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Title says it all - have no idea how it happened but I got shut out of all of the journals. Am I screwed? I feel like this basically just shows employers that I cannot write at all...

Becuase I know you're going to ask: BU/BC.

Did you receive any consideration for your class rank during the write-on ? Did you express interest in any other journals ?

Consider contacting the editor-in-chief/managing editor of any jounal to which you did not apply to see if there are any available spots ?

I guess I could try to get in touch with them, I'm not sure if that's exactly allowed as it's wellllllllllllllllllllllll past the deadline, and submissions are due in the next few days for OCI.

By your suggestion to reach out to the EICs - are you telling me that its seriously that bad to show up to Boston/NYC OCI's with 10% and no LR/journal?

I didn't suggest that. Only that top 10% with law review or a journal is better than top 10% without law review or journal credentials. Ultra-competitive job market calls for the strongest qualifications one can earn.

wouldn't feel too down. Just spin it as you wanted more practical experience. Try to get an internship somewhere. Do moot court. Journal is nice on the resume, but note writing was miserable and blue booking articles isn't that special a skill. Sure I remember rules now and can do a lot of it from memory, but I still double check most things.

I think you can spin it that while you didn't get a journal, you want to get more practical experience doing moot court, externship etc... I think most lawyers know that just being on a journal, not on the exec board, isn't too special a deal. I think at bu and bc ~1/3rd the class is on one.

How do you know you didn't make one? I am also at BU/BC and I haven't heard anything yet.

Probably because you're at different schools.

Curious to hear more answers.

silly. anything except LR is not worth much.

I know at least 3 magna people from my class with no LR, no journal ....
and a bunch of biglaw people with no journals

So you must be from BU. My only guess is that a) you blew one of the rules, like cleaning the metadata, or b) you didn't do great at the citations or something. I would just rock it at moot court. Are you planning on getting a job in Boston? I think you will still do well. I'd ask CDO to see how to pitch not having made it on.

Some top 10% students just don't write as well as others. Law review write-ons are, as you know, very different than issue spotting exams.

You should contact some of the EICs of secondaries and ask if you can join and say you'll do extra work, blahblah. Unless they're not allowed to (unheard of to my knowledge), or they're lame, they'll probably let you join.

Anyway, it's not a total dealbreaker. I have a few friends who didn't do any journal and still got biglaw.

the law review manager of BC makes BC journal membership (not just LR) sound like some kind of prestigious club membership. if you want to join, you can only do so by noting-on.

didi wrote:silly. anything except LR is not worth much.

I know at least 3 magna people from my class with no LR, no journal ....
and a bunch of biglaw people with no journals

Are you at BU/BC? I had gotten the impression from some people on TLS that at these schools journal really matters. Only asking b/c I am also top 10% and am pretty sure I missed the boat on journals as well.

Anonymous User wrote:the law review manager of BC makes BC journal membership (not just LR) sound like some kind of prestigious club membership. if you want to join, you can only do so by noting-on.

This isn't even correct.

Removed.

OP is probably a student at BU.

Many believe that law review membership is more important for those outside of the top 14 law schools.

4444 wrote:Have the BC journals made their selections yet? I go to BC and haven't heard anything, guess it's bad news...

Still nothing from BC

it is true that the manager of BC journals, john gordon, made journal memberships sound like some type of prestigious clubs.
He was working for law review, not as a manger, before he went to BC law. Then he studied law at BC and was on LR - did he go through the traditional route? I don't know. Now he's the LR manager.

I know at least a couple of people who graduated magna in 2011 and who were not on any journal. And I know at least 5+ people who were not on journals but who are now working at various biglaw firms.I know at least several journal people who do not have full-time, permanent jobs. that said, I have no idea how helpful it is to be on a secondary journal.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:the law review manager of BC makes BC journal membership (not just LR) sound like some kind of prestigious club membership. if you want to join, you can only do so by noting-on.

This isn't even correct.

I mean if you could not made it through write-on, you can only note-on. I don't know if they have changed the policy since then.

my advice:

if you, for any reason, could not make it, then try your best to get published in other schools' secondary journals (it's impossible, as far as I heard, to get published in flagship law reviews). It won't make or break your resume but it will help you down the road.