Critique my bid list - Fordham Top 15% Forum

[Anonymous User]

60% pre-select, 40% student preference.
Transactional preferred.
Around top 15% at Fordham, no journal, interesting summer experience, no significant WE (~1 year).
Pipe dream to work for an international firm, so that's why I've ranked them a little higher when they do give student-preferenced interviews a chance.

1. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
2. clifford chance US LLP
3. Shearman & Sterling LLP
4. Kaye Scholer LLP
5. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
6. nixon peabody llp
7. Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP
8. Seward & Kissel LLP
9. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
10. Linklaters
11. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
12. Patton Boggs LLP
13. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
14. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
15. White & Case LLP
16. Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
17. Pillsbury Winthrop LLP
18. Holland & Knight LLP
19. sidley austin llp
20. katten muchin rosenman llp
21. Chadbourne & Parke LLP
22. mayer brown llp
23. Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard, P.A.
24. Bryan Cave LLP
25. Winston & Strawn LLP
26. proskauer rose llp
27. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
28. goodwin procter llp
29. Greenberg Traurig LLP
30. Dechert LLP
31. O'Melveny & Myers LLP
32. Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP
33. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
34. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
35. Ropes & Gray LLP

[MrAnon]

You're going to really wow them with no journal

[Anonymous User]

You're going to really wow them with no journal

Thanks for the insight.

[Anonymous User]

flame

[Anonymous User]

Bumping in the event anyone has a serious reply

[BEAST_mode]

I'm just glad you took the time to specify the business designation of each. Otherwise, I would have been thorogouhly confused as to which firms you were referencing.

[Anonymous User]

Are journal offers out yet or are you assuming you didnt make one??

[Anonymous User]

I'm just glad you took the time to specify the business designation of each. Otherwise, I would have been thorogouhly confused as to which firms you were referencing.

I just copy and pasted my bidlist from my working spreadsheet, which uses ocs provided data...

[Anonymous User]

Don't know why there's so much hostility. Looks good to me.

[Anonymous User]

Don't know why there's so much hostility. Looks good to me.

Thanks for being the first to answer regarding the substance of my bidlist, it's appreciated.

[horseradish]

Looks like a good list.

Are you above or below 3.5? Thats the cut-off for a number of firms.

Also, you might want to take off ropes, sidley and weil.

What is your reason for wanting international?

[Anonymous User]

I would move some of these around. For example, you have Seward and Kissel at 8. You're most likely going to have a shot there with your class rank. I'd move more challenging firms higher

[Anonymous User]

Looks like a good list.

Are you above or below 3.5? Thats the cut-off for a number of firms.

Also, you might want to take off ropes, sidley and weil.

What is your reason for wanting international?

Pretty much right at 3.5

Yeah I figured those 3 were longshots, but they were rated as less grade selective (compared to others around their rank) so figured may as well. But I'll look for replacements tonight.

No great reason for it, just seems like interesting work and the international rotations would be sick. Plus they seem to be more lenient on 'up or out' policies.

[Anonymous User]

Looks like a good list.

Are you above or below 3.5? Thats the cut-off for a number of firms.

Also, you might want to take off ropes, sidley and weil.

What is your reason for wanting international?

Pretty much right at 3.5

Yeah I figured those 3 were longshots, but they were rated as less grade selective (compared to others around their rank) so figured may as well. But I'll look for replacements tonight.

No great reason for it, just seems like interesting work and the international rotations would be sick. Plus they seem to be more lenient on 'up or out' policies.

Serious question: Over 3.5 or under? I believe it makes a difference for some of these firms.

[horseradish]

nothing wrong with leaving a few reaches. But if i remember correctly, Ropes was grade selectivity ranking was way off. Not as sure about the other two.

[Anonymous User]

Looks like a good list.

Are you above or below 3.5? Thats the cut-off for a number of firms.

Also, you might want to take off ropes, sidley and weil.

What is your reason for wanting international?

Pretty much right at 3.5

Yeah I figured those 3 were longshots, but they were rated as less grade selective (compared to others around their rank) so figured may as well. But I'll look for replacements tonight.

No great reason for it, just seems like interesting work and the international rotations would be sick. Plus they seem to be more lenient on 'up or out' policies.

Serious question: Over 3.5 or under? I believe it makes a difference for some of these firms.

.01 under ...

[Anonymous User]

Looks like a good list.

Serious question: Over 3.5 or under? I believe it makes a difference for some of these firms.

.01 under ...

Then I would take off the firms mentioned before. Overall looks good though.

[Anonymous User]

when you say .01 under, do you mean you have a 3.494 or below? Just checking, because you should be able to round up with a 3.495 or above.

[Anonymous User]

Then I would take off the firms mentioned before. Overall looks good though.

Thanks a lot for the help everyone! How about replacing those three with Brown Rudnick, K&L Gates, and Crowell & Moring (or, alternatively, a firm out in Morristown, NJ ... but I don't have any sort of NJ ties)?

[Anonymous User]

I think you should keep this bid list as it is. None of these firms are out of reach with a 3.49. I really dont think that there is any need to replace anything with either Brown Rudnick, K&L Gates, or Crowell & Moring

[Anonymous User]

Also, you really dont need special NJ ties for the NJ firms coming to Fordham. Newark is literally adjacent to New York... going to school in Manhattan is enough of a tie for a NJ firm.

[Anonymous User]

NJ firms would be a good idea... pick a few and put them in ur bidlist as safeties. Most of the people who apply to them do so because they have mediocre grades. Being top 15% will give you a great chance for an offer. If you dont get anything in manhattan, working right across the river for 130-140k or so (and usually much better hours) is not a bad thing to have as a backup.

[Anonymous User]

eh, might want to be careful with that. Your grades might be too high. Firms sometimes won't interview candidates whose grades are too high because they think (rightfully so) that the person probably wouldn't accept an offer.

[Anonymous User]

Idk its top 15%, not top 5, and no journal. I think thats definitely good enough to put someone in the running for all of the firms on the bidlist, but not good enough to scare off a good NJ firm

[Anonymous User]

NJ firms would be a good idea... pick a few and put them in ur bidlist as safeties. Most of the people who apply to them do so because they have mediocre grades. Being top 15% will give you a great chance for an offer. If you dont get anything in manhattan, working right across the river for 130-140k or so (and usually much better hours) is not a bad thing to have as a backup.

The problem is that everyone is thinking this, leading to increased competition for NJ firms.