Top 12%? Forum

[Anonymous User]

TT school, one of either Cardozo, Brooklyn, or Hofstra. Straight A's first semester and lower GPA second semester, finished 1L in top 12%. Just barely missed top 10%. Am I screwed for biglaw prospects or is there still some hope?

[goldeneye]

TT school, one of either Cardozo, Brooklyn, or Hofstra. Straight A's first semester and lower GPA second semester, finished 1L in top 12%. Just barely missed top 10%. Am I screwed for biglaw prospects or is there still some hope?

If I tell you yes, then what? Apply broadly and mass mail nonstop and stop worrying.

[rtb2008x]

Always hope. Network with as many biglaw practitioners as you can find, pad your resume with internships/clinics, and tailor your resume very specifically for each firm. Hope they recognize you, and then kill the interview.

[Huluba]

I doubt there is much difference between 10% and 12%.

[butlerraider1]

My understanding is that there is a pretty big gap between Hofstra and Brooklyn/Cardozo in terms of employment opportunities

[seespotrun]

My understanding is that there is a pretty big gap between Hofstra and Brooklyn/Cardozo in terms of employment opportunities

Yeah, this.

Also, OP, did you make LR?

[Nebby]

If at Hofstra, then apply to transfer to lower-T14.

[Anonymous User]

My understanding is that there is a pretty big gap between Hofstra and Brooklyn/Cardozo in terms of employment opportunities

Yeah, this.

Also, OP, did you make LR?

OP here. Cross off hofstra. Brooklyn/ Cardozo range.
Haven't heard back about LR yet. Won CALI award in legal writing though.

[jchiles]

Is it acceptable to ever put top 12% (or 11%, 13% etc.) on a resume? Or is it just better to leave that off and put class rank instead.

[Nebby]

Is it acceptable to ever put top 12% (or 11%, 13% etc.) on a resume? Or is it just better to leave that off and put class rank instead.

Put whatever your school gives you, unless they don't get you anything.

[echooo23]

Is it acceptable to ever put top 12% (or 11%, 13% etc.) on a resume? Or is it just better to leave that off and put class rank instead.

Put whatever your school gives you, unless they don't get you anything.

You don't just have to put whatever your school gives you. If you know your rank and can calculate the percentage based on that, consider whether it looks better to have rank or percentage. For example, if it's a huge class size and you are near the top of it, 10/500 may look better than top 2%.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L at BLS.

You’re not screwed, but if you’re at BLS you’re probably not going to get as many screeners as you would have within top 10%. (BLS is 100% pre-select.)

I have two friends in my year who were in similar positions last fall - 3.9x after fall but 3.6x and 3.7x cumulative. One of them got biglaw, one of them didn't. The one who got biglaw had the higher fall GPA but the lower spring GPA.

Mass mail. Do mock interviews. (If you’re at BLS you probably got an e-mail about mock interviews in the past day or so. Sign up now.)

As to whoever it was asking about whether you can put 12% on your résumé, BLS policy says yes (and rather than giving us percentages they give us x/300-whatever. You're also allowed to round rank up, slightly, so if you're 12.4% you can say 12%, but 12.5% must be 12.5% or 13%. OP - there's guidelines on this in one of the PDFs career services has up on BLSConnect, if you need help on that point.)

ETA: Anon b/c while both of the people mentioned have been pretty open w/ their friends about their grades, rank, OCI outcome, etc., they keep very different company and I suspect that the fact that I'm friends with both of them could out me.

[Nebby]

Put whatever your school gives you, unless they don't get you anything.

You don't just have to put whatever your school gives you. If you know your rank and can calculate the percentage based on that, consider whether it looks better to have rank or percentage.

You cannot put your rank nor percentage if your school provides you with neither. If they only provide you with a percentage, then you put that. If they only give you rank, then you have the option of rank or percentage or both. But to reaffirm my initial point that you missed--you can only work with "whatever your school gives you..."

[BrooklynLaw16]

This is interesting. Responding anon- your friend who got Biglaw, what was his/her rank at BLS?
OP- if BLS, ask to career services about alumni at Goodwin Procter. Went to reception there last night and BLS has a strong presence in their business law dept.

[echooo23]

Put whatever your school gives you, unless they don't get you anything.

You don't just have to put whatever your school gives you. If you know your rank and can calculate the percentage based on that, consider whether it looks better to have rank or percentage.

You cannot put your rank nor percentage if your school provides you with neither. If they only provide you with a percentage, then you put that. If they only give you rank, then you have the option of rank or percentage or both. But to reaffirm my initial point that you missed--you can only work with "whatever your school gives you..."

What you said was "put whatever your school gives you." What I said was be strategic with what you have - not just "whatever". But thanks for missing my point.

[WHJTMG178]

.

[BrooklynLaw16]

http://www.goodwinprocter.com/Offices/N ... -City.aspx

Mostly corporate and finance/ securities.

[Anonymous User]

This is interesting. Responding anon- your friend who got Biglaw, what was his/her rank at BLS?
OP- if BLS, ask to career services about alumni at Goodwin Procter. Went to reception there last night and BLS has a strong presence in their business law dept.

This is the anon from above. Friend who got biglaw that I was referring to above was around top 20%. Everyone else I know who got biglaw was, I believe, within the top 10%.