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I am a top 10-15% student, secondary journal, at a top 30-40 school heading into 6 OCI interviews having already done 5 at a fair.

What is the importance of your resume vs. the screener interview in securing a callback? Which has more weight in a firm's decision? And if someone has actual anecdotal experience or credible facts let me know. Otherwise let me know if you are just speculating.

I was always under the impression that a pre-select interview means that the firm finds your academic credentials worthy of a SA spot, and the initial interview is the last step- albeit a big one - to get a callback.

I ask because I am very comfortable in interview settings, yet I was surprised I got an interview (pre-select) with a V20 firm who normally only looks at the top 10%. I will be on my shit in the interview but am just worried that I am dead on arrival.

gooner8 wrote:I am a top 10-15% student, secondary journal, at a top 30-40 school heading into 6 OCI interviews having already done 5 at a fair.

What is the importance of your resume vs. the screener interview in securing a callback? Which has more weight in a firm's decision? And if someone has actual anecdotal experience or credible facts let me know. Otherwise let me know if you are just speculating.

I was always under the impression that a pre-select interview means that the firm finds your academic credentials worthy of a SA spot, and the initial interview is the last step- albeit a big one - to get a callback.

I ask because I am very comfortable in interview settings, yet I was surprised I got an interview (pre-select) with a V20 firm who normally only looks at the top 10%. I will be on my shit in the interview but am just worried that I am dead on arrival.

And if someone on an anonymous online message board in fact said that you were "dead on arrival" based on their "actual anecdotal experience," would you then withdraw your candidacy and cancel the interview?

sambeber wrote:

gooner8 wrote:I am a top 10-15% student, secondary journal, at a top 30-40 school heading into 6 OCI interviews having already done 5 at a fair.

What is the importance of your resume vs. the screener interview in securing a callback? Which has more weight in a firm's decision? And if someone has actual anecdotal experience or credible facts let me know. Otherwise let me know if you are just speculating.

I was always under the impression that a pre-select interview means that the firm finds your academic credentials worthy of a SA spot, and the initial interview is the last step- albeit a big one - to get a callback.

I ask because I am very comfortable in interview settings, yet I was surprised I got an interview (pre-select) with a V20 firm who normally only looks at the top 10%. I will be on my shit in the interview but am just worried that I am dead on arrival.

And if someone on an anonymous online message board in fact said that you were "dead on arrival" based on their "actual anecdotal experience," would you then withdraw your candidacy and cancel the interview?

That was very helpful, thank you.

Anonymous User wrote:

sambeber wrote:

gooner8 wrote:I am a top 10-15% student, secondary journal, at a top 30-40 school heading into 6 OCI interviews having already done 5 at a fair.

What is the importance of your resume vs. the screener interview in securing a callback? Which has more weight in a firm's decision? And if someone has actual anecdotal experience or credible facts let me know. Otherwise let me know if you are just speculating.

I was always under the impression that a pre-select interview means that the firm finds your academic credentials worthy of a SA spot, and the initial interview is the last step- albeit a big one - to get a callback.

I ask because I am very comfortable in interview settings, yet I was surprised I got an interview (pre-select) with a V20 firm who normally only looks at the top 10%. I will be on my shit in the interview but am just worried that I am dead on arrival.

And if someone on an anonymous online message board in fact said that you were "dead on arrival" based on their "actual anecdotal experience," would you then withdraw your candidacy and cancel the interview?

That was very helpful, thank you.

Why so anonymous?

I don't go to a school with pre-screening, but I know how these types of interview processes work for recruiting undergraduates. The firm will be given a certain number of slots, say 20. They will look through the resumes they receive and select the top 20. If there are fewer than 20 who are worth interviewing they will probably just leave some spots open, but generally you will stretch to find people who *might* be qualified so you can just fill the spaces. The people at the bottom of the list will always have an uphill battle to get a callback interview, but its almost never a foregone conclusion.

Since you never really know where you stand, pretend like you're one of the people who is really on the border between shoe-in and almost no chance. Pretend like you have a really good shot if you really nail the interview, but are not guaranteed anything. The people who are not horrendously nervous but also not overly confident are usually the ones who actually get the callbacks.