Mass Mail Response Rate (positive or negative) Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have median grades at a lower T-14 and will likely strike out from OCI. I started mass mailing firms in late July and have sent out about 150 emails to date. I've heard back negatively from maybe 20% of them and have silence from the others (which are mostly V60-V100 firms, some midsize NYC firms and some random smaller firms with summer programs that I found on Martindale).

I'm curious to know what percentage of firms I should even expect to hear back from. Do firms in general (and more specifically the types of firms I've applied to) typically respond to all mass mail applicants? Can I safely assume that at least SOME of the firms who have yet to respond to me have put me on a sort of "waitlist" that they will start to contact in October depending on the number of people who accept offers...or am I likely just out of luck?

I'm quite worried and stressed in general. Any input/advice regarding my situation would be great!

[jess]

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[nmcdgt]

I've heard from maybe 25-30%, and that's after mailing in July and sending a follow up in late August/early Sept

[ilovesf]

I'd say around 15%, all no's. In the last week I've gotten around 5 or so rejections from NYC. They are starting to reject more now that they have their summer classes full and they're tying up loose ends.

[Anonymous User]

Sent more than 400 mass mailers. ~300 in hard-copy form and the rest via email. Targeted: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York firms that came to OCI that I couldn't get a slot with due to the lottery, and NY firms that did not come to our OCI.

Results: Offer from the one firm (V50) that gave me a callback at OCI. (Early OCI but callback scheduled for mid-September.)
3 CBs from firms I had screeners with at Lavender Law.
1 CB from law school's resume drop on Symplicity.

From the mass mail I received an offer for a screening interview in my home town (west coast), but I couldn't make it. I also had a SV firm call and ask me where I was in the hiring process. At that point I still hadn't received any offers so I said I was still going through the process and was very interested in interviewing with them. She said she would call me back if the hiring partner was interested.

Other than those two small bites, I have gotten a ton of email and snail mail rejections.

I'm just thrilled to have a job at this point. I love the V50 I have an offer with and the V30 I did my most recent CB with.

Although many may see this all as a waste of time, it's really all you can do. I almost certainly would not have nailed the interview at my V50 if I had not put so much thought into my cover letters, taken the extra time to practice my pitch, and gone through a few CBs with firms I wasn't extremely interested in. I just wasn't going about anything right at OCI. Final advice: when you get a CB, reach out to people at your LS who summered there last year and ask them tons of questions. I spoke with 6 of the 7 students from my school who summered at a particular firm, and I think the hiring partner was quite impressed that I had taken the time to speak with so many people about the firm.

[dreakol]

I've mass mailed a total of about 650 firms. I have heard from maybe 100 of those (aka many, many rejections). I seriously doubt 550 have me waitlisted. I bet they trash my resume and forget to tell me.

where do you find these firms? i've hit up chicago, philly, nyc/nj, all of california, pittsburgh and have only come o around 300. i've used nalp, resume launchpad, and martindale.

eta for the op: of the 300 firms i've mailed, only two call backs have resulted from it.

[shock259]

I sent out ~ 120 email to NYC, 30 to home market. At best, I got 20-30 responses total. 3 screeners from home market, 1 from NYC. Otherwise, rejection after rejection. Mass mailing takes a particularly optimistic person, I think. But keep at it.

[somewhatwayward]

Last year I sent about 30 and received 2 CBs from it. It was pre-OCI and I sent mass mails to firms I bid on but did not get an interview with, and I received many emails that told me to come to the hospitality suites. I don't remember getting any rejections, but I must have. I guess it is hard to keep track of which rejections are from mass mailing versus from screening interviews.

Anyway, though this will result in a spate or rejections, it is important to follow up on mass mails. Ideally you want to say you have an offer that will expire, but even if you don't, you should still do it. I would suggest calling recruiting and get a conversation going a little before asking about the status of your application. I know you can't call 300 places, so I would try to call relatively unselective firms with big classes and then maybe do emails for the others. OTOH, maybe firms in secondary markets would be more amenable to the personal touch of calling.

