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Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:11 pm
by Questions122
I was just wondering if I could get any advice. Are there were any benefits of having the above degree outside of practicing law?

Although grades aren't out yet, I feel like I got a bunch of B's again. So I'm not all that confident my GPA will go up.

I have a net worth of about $300,000 if that matters. I got it in a really reckless manner though by trading on margin.

Also, what are my career prospects like? I know big law is out of reach, but could I possibly get a county job or something?

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:15 pm
by Grazzhoppa
why not stick it out if you got the cash? just because you won't get biglaw (unless youre at Penn?) doesn't mean you won't be a lawyer.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:15 pm
by Randomnumbers
You don't have grades, you don't let us know what you want to do, what your COA is, or anything else. It's hard to give advice.

Although, if you don't want to actually practice law, why the fuck would you be in law school? Unless you want to be a lawyer, run away.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:19 pm
by Questions122
Grazzhoppa wrote:why not stick it out if you got the cash? just because you won't get biglaw (unless youre at Penn?) doesn't mean you won't be a lawyer.
I'd rather not spend all of my money if it doesn't give me any benefits. I'm paying sticker. No loans though.

I'm in the 60th-70% (estimate). Law school is kind of hit and miss for me. There are certain classes I really enjoy, like Con Law, but other classes like Civ Pro and Contracts aren't so enjoyable.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:20 pm
by rad lulz
Wait for your grades and come back

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 2:28 pm
by Anonymous User
FWIW, I know someone at MVP in the bottom half who received multiple big law offers specifically because of his successful trading experience. The offers were, of course, from firms that concentrated on finance.

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Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 2:33 pm
by Myself
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Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 2:42 pm
by Pokemon
You can get biglaw. Grades are overstated on this forum. Know plenty of people who got biglaw with less than stellar grades. But... but... your interviewing and work experience will matter a lot. Also, you will need some luck and good bidding strategies.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 3:02 pm
by Anonymous User
You're not at all out of range for biglaw. Even some people near the bottom of the class can get biglaw at MVP if they have strong interview skills and relevant work experience, which you seem to have. It's hit-or-miss, but you're much higher than bottom of the class (probably not obviously distinguishable from median) and still have a solid shot. Also, you don't even know your second semester grades yet. Law school grades are frequently untethered from expectations.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 4:39 pm
by 84651846190
You might as well wait to see if you get biglaw. I think you have a decent shot, depending on your background and personality.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 4:45 pm
by pjo
A fair amount of people from Virginia get biglaw in that grade range. Just make sure you are conservative with your bids (anywhere where you can argue you have ties + secondary markets like Buffalo, Cleveland, Philly, Charlotte etc.). Don't be dumb and waste bids on S&C and and Williams and Connolly.

As everyone said, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to drop out before you even do OCI.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 5:00 pm
by kryptix
At this point, might as well do OCI. Highlight the trading experience, there are firms that are specifically looking for people who don't faint when they see numbers :)

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 6:17 pm
by desertlaw
Models and bottles yo.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 7:44 pm
by Questions122
Thanks for the advice. Usually people are so doom and gloom that I expected otherwise. I just figured being out of top half put me in a lot of trouble.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 8:29 pm
by pastapplicant
to give my own take, i think that firms put quite a bit of stock on interviewing skills, personality, and work experience these days. at the top schools i have seen that a lot of above median students can strike out while below median students can be quite successful as long as you bid well and have the traits listed above. don't give up just yet bro!

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 8:44 pm
by Anonymous User
pastapplicant wrote:to give my own take, i think that firms put quite a bit of stock on interviewing skills, personality, and work experience these days. at the top schools i have seen that a lot of above median students can strike out while below median students can be quite successful as long as you bid well and have the traits listed above. don't give up just yet bro!
This makes sense to me because I struck out at OCI at a T6 with good grades and the interviewing skills of an autistic goat.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 8:58 pm
by totoro
Anonymous User wrote: This makes sense to me because I struck out at OCI at a T6 with good grades and the interviewing skills of an autistic goat.
LOL. Just read this and laughed. Not at you striking out but it's nice that you can joke.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 10:08 pm
by Anonymous User
I had similar grades at a T10 two years ago - below median, but not drastically, with a few years of substantive work experience - and wound up with a few offers. My sense was that being sub-median with no work experience might be problematic, but work experience + good interviewing + smart bidding + mailing gave people a decent shot at a big or midlaw firm even with subpar grades.

So depending on grades this semester, and whether you write on to LR, you could actually have a pretty good shot at winding up with an offer that you're happy with.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 10:20 pm
by kryptix
totoro wrote:
Anonymous User wrote: This makes sense to me because I struck out at OCI at a T6 with good grades and the interviewing skills of an autistic goat.
LOL. Just read this and laughed. Not at you striking out but it's nice that you can joke.
Should have just been like that at the interviews, might have come across as more personable with at least some interviewers.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 10:45 pm
by Anonymous User
kryptix wrote:
totoro wrote:
Anonymous User wrote: This makes sense to me because I struck out at OCI at a T6 with good grades and the interviewing skills of an autistic goat.
LOL. Just read this and laughed. Not at you striking out but it's nice that you can joke.
Should have just been like that at the interviews, might have come across as more personable with at least some interviewers.
No, I just would have ended up going too far and making it awkward. This is why I started taking prozac.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 11:35 pm
by Anonymous User
ajax adonis wrote:If you go to P, you might still get big law. Wait for grades to come out, unless you have to pay more money or something to get them.
You could easily get big law at V with top 60%, probably even right at the 1/3 cutoff and maybe even lower. it didn't seem that many people were having trouble at OGI last year unless their grades were completely awful and/or they had absolutely no interviewing skills

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 1:01 am
by Anonymous User
If you're at M though you're probably in trouble. I was in a similar place and career services told me pretty straight Biglaw was unlikely. But might as well do OCI, can't hurt. Maybe firms will dig deeper in the class this year

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 1:11 am
by bowser
Anonymous User wrote:If you're at M though you're probably in trouble. I was in a similar place and career services told me pretty straight Biglaw was unlikely. But might as well do OCI, can't hurt. Maybe firms will dig deeper in the class this year
i dont believe career services told u this

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 10:33 am
by Anonymous User
bowser wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:If you're at M though you're probably in trouble. I was in a similar place and career services told me pretty straight Biglaw was unlikely. But might as well do OCI, can't hurt. Maybe firms will dig deeper in the class this year
i dont believe career services told u this
First of all I was probably more close to the top 70%/bottom 30% than 60/40, but they said almost verbatim "if you want to get a job through OCI your grades MUST come up". did I interpret that wrong? don't get me wrong they've been helpful but they were also brutally honest. they told me that they only knew of one person who had below what my GPA was that got a biglaw offer last year, but that that was an improvement over previous years where no one had.

Re: Dropout? MVP Around 60-70%

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 10:44 am
by Questions122
Anonymous User wrote:If you're at M though you're probably in trouble. I was in a similar place and career services told me pretty straight Biglaw was unlikely. But might as well do OCI, can't hurt. Maybe firms will dig deeper in the class this year
May I ask what you plan on doing career wise? Would getting a midlaw job or a nonprofit job be out of reach?