Bid List Critique - Chicago Firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello all. Roughly top 15% at ND trying to get my bid list finalized. I tried to sort firms based primarily on SA class size, then number of interview slots available, and finally rough gpa floors (don't have school data for this, only symplicity floors and anecdotes). Hopefully this will net me the most interviews possible.

OCI is 70% preselect, 30% lottery. Class size approximately 160.

I'm going primarily Chicago, with a few misc firms thrown in since we have unlimited bids.

1. Schiff
2. Mayer
3. Jones Day
4. Winston Strawn
5. McDermott
7. Baker
8. Drinker Biddle
9. Chapman
10. Burke Warren
11. Latham
12. KL Gates
13. Locke Lorde
14. Taft Stettinius
15. Holland Knight (Dallas)
16. Ropes Gray
17. Dinsmoore (Cincinnati)
18. Sutherland Asbill (Atlanta)
19. Faegre
20. Bryan Cave
21. Greenberg
22. Vedder
23. Foley


Any insight is greatly appreciated. I have know idea if I'm being too aggressive from Top 15% ish. Thanks.

[AntipodeanPhil]

I have no idea about top 15% at ND, but I would suggest focusing your non-Chicago bids on one city. I bid on three cities at my OCI, and discovered that firms love to ask 'what other cities are you interviewing in?' Bidding on 3+ cities makes it look like you don't really know where you want to live, which worries firms. Also, you'll be expected to explain why you're interviewing in other cities, which can be very difficult with 3+ cities (you need to have good, rational reasons, but you also want to convince your interviewer that you'd much prefer to live in his or her firm's city).

[Anonymous User]

Unless you have strong ties to Atlanta, you're better off using that slot on a firm at which you actually have a shot.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

I have ties to Georgia. There are a bunch of firms from smaller markets in Michigan, Indiana, etc. Career services encouraged us to bid all firms we would accept. And I realize that some firms won't believe I truly want to work in, say, grand rapids. I'm prepared for this. But I didn't know that firms often ask who else you bid, potentially sabotaging your chances. Can other people confirm this?

[bdubs]

How does this 70/30 split work? It's hard to comment on the order of your bids without knowing how the lottery component works.

[Anonymous User]

70% of a firm's interview slots can be preselected by them. They can review all bids, no matter the ranking. The remaining 30% of a firm's slots are lottery, based upon the ranking of bids.

[bk1]

I have no idea about top 15% at ND, but I would suggest focusing your non-Chicago bids on one city. I bid on three cities at my OCI, and discovered that firms love to ask 'what other cities are you interviewing in?' Bidding on 3+ cities makes it look like you don't really know where you want to live, which worries firms. Also, you'll be expected to explain why you're interviewing in other cities, which can be very difficult with 3+ cities (you need to have good, rational reasons, but you also want to convince your interviewer that you'd much prefer to live in his or her firm's city).

Just don't tell the whole truth? Even if you bid 5 cities you can say "I focused on Chicago and that's where I want to work but I also bid NYC as a backup just in case because I know how tough Chicago is" and just change the city based on your interviewer. No interviewer ever needs to know that you bid more than 2 cities.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at ND and ND doesn't rank. How do you know you're top 15%?

[Anonymous User]

I'm at ND and ND doesn't rank. How do you know you're top 15%?

I'm guessing based on # of people on dean's list and the size of the class. I could be wrong, but I think it's pretty close.

[Anonymous User]

So you have a 3.6?