3.5 at Mich. Ties to midwest secondary. Want to go to DC. Have ties to DC. Not sure my grades will get me there.
Career planning is telling me to use all my bids on my midwest secondary and DC. There's only one firm coming from my secondary, so that really means all on DC. This seems like a risky strategy to me, even though I really want DC.
My gut tells me to put some bids in for Chicago firms (don't really want to be in NYC). Career planning said coming from a secondary market in the midwest wouldn't be enough to show ties to Chicago to get me past an interview.
Thoughts?
Need Market & Bid Advice Forum
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
-
potted plant
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:01 pm
Re: Need Market & Bid Advice
I think your instinct not to put all your bids into DC is right. It's hard to know what a 3.5 means on the new curve; maybe top 40%? But definitely not high enough that going all in on the most grade-competitive market makes sense.
I know a number of people doing SAs in Chicago this summer. I think most of them are from the Midwest but primarily from secondary markets, so very similar to you. None of them seemed to have any trouble with ties, so I disagree with Career planning. I think Chicago firms would completely understand why you'd want to be in Chicago; biggest legal market that's relatively close to home. I think you should definitely put some bids on Chicago as a backup.
Also, make sure to mail your resume out to firms in your secondary market. I have friends from the Midwest who got their SA's that way. With secondary ties and solid grades from Michigan you should be fairly competitive in your home market. It may not be your ideal location, but it's always good to give yourself options.
I know a number of people doing SAs in Chicago this summer. I think most of them are from the Midwest but primarily from secondary markets, so very similar to you. None of them seemed to have any trouble with ties, so I disagree with Career planning. I think Chicago firms would completely understand why you'd want to be in Chicago; biggest legal market that's relatively close to home. I think you should definitely put some bids on Chicago as a backup.
Also, make sure to mail your resume out to firms in your secondary market. I have friends from the Midwest who got their SA's that way. With secondary ties and solid grades from Michigan you should be fairly competitive in your home market. It may not be your ideal location, but it's always good to give yourself options.
-
DELG
- Posts: 3021
- Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 7:15 pm
Re: Need Market & Bid Advice
Holy crap your OCS sucks
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 432656
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Need Market & Bid Advice
1. Do not listen to OCS at all. Do use any objective data though. And do sign up for as many mock interviews as possible.
2. Yes, (this sucks to hear I know but) your grades are not nearly good enough to even really think about DC. Under the old curve, you needed to be about a 3.7 (top 10-15%) + LR and/or WE type to be comfortable even bidding half DC.
3. That said, congrats on your good grades. In your position, I would bid 2/3 NYC and 1/3 larger secondary market that you prefer. You may even consider 100% NYC. Feel free to mass mail any market you prefer to be in July (including all DC firms you want). It is much much better to be employed in NYC than unemployed trying for a market you prefer.
Feel free to post a bid list or ask any other questions. Happy to pay it back any way I can.
-Michigan '13
2. Yes, (this sucks to hear I know but) your grades are not nearly good enough to even really think about DC. Under the old curve, you needed to be about a 3.7 (top 10-15%) + LR and/or WE type to be comfortable even bidding half DC.
3. That said, congrats on your good grades. In your position, I would bid 2/3 NYC and 1/3 larger secondary market that you prefer. You may even consider 100% NYC. Feel free to mass mail any market you prefer to be in July (including all DC firms you want). It is much much better to be employed in NYC than unemployed trying for a market you prefer.
Feel free to post a bid list or ask any other questions. Happy to pay it back any way I can.
-Michigan '13
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
