JD Match Forum

[Heartford]

I suspect he was taken aback by the vehemence of some of the posters on this site.

As one of those vehement posters, I commend Bruce for making this change.

[stratocophic]

Although I am a little disappointed that most TLSers chose not to give Bruce a vote of confidence in the form of a $99 membership,

I'm pretty sure Bruce knows TLSers score a solid 2/10 on the scale of social ability.

Harsh but fair.

[englawyer]

Is there any place to upload law school transcript? I see undergrad transcript...

[CyLaw]

Is there any place to upload law school transcript? I see undergrad transcript...

The FAQ says they will add this later. Apparently some Career Services don't allow their students to do that until a certain date, so JDMatch is waiting till later in the summer to allow that. I imagine it will be up by the match day.

[englawyer]

I wonder how the whole picture thing will pan out. Are most people adding one? I wonder if firms will use that to choose better looking people

[CyLaw]

I wonder how the whole picture thing will pan out. Are most people adding one? I wonder if firms will use that to choose better looking people

I'm not. Only because I don't care enough to have a good one taken.

[Heartford]

I wonder how the whole picture thing will pan out. Are most people adding one? I wonder if firms will use that to choose better looking people

Looking at your avatar, you seem pretty attractive to me. You should just use that pic.

[BruceMacEwen]

Hi, folks:

Coders have finished their scrivening and you can now register for free.

Thanks again for all the input. As a startup, JD Match better be nimble if it's anything, and I hope we just demonstrated that.

BTW, on the issue of law school class rank/transcripts, two things: (1) For better or worse, we're abiding by schools' embargos on your sharing your transcripts before OCI. Not a stable long-term equilibrium, we don't believe, but for now please take up this issue with your friendly local career services people; it's their policy, not ours. (2) For schools (including my alma mater, Stanford), Cornell, Yale, etc., that don't compute class rank--savvy law firms know that and there's not much you can do about it but we provide "N/A" as an option in that field.

Bruce

[IrwinM.Fletcher]

Great job, Bruce.

I'm also very pleased that the previous registrants will receive a refund. That was an ethical and fair move.

[stratocophic]

This seems like a much better move for the long-term. Good lesson to be learned from UCIrvine.

[emoticons777]

Hi, folks:

Coders have finished their scrivening and you can now register for free.

Thanks again for all the input. As a startup, JD Match better be nimble if it's anything, and I hope we just demonstrated that.

BTW, on the issue of law school class rank/transcripts, two things: (1) For better or worse, we're abiding by schools' embargos on your sharing your transcripts before OCI. Not a stable long-term equilibrium, we don't believe, but for now please take up this issue with your friendly local career services people; it's their policy, not ours. (2) For schools (including my alma mater, Stanford), Cornell, Yale, etc., that don't compute class rank--savvy law firms know that and there's not much you can do about it but we provide "N/A" as an option in that field.

Bruce

What date will we be allowed to post transcripts/grades? If only a handful of schools have these restrictions then shouldn't it be up to the students to abide by those rules - why is JD Match taking on that role?

Also, I suggest adding an option for "n/a" or "unranked" into the ranking area.

[BruceMacEwen]

It's actually a pretty interesting philosophical question whether we should be shadow-enforcing career services' rules or assuming you'll all abide by them. I know where my free-market instincts lie.

Let me put this to a vote on TLS: No, never mind--I think I know the answer!

We'll revisit this over the next few days. Stay tuned.

[thesealocust]

Now that it's free for law students, I withdraw all objections, with you luck, and might sign up myself just to see what it's all about.

[thelawguy]

Are only the firms with a JD Match Logo next to their name currently registered as participating in the service? Also, has a firm date for when the first match day is been announced yet?

[shastaca]

Advanced Degrees: Morocco


My Masters is apparently from Morocco. I didn't know Chicago had a campus there.

