Got interviews with firms way out of my league. What now? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Bid on a few firms because I had spare slots left. Now I have two interviews at firms whose GPA medians are at least .3 higher than my GPA. Of course, I'd love to work at those firms/locations, but chances are slim to nil.

Should I cancel or treat it as practice?

[gdane]

If any of these are Miami firms I say cancel them.

Seriously though, go for it! You never know. Don't even think of these interviews as "practice." Go into these interviews with a positive mindset.

Good luck!

[r6_philly]

What do you have to gain, and what do you have to lose? Try a balancing test here, see if you want to go through the trouble.

[target]

be this guy

[LeDique]

Should I do something that could only possibly help me get a job? Please advise.

[Anonymous User]

What do you have to gain, and what do you have to lose? Try a balancing test here, see if you want to go through the trouble.

Possible gain: Connect at an amazingly high level w/the interviewer. Manage a callback. Get a V50 job offer with a 3.2 GPA.

Possible loss: Time spent preparing/tiredness factor. If I cancel with them, someone else from my school will probably pick up the interview. Maybe that person will then cancel with a lower-ranked firm, and then I can pick up an interview from that firm?

[Icculus]

What do you have to gain, and what do you have to lose? Try a balancing test here, see if you want to go through the trouble.

Possible gain: Connect at an amazingly high level w/the interviewer. Manage a callback. Get a V50 job offer with a 3.2 GPA.

Possible loss: Time spent preparing/tiredness factor. If I cancel with them, someone else from my school will probably pick up the interview. Maybe that person will then cancel with a lower-ranked firm, and then I can pick up an interview from that firm?

How likely aere these firms to dip down into your GPA range? I know a firm like Weil is sometimes willing to go low if they have a really good connection in the interview, whereas other firms are more likely to stick with the cut off. I think that has to be factored in. At the same time you need to figure out how much you'd regret not taking the interview since you never know.

Was this done through pre-select or pure lottery? If it was a lottery system then you don't need to worry as much about opening slots for others. If you did bid the firms low and you still got them then they had open slots. If it's preselect then maybe they saw something on your resume they really liked.

Full disclosure: I just finished my bid list about ten minutes ago so I have zero actual experience with this.

[Anonymous User]

Keep the interview.

But if you are doing something like Sullivan and Cromwell when you have below median grades from a non HYS school, I'd probably just fuck the interview because that's an actual 0% shot at a job.

[Anonymous User]

A firm wouldn't waste a preselect on you if they weren't interested (I'm assuming you got preselected).

[thesealocust]

OP: Do the interview. Extra practice is great. OCI is a time to be reasonable and nice, but not a time to be a martyr or egalitarian. You don't want to throw elbows or go out of your way to screw your classmates, but you also shouldn't be giving up chances to get a job to misguidedly help some other rando at your school.

A firm wouldn't waste a preselect on you if they weren't interested (I'm assuming you got preselected).

False. A lot of firms do more interviews than they either need or want to do (good will towards the school, etc.). If they're very selective but for whatever reason do a lot of interviews they often have fewer people bidding on them than are "qualified" and thus will pre-select many who have no realistic shot.

If OP was in fact preselected (and not lottery'd) then there's a good chance that's why.

[Anonymous User]

OP here: Thanks, everyone. Guess I'll go for it anyway. Extra practice, if nothing else.

My school's lottery, not pre-select. The firms I got aren't so selective that they won't take a few low GPA's, but I'm not a black lesbian w/main journal and moot court. Pasty white dude with average softs and average WE. Oh well...

[thesealocust]

OP here: Thanks, everyone. Guess I'll go for it anyway. Extra practice, if nothing else.

My school's lottery, not pre-select. The firms I got aren't so selective that they won't take a few low GPA's, but I'm not a black lesbian w/main journal and moot court. Pasty white dude with average softs and average WE. Oh well...

Let the firms ding you if they will. Do not ding yourself. Not at the most selective firms, and not at the least.

[Anonymous User]

Take the interviews. People will tell you that you need this GPA or that percentile, but honestly there's more wiggle room than you realize. I was actually an alternate at a firm way beyond my GPA range and got an interview only because a few people dropped. Somehow, I ended up at this firm, probably just because my initial interviewer liked me and then once at the callback stage, people didn't look at my transcript.

[dixiecupdrinking]

You're trading 20 minutes of your life for a greater-than-zero percent chance of getting a great job. It would be a real bonehead move to drop these interviews.

[Anonymous User]

I interviewed with a v firm way out of my league (I'm median). Had a great connection and landed an SA position.