No matter how you do it, you have to expect a pretty damn low conversion rate and a slew of rejections. Your chances of getting an offer from a CB you already did is much higher than from mass mailing. But the idea is to increase your chances overall rather than just sitting around wringing your hands over while your phone is maddeningly silent.

[Anonymous User]

Sent out 30 last weekend. 2 callbacks so far (firms, 2ndary), 1 screener (Major market DA). Below median at t14. K-JD, nothing else too special on resume.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a TTT, ~top 5%. In July/early August I sent out ~200 applications.

57 rejections so far...

7 screeners, 4 callbacks...

Fingers crossed for an offer...

[jess]

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[jess]

.

[Anonymous User]

Will give you my story: lower T14, about median, had a few CB's from OCI, but struck out and was completely out of OCI love. Sent out about 75 resumes, had 2 ask me for more info, and 1 screener. Probably 10 or so rejects. Eventually, I got in touch with a contact, who hooked me up with an interview that worked out, and I got a job.

Keep looking; I know that a lot of firms are still looking (incl. large silicon valley firms starting with "F" and "G"). If possible, tap every connection you can find - whether it's high school, college, law school, your professional / friend network, doesn't matter - no connection is too small. Even if you email an alum of your law school to send your resume through, you'd be amazed how much people are willing to help. And of course, it's great to get your resume out of the general pile through a friendly email from a connection.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Lower t-14 ~top 30%. Sent out 8 targeted mailings to big firms in my home market (smaller secondary where I was working for the summer). Three CBs and one screener. Reject by two (one I sent two cover letters to, one for them, one for another firm... opps). Silence from another. One of the firms I mailed was coming to OCI, made a spot to interview me when I didn't get a spot from the lottery (Got a CB from them). Got an offer from my top choice. Mass mailing does work, especially if you are mailing somewhere you have ties to. What seem key to me was not forgetting about firms once you mailed them, following up makes a big difference since your app can get lost in the shuffle of so many.

[Anonymous User]

Lower T-14, exhausted my secondary market and NYC. Moved to some other markets like Chicago, or SF, but have not received screeners/cbs in over three weeks. Cannot tell if I am doing something wrong with my cover letter format now, but I do not like this absence of responses. This absolutely sucks, especially those rejections with e-mails like "with your impressive qualifications, we are sure you will find an exceptional opportunity..."

[Anonymous User]

Lower T2. Top 1%
sent out about 60 emails to V100 firms in late July

Got about 15-20 rejections. Received 12 screeners, 3 callbacks and two of those callbacks resulted in offers

[Anonymous User]

Last year, I kept mailing until late September. Got a callback in early October and then my only offer in mid October. It never hurts to follow up with firms or say that you'll be in town (even if you're not and have to pay your own way; it's worth it at this point).

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. On the whole, they've given me some confidence.

Someone suggested trying to take advantage of any connection no matter how small, including just reaching out to alums of your undergrad/law school and asking them to send your resume through. I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on that.

What do you think about contacting a young-ish alumni of your undergrad school at a firm where you've already submitted an application and basically saying that you're still looking for a summer position, that you love their firm for X reason and that you'd appreciate it if they could inquire as to the status of your application or something.

Bad idea?

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. On the whole, they've given me some confidence.

Someone suggested trying to take advantage of any connection no matter how small, including just reaching out to alums of your undergrad/law school and asking them to send your resume through. I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on that.

What do you think about contacting a young-ish alumni of your undergrad school at a firm where you've already submitted an application and basically saying that you're still looking for a summer position, that you love their firm for X reason and that you'd appreciate it if they could inquire as to the status of your application or something.

Bad idea?

