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I need some advice on my OCI bid list. At Hastings we get 35 bids, 75% are pre-select, and 25% are lottery. My CSO said where you rank the firms doesn't matter that much past around 5, since that's where your lottery bids will likely come from.

x bids are done.

I am curious as to why you order your bid list this way. there is a big fluctuation of V ranking going down your list. Also, are there any more firms that are not in V100 that come to your school's OCI? I only saw 3 non-vault ranking firms on your list, and that seems few imo. I mean you got great grades, but I would bid on at least 5 non-vault ranking firms if I were you.

target wrote:I am curious as to why you order your bid list this way. there is a big fluctuation of V ranking going down your list. Also, are there any more firms that are not in V100 that come to your school's OCI? I only saw 3 non-vault ranking firms on your list, and that seems few imo. I mean you got great grades, but I would bid on at least 5 non-vault ranking firms if I were you.

Vault rankings aren't as relevant on the west coast. I looked at the number of Hastings grads employed at the firm, their practice areas, and class size, and tried to make my list with those considerations (there are a few exceptions). There are more firms that aren't vault, but a lot of them are looking for offices not in SF (like in Fresno/Sacramento), or I don't know if I want to apply because their class size is very small. One of the things I was wondering is if I should add more of these firms and take out some of my reaches.

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JusticeJackson wrote:Do you know how Hastings did at those firms in the last few years? My experience is that SF is a brutal market, with a lot of solid local schools and not nearly enough employers. Good luck.

I only know based on the firm websites and looking online at the Hastings summer feedback forms. Our career office doesn't give out numbers about placement in firms, sadly. I asked my CSO if there were any firms that are known not to take any people from Hastings and she told me a couple, so I kept them off my list. They were likely too much of a reach for me anyway.

ilovesf wrote: Vault rankings aren't as relevant on the west coast. I looked at the number of Hastings grads employed at the firm, their practice areas, and class size, and tried to make my list with those considerations (there are a few exceptions). There are more firms that aren't vault, but a lot of them are looking for offices not in SF (like in Fresno/Sacramento), or I don't know if I want to apply because their class size is very small. One of the things I was wondering is if I should add more of these firms and take out some of my reaches.

I agree partly and disagree partly to what you said. vault ranking does matter in legal recruitment on the west coast in general. But I don't have those stats regarding the number of Hastings grads employed by V-ranking firms, so I defer to you.

I guess my advice is you should have more safety bids. Again, you have great grades, and you should be confident in bidding on those firms. but like the poster above mine said the bay area is filled with good schools and there are a bunch of T14 students whom I interned with this summer wants to come back here. So, stay on the safe side and have more safety bids.

target wrote:

ilovesf wrote: Vault rankings aren't as relevant on the west coast. I looked at the number of Hastings grads employed at the firm, their practice areas, and class size, and tried to make my list with those considerations (there are a few exceptions). There are more firms that aren't vault, but a lot of them are looking for offices not in SF (like in Fresno/Sacramento), or I don't know if I want to apply because their class size is very small. One of the things I was wondering is if I should add more of these firms and take out some of my reaches.

I agree partly and disagree partly to what you said. vault ranking does matter in legal recruitment on the west coast in general. But I don't have those stats regarding the number of Hastings grads employed by V-ranking firms, so I defer to you.

I guess my advice is you should have more safety bids. Again, you have great grades, and you should be confident in bidding on those firms. but like the poster above mine said the bay area is filled with good schools and there are a bunch of T14 students whom I interned with this summer wants to come back here. So, stay on the safe side and have more safety bids.

Ok, thanks! I guess my hesitation was that a lot of the non-vault ranked firms that come to OCI are only hiring 1-2 people over the summer, so I figured that putting them down was just as risky as a vault ranked firm that maybe has a more competitive pool, but is hiring more people.

ilovesf wrote: Ok, thanks! I guess my hesitation was that a lot of the non-vault ranked firms that come to OCI are only hiring 1-2 people over the summer, so I figured that putting them down was just as risky as a vault ranked firm that maybe has a more competitive pool, but is hiring more people.

I am going through the same process, so this also gives me some helpful tips. I def. agree that small firms only hire 1-2 associates and bidding on them risks the unnecessary competition. But maybe you can ask career office to give you more data regarding past interviewing trends and hires, so you can make good decisions. Also, you can just bid on the fewest number of non-vault ranking firms that you would like.

ilovesf wrote: I asked my CSO if there were any firms that are known not to take any people from Hastings and she told me a couple, so I kept them off my list. They were likely too much of a reach for me anyway.

care to share?

self-serving bump. I made law review if that changes anything.