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Transfer from a low T2 w/ a Top 28% rank/ 3.167 GPA. Non-IP. Currently interning at the DNCC- OGC. Interested in Telecom/ Government Affairs/ Gov't Contracts:

DC OCI
1) Bingham
2) Baker & Hostetler
3) Fox Rothschild
4) Beveridge & Diamond
5) CIA OGC
6) State OGC
7) Hunton Williams
8 ) Cozen O'Connor
9) Bryan Cave
10) LeClairRyan
11) Sutherland
12) hogan lovells
13) Holland & Knight
14) Blank Rome
15) Cleary
16) Paul Hastings
17) Nixon Peabody
18) Venable
19) Dechert
20) Wiley Rein
21) Winston Strawn
22) Sidley
23) Jones Day
24) Vinson & Elikins
25) Troutman
26) Mayer Brown
27) Latham
28) Akin Gump
29) Alston
30) Covington
31) Crowell & Moring
32) Brown Rudnick
33) Chadbourne
34) Cooley
35) Arent Fox

.

DC - pre-select

0% chance at hogan lovells, Cleary, Sidley, Jones Day, Latham, Covington. Very little shot at DC offices of other firms. Non-IP transfers have historically done pretty poorly at OCI, especially without a strong (i.e., top-10%) ranking at your pre-transfer school.

So mass mailing?

Anon from above. Do you have ties to any secondary markets? I'd mass mail those markets - that's how my transfer friends ended up finding BigLaw jobs.

Nope. Just ties to DC.

I'd at least replace the firms mentioned above with less-selective firms with large DC summer classes. Even with non-transfers, those firms are looking for top-10%, law review people.

Also try mailing mid-size gov. contracts boutiques. There are a ton in DC and they pay close to market.

Can you PM any advice on finding those firms. No problem making less than market, as long as it is more than 100k in DC.

Martindale?

To be brutally honest, I can't see you getting interviews at any of the firms you listed due to your 3.16 GPA. Students at GW that have a 3.6+ do well, 3.4-3.6 can potentially do ok, and everything under that its a crapshoot to even get a single interview because GW is all-preselect and firms will almost always choose the higher GPA over the lower. I realize you're a transfer, and I'm not sure how that changes things, but IMO opinion it makes it worse. If I was a firm I would expect a transfer from a T2 to have higher grades -- essentially, if I'm only going to reach into the top 1/3 or so at GW, I'm not going to consider someone who couldn't break the top 1/4 at a much lower-ranked school. Sorry, but I just don't see it. I recommend you mass-mail small firms in Virginia and Maryland and hope you get something (probably not $100k, but maybe $70k) that way.

So should I have stayed at a T2 school where it was cheaper and probably had the same shot at the same salary (70k)?

TNFSkier16 wrote:So should I have stayed at a T2 school where it was cheaper and probably had the same shot at the same salary (70k)?

Salary of about 40k. And yes you should have stayed at your T2.

TNFSkier16 wrote:So should I have stayed at a T2 school where it was cheaper and probably had the same shot at the same salary (70k)?

If it would have been cheaper, probably yes. This is why transfers to schools outside of the T14 (arguably T10 or so) don't make sense for most people.

TNFSkier16 wrote:So should I have stayed at a T2 school where it was cheaper and probably had the same shot at the same salary (70k)?

Yep. Other than the fact that GW wanted your tuition money, it's a little strange that you got accepted as a transfer to begin with. Your GPA is either right at median or slightly below it at GW -- most transfers that I know had GPAs that were 3.8+

Anonymous User wrote:

TNFSkier16 wrote:So should I have stayed at a T2 school where it was cheaper and probably had the same shot at the same salary (70k)?

Yep. Other than the fact that GW wanted your tuition money, it's a little strange that you got accepted as a transfer to begin with. Your GPA is either right at median or slightly below it at GW -- most transfers that I know had GPAs that were 3.8+

you can't compare gpas across schools like that. plenty of T2/3/4 schools have ludicrous medians to discourage transferring out.

but yea, they're gonna view you as top 30% at your old school. that's not so hot.

I'll keep that in mind. Sounds like networking is my best bet. Bullshit on 40K. I know paralegals making more than that.

Your faith in the job market is amusing.

TNFSkier16 wrote:I'll keep that in mind. Sounds like networking is my best bet. Bullshit on 40K. I know paralegals making more than that.

Bimodal salaries. Have fun realizing that once you are making 40-50k a year. And yes, that's what some paralegals get paid. Too bad being a lawyer doesn't mean shit.

I highly doubt I'll make 40k a year when I graduate. That just doesn't make sense. Also, if I don't get a summer associate next summer doesn't mean im doomed to 40k/year

TNFSkier16 wrote:I highly doubt I'll make 40k a year when I graduate. That just doesn't make sense. Also, if I don't get a summer associate next summer doesn't mean im doomed to 40k/year

What makes you such a special snowflake? Because it isn't your grades.

What makes you an insecure a**hole that you have to make someone feel bad about themselves over the internet?

TNFSkier16 wrote:What makes you an insecure a**hole that you have to make someone feel bad about themselves over the internet?

If telling you the truth makes you feel bad that's your problem not mine.

Its not the truth at all. There's nothing dealt to me that says I have to make 40k at graduation. Explain to me how that is the case.

TNFSkier16 wrote:Its not the truth at all. There's nothing dealt to me that says I have to make 40k at graduation. Explain to me how that is the case.

Top 30% grades from a T2, you go to GW which ITE places less than 25% into biglaw, how are you NOT fucked?