Well, I'm planning on doing something like this, so someone should stop me if it's a very bad idea. But mass-mailed about 20 apps to home state last week, and have received a few calls to schedule interviews. Basically, at a few of these firms, there are people who went to my UG or are from my home county or the like. I'm planning on basically just shooting them an e-mail saying "hey, fellow (ug-grad/<blank> county resident), I have an interview this week and just wanted to say hi, wondering if you'll be at the office my interview day and if you're available to get coffee or just briefly chat about (ug/<blank county) and <firm> for a few minutes or something." I figure if they respond and accept, that's a totally awesome connection and someone at the firm who has a similar background and the like and might be willing to put in a nice word (and, don't worry, I'm not going to ask them to), and if they don't respond/have time I'll just say to the interviewer "I saw <associate> went to the same UG as me" and the like.

P.S. This week I also sent a few e-mails to lawyers who went to my UG and work at firms in my home market that don't have SA programs but hire out of law school. Who the hell knows... there's absolutely no negative to just shooting out a quick e-mail asking what it's like to work at <firm> in <market>, and best case scenario is they end up going to bat for me during hiring, or being a lifelong mentor, or putting me in touch with people who are hiring and/or introducing me to clients and such. Basically, the moral of the story is: finally seeing the value of all this networking

[Anonymous User]

CCN bottom 1/3rd

Mass mailing was fruitless. I sent out ~100 targeted mailings, got a few screeners (1 phone, 1 in person). No cb's. Tons of non-responses. I get rejections either via email or snail mail almost daily from firms I don't even remember applying to. Got something out of OCI so I stopped mailing.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. On the whole, they've given me some confidence.

Someone suggested trying to take advantage of any connection no matter how small, including just reaching out to alums of your undergrad/law school and asking them to send your resume through. I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on that.

What do you think about contacting a young-ish alumni of your undergrad school at a firm where you've already submitted an application and basically saying that you're still looking for a summer position, that you love their firm for X reason and that you'd appreciate it if they could inquire as to the status of your application or something.

Bad idea?

I'm curious about how to frame this as well. I think the first part sounds good, but I'm not sure what would be appropriate to ask for--ask them to ask about status from the recruiter? pass along your interest?

[Anonymous User]

120 mails. 2 callbacks. 1 offer.

I think my conversion rate would've been higher if so many of my 120 weren't NY. NY firms interview/offer people earlier and rely primarily on OCI. I'm not saying don't mail them, especially if you want NY. I'm saying mix it up more.

[Anonymous User]

I've sent out nearly 12 e-mails with personalized cover letters. I've received rejections from about 40% and received no screeners. With classes and other commitments, it's been hard to churn out many e-mail applications. Are you all sending out just resumes and waiting for them to ask for more information? I've been sending detailed cover letters, writing sample, transcript, resume. Just wondering what the standard is and whether I should be doing something that is more cost-effective...

[Anonymous User]

I'm a TTT, ~top 5%. In July/early August I sent out ~200 applications.

57 rejections so far...

7 screeners, 4 callbacks...

Fingers crossed for an offer...

....make that 58 rejections, 7 screeners, 4 callbacks, and one offer.

#humblebrag but hopefully inspiration for other students with similar stats.

[Anonymous User]

I've sent out nearly 12 e-mails with personalized cover letters. I've received rejections from about 40% and received no screeners. With classes and other commitments, it's been hard to churn out many e-mail applications. Are you all sending out just resumes and waiting for them to ask for more information? I've been sending detailed cover letters, writing sample, transcript, resume. Just wondering what the standard is and whether I should be doing something that is more cost-effective...

Yep, been doing that. CL, Sample, Transcript, Resume.

....make that 58 rejections, 7 screeners, 4 callbacks, and one offer.

#humblebrag but hopefully inspiration for other students with similar stats.

I'm right with ya about the inspiration. 1 for 65 would be a beautiful thing for me at the moment. MVP Transfer who struck out at OCI. Was top 10% at a T1. Let's see how it goes.