[stormy]

Is there a way so that employers won't see what I rank them? I am scared that I will rank one firm highly, they don't feel the same way about me and take a pass, and then my lower ranked firm decides to pass on me because I ranked them so low. How do we avoid this problem with jd match?

[BruceMacEwen]

Hi, all:

Quick answers for a few of the questions:

Yes, the JD Match logo next to a firm indicates they're a member. But let me hasten to add: You should rank all the firms you really want/are interested in. This gives us great ammunition to go to these firms and say, "XX students are interested in your firm. Wouldn't you like to join?" A virtuous cycle.

Plus if we can persuade that firm to join you don't have to lift a finger; you've already ranked them.

Is there a way so that employers won't see what I rank them? I am scared that I will rank one firm highly, they don't feel the same way about me and take a pass, and then my lower ranked firm decides to pass on me because I ranked them so low. How do we avoid this problem with jd match?

No one can see anyone else's rankings, period. You can't see other students', firms can't see other firms', you can't see firms' and they can't see yours. This is obviously paramount to the integrity of the matching algorithm. So not to worry on that score.

Thanks for the interest.

Bruce

[SlipperyPete]

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[SlipperyPete]

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[BruceMacEwen]

Great questions.

Non-participating firms are not considered by the algorithm--you can't possibly be matched with a non-member firm. We will, however, be able to "roll back the clock" (virtually) to tell, say, Baker Botts that if they had belonged on date XX, there were YY students who identified them as a desirable match. And we'll be able to tell them there were members firms (Skadden, in your example) that got some of those matches instead. Again, this helps us persuade more firms to join.

does ranking a firm lower decrease your chance of getting a match?

and

Since I'd much prefer McKenna to nothing, wouldn't it be smarter to put McKenna first? Or more generally, correlate my rankings with how I expect the firms to rank me?

Yes, the lower you rank a firm the less likely you'll be matched with them--that's what you're telling us you want, and we take your preferences at face value. You know what's best for you; we aren't second-guessing.

We will match you with the firm (a) you rank most highly that also (b) has "room" for you--that is to say, that hasn't already filled all its available slots with students that firm ranked more highly than it ranked you.

Which helps answer the second question: Tell the algorithm the truth. That is to say, input your real, honest preferences. So yes, if Skadden is your #1, put them there. Why? For one thing, you never know: You might get a match!

But more importantly, the way the algorithm works means that it will try to match you with your most-preferred firm first, your second-most preferred firm second, etc. In other words, if McKenna is the only realistic firm for you out of the gate, that's the match you'll get: Whether you ranked them first or last. But if you ranked them first, and the algorithm matches you with them, it stops. You'll never know whether WilmerHale (say) was a possibility.

Also, remember that we run the matching algorithm weekly from the first week of August through mid-September, and every 10 days or so after that to the end of OCI in late October.

This means you'll have lots of opportunities to refine and revise your rankings. Generally speaking, you hit the nail on the head: As OCI proceeds and we run the algorithm repeatedly, you will get timely, unfiltered market feedback which should help you "correlate my rankings with how I expect the firms to rank me."

Hope this helps.

Bruce

[Anonymous User]

Is there a way to indicate if you transferred/are transferring? I don't want it to look like I'm lying by listing my school and my GPA under a T14 when I attended a T2 my 1L year.

[thelawguy]

When is the first match day?

[emciosn]

My LS just sent out an e-mail telling us that we can use JD match for free. The first match day is this Saturday apparently. I thought I saw earlier in this thread that it was pretty expensive, is it free at other schools?

[duckmoney]

My LS just sent out an e-mail telling us that we can use JD match for free. The first match day is this Saturday apparently. I thought I saw earlier in this thread that it was pretty expensive, is it free at other schools?

Can you say which school?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

My LS just sent out an e-mail telling us that we can use JD match for free. The first match day is this Saturday apparently. I thought I saw earlier in this thread that it was pretty expensive, is it free at other schools?

JD Match is now free for all students.