GULC ~Top 15% - How heavily to bid DC? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I just got all my 1L grades back and ended up at a 3.65 for the year. Georgetown won't release grade/honors cut-offs for each section until later this month, but going off last year's data, I would be in the top 15% for 4/6 sections.

I really want DC Big Law, and my ties are predominately here having grown up in the area. At the same time, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot as the end-all, be-all goal is just Big Law period. Other than DC, I am only looking to NYC, and do have some ties/family there. Per TLS wisdom, how heavily should I be bidding DC to keep myself safe for big law? Appreciate any responses, thanks in advance.

[Zindras]

OP, I had very similar stats and background and did fine in DC - PM me.

[Anonymous User]

Similar situation here. 3.68 at GULC and DC is my preference. I'm interested in any advice you have, as well.

[xcountryjunkie]

Your GPA is high enough to land a DC firm if you get an interview, but that is obviously contingent on getting an interview. Since GULC uses a lottery system, your GPA won't help you with that. I just graduated this year from GULC, so my OCI was two years ago. DC is risky to bid heavily on since it is so popular with GULC students. I have friends who bid exclusively DC and ended up with only 5-6 interviews. My friends who bid exclusively NY got as many as 25 interviews. Feel free to mix DC and NY, but don't go exclusively DC or the lottery could hurt you. Look carefully at the number of interview slots and bids last year for those firms and rank accordingly. The super popular DC firms (~5-10% of bids getting interviews) are only worth slotting in the 1-3 range. After that it's just a waste of a bid. Choose less popular firms as you move down your bid list so that you have a higher shot of getting interviews.

Also, mass mail all DC firms you don't get an interview with through the lottery. With your GPA you may get put on some of the "secret OCI schedules" that firms do in addition to their lottery interviews.

[Anonymous User]

Your GPA is high enough to land a DC firm if you get an interview, but that is obviously contingent on getting an interview. Since GULC uses a lottery system, your GPA won't help you with that. I just graduated this year from GULC, so my OCI was two years ago. DC is risky to bid heavily on since it is so popular with GULC students. I have friends who bid exclusively DC and ended up with only 5-6 interviews. My friends who bid exclusively NY got as many as 25 interviews. Feel free to mix DC and NY, but don't go exclusively DC or the lottery could hurt you. Look carefully at the number of interview slots and bids last year for those firms and rank accordingly. The super popular DC firms (~5-10% of bids getting interviews) are only worth slotting in the 1-3 range. After that it's just a waste of a bid. Choose less popular firms as you move down your bid list so that you have a higher shot of getting interviews.

Also, mass mail all DC firms you don't get an interview with through the lottery. With your GPA you may get put on some of the "secret OCI schedules" that firms do in addition to their lottery interviews.

When you say "mass mail," do you mean snail mail or email?

[Anonymous User]

Your GPA is high enough to land a DC firm if you get an interview, but that is obviously contingent on getting an interview. Since GULC uses a lottery system, your GPA won't help you with that. I just graduated this year from GULC, so my OCI was two years ago. DC is risky to bid heavily on since it is so popular with GULC students. I have friends who bid exclusively DC and ended up with only 5-6 interviews. My friends who bid exclusively NY got as many as 25 interviews. Feel free to mix DC and NY, but don't go exclusively DC or the lottery could hurt you. Look carefully at the number of interview slots and bids last year for those firms and rank accordingly. The super popular DC firms (~5-10% of bids getting interviews) are only worth slotting in the 1-3 range. After that it's just a waste of a bid. Choose less popular firms as you move down your bid list so that you have a higher shot of getting interviews.

Also, mass mail all DC firms you don't get an interview with through the lottery. With your GPA you may get put on some of the "secret OCI schedules" that firms do in addition to their lottery interviews.

Thanks for the information, I really appreciate it. Oh, and the lottery system is bullshit.

[chipchip]

You should be competitive for most DC firms out of GULC with that GPA. It's just, like everyone said, a matter of getting the interviews. I did EIW a couple of years ago now, and mixed between NY and DC. I then emailed (don't snail mail, no reason to) the ones I did not get through the lottery, and added about 5-6 more interviews at least that way. And remember, your top 20 choices get your resume anyway. (And I suspect more do, but OCS just won't admit it.)

Lottery system may be a bit bullshit, but it's a) pretty standard across the T14 and b) just look at the UVA thread each year with its hybrid system --- it creates massive collective freakouts for anyone out of the Top 15 or so there. So it could be worse.

[Zindras]

Also, take advantage of the open sign up period -- I got 4 additional screening interviews (3 DC, 1 NYC) through that.

PM me if you want a list of firms that contacted me simply because they were in my top 20, or responded to mass mailing.