through.

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bwv812 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

westbayguy wrote:Can anyone report how bidding went at Yale? Is is what we all imagined it to be?

I did not receive 72 virgins as imagined. I did, however, receive 10 out of my top 12. And #19 as well. Bids 13 through 18 and 20 through 30 were not as fertile--none came through.

All DC, or what?

Out of the 11:
- 3 DC (Williams & Connolly, Covington, etc)
- 8 NYC (Cravath, Wachtell, SullCrom, etc)

Kirkland & Ellis screwed my bidding (should've picked more DC firms over K&E NY and K&E Chi). And I didn't get Gibson Dunn DC despite bidding them #6.

Anonymous User wrote:

bwv812 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

westbayguy wrote:Can anyone report how bidding went at Yale? Is is what we all imagined it to be?

I did not receive 72 virgins as imagined. I did, however, receive 10 out of my top 12. And #19 as well. Bids 13 through 18 and 20 through 30 were not as fertile--none came through.

All DC, or what?

Out of the 11:
- 3 DC (Williams & Connolly, Covington, etc)
- 8 NYC (Cravath, Wachtell, SullCrom, etc)

Kirkland & Ellis screwed my bidding (should've picked more DC firms over K&E NY and K&E Chi). And I didn't get Gibson Dunn DC despite bidding them #6.

did you get k&e ny? if not, i might be dropping them - so look out for an open spot.

Bid 23, got 15--all the ones I really wanted.

I have no geographic preferences (beyond places that pay market) so I was surprised to get a good range of NYC, DC and Cal firms. My number 1 choice interview is pretty much the last of the week. Is that good because I get a memorable spot, or bad because they'll have all the talent they need by then?

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Wow I can't believe putting Sullivan at #6 didn't get an interview. Friend put Skadden at #3 and didn't get it either.

I bid on 20, got 13 and then snuck in a Skadden interview when they added a schedule.

dbt wrote:Wow I can't believe putting Sullivan at #6 didn't get an interview. Friend put Skadden at #3 and didn't get it either.

I bid on 20, got 13 and then snuck in a Skadden interview when they added a schedule.

Surreptitious transfers steal our Skadden slots swiftly.

damn you!


* kidding, of course! welcome to yls! glad to have you! I hope you nail your interviews and land a great gig!

Anonymous User wrote:

dbt wrote:Wow I can't believe putting Sullivan at #6 didn't get an interview. Friend put Skadden at #3 and didn't get it either.

I bid on 20, got 13 and then snuck in a Skadden interview when they added a schedule.

Surreptitious transfers steal our Skadden slots swiftly.

damn you!


* kidding, of course! welcome to yls! glad to have you! I hope you nail your interviews and land a great gig!

Lol. You know, this thought actually passed through my head as I scheduled the interview.

I did very well. Got 19 interviews. All NYC firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell, Skadden, Cravath/Swaine & Moore, and Watchell among others. I did a tremendous amount of research before I made my bids and got everyone I want in the top 12. Surprisingly enough, I got Watchell even though I ranked it low because I'm not sure if I want to work 80 hours a week and have no social life, LOL.

I'm pretty happy with how bidding went. Got 14 out of my 23 bids. Didn't get Gibson Dunn DC, despite ranking it 8, or hogan lovells, despite ranking it 9. Got a lot of my lower bids, though.

There are also still open slots at some firms, though it looks like they're in secondary markets and/or smaller firms. We've also been getting periodic emails today as firms add schedules etc. I've added two more firms for a total of 16 interviews.

They should give us a trading system. I'd trade some V10 NY firms for Sullivan or Davis Polk...

dbt wrote:They should give us a trading system. I'd trade some V10 NY firms for Sullivan or Davis Polk...

S&C, a V3, will cost you two V10s.

Davis Polk, a V5, will cost you a V10 and two V14s.

Anonymous User wrote:

dbt wrote:They should give us a trading system. I'd trade some V10 NY firms for Sullivan or Davis Polk...

S&C, a V3, will cost you two V10s.

Davis Polk, a V5, will cost you a V10 and two V14s.

Lol I see your S&C and raise you a Wachtell.

Eh...I need more interviews to play this game.

dbt wrote:They should give us a trading system. I'd trade some V10 NY firms for Sullivan or Davis Polk...

This is a seriously good idea-kind of a "stubhub" for law students. Anyone want to broach it to the CDO at YLS (or anywhere else that has lotteries for that matter)? Bid ranking is such a stab in the dark, there should be a better system of rejiggering the results other than waitlists, and luck of the draw snagging of openings as people cancel. If someone would sell their soul for S&C slot, and someone else who has it is just "meh" about it, why not put a price on it?

BTW- who did get Gibson Dunn DC, and why aren't they offering overflow slots for the readily apparent oversubscription?

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So no one answered a previous poster's question. How do firms distinguish between candidates at Yale? Is it really a question of how many H vs. P marks you have? Or is there some other mechanism to decide between candidates?

Anonymous User wrote:So no one answered a previous poster's question. How do firms distinguish between candidates at Yale? Is it really a question of how many H vs. P marks you have? Or is there some other mechanism to decide between candidates?

I hear they do some kind of interview process where they ask questions and listen to responses, coupled with resumes and transcripts. Might be different at Yale though.

Anonymous User wrote:So no one answered a previous poster's question. How do firms distinguish between candidates at Yale? Is it really a question of how many H vs. P marks you have? Or is there some other mechanism to decide between candidates?

Typically:

- 4 Hs puts you in the running for Wachtell, Susman (although they don't participate in FIP), etc
- 3 Hs tends to be good enough for Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, etc
- 2 Hs lands you V10-V25
- 1 H will have you looking at V25-V50
- All Ps nabs you V50-V100
- 1+ LP = straight to Cadwalader.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:So no one answered a previous poster's question. How do firms distinguish between candidates at Yale? Is it really a question of how many H vs. P marks you have? Or is there some other mechanism to decide between candidates?

Typically:

- 4 Hs puts you in the running for Wachtell, Susman (although they don't participate in FIP), etc
- 3 Hs tends to be good enough for Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, etc
- 2 Hs lands you V10-V25
- 1 H will have you looking at V25-V50
- All Ps nabs you V50-V100
- 1+ LP = straight to Cadwalader.

Any ideas how transfers typically fare?

dbt wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:So no one answered a previous poster's question. How do firms distinguish between candidates at Yale? Is it really a question of how many H vs. P marks you have? Or is there some other mechanism to decide between candidates?

Typically:

- 4 Hs puts you in the running for Wachtell, Susman (although they don't participate in FIP), etc
- 3 Hs tends to be good enough for Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, etc
- 2 Hs lands you V10-V25
- 1 H will have you looking at V25-V50
- All Ps nabs you V50-V100
- 1+ LP = straight to Cadwalader.

Any ideas how transfers typically fare?

Identically to how they would have fared at their prior school, considering what it takes to get into Yale?