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I'm getting ready to submit bids for UCLA's early OCI. Their system is 70% lottery, and never having gone through any sort of bidding system, I need a strategy to maximize my chances.

As for markets, I'd want to do NYC and/or SoCal. I have extremely weak ties to the SoCal region, with the exception of going to school there and having a sibling graduate and work in the state.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Anonymous User wrote:I'm getting ready to submit bids for UCLA's early OCI. Their system is 70% lottery, and never having gone through any sort of bidding system, I need a strategy to maximize my chances.

As for markets, I'd want to do NYC and/or SoCal. I have extremely weak ties to the SoCal region, with the exception of going to school there and having a sibling graduate and work in the state.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

When an employer sees UCLA ties are presumed and that will likely be the end of it. It's not like massmailing to firms outside of CA where you'll have to explain your desire to live in that city. Also, gpa is the #1 most important factor to do with bid strategy, since you haven't disclosed yet, it's kind of hard to give you advice. What you need to do is look at the list on the OCI website of callback offers by GPA and bid firms with priority to firm that give callbacks to people with your gpa.

Thanks! I forgot to mention that I'm an incoming transfer to UCLA. Would that changes things?

My former school's median is higher than UCLA's currents. How would employers calculate this into their hiring decisions? My GPA sits around 3.47 at my old school.

Off topic, but I'm wondering what school you transferred out of to get in to UCLA wit a 3.47. I'm impressed, mind sharing?

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks! I forgot to mention that I'm an incoming transfer to UCLA. Would that changes things?

My former school's median is higher than UCLA's currents. How would employers calculate this into their hiring decisions? My GPA sits around 3.47 at my old school.

You'll need to tell people what school (or range of schools) you transferred from and what your class ranking was there, whether you wrote on to journal at UCLA, etc. before they can give you meaningful advice here.

If you are median at UCLA (which people guess is around 3.3), then you are fighting an uphill battle at OCI, more so if you did not write on to law review. Not knowing what your other school's median is, it's hard to know how you will fare because the interviewers will be looking at you through the lense of that school's ranking and that school's median. I presume it is higher ranked than UCLA if you transferred with a GPA that low, because you need to be way higher to get in from places like Loyola/UC Davis/UC Hastings/etc. (unless the decline in admissions has dramatically changed things in that regard, which it may have).

Anyway, I echo what everyone else is saying - without more information regarding where you are transferring from, it is nearly impossible to give you specific advice. Just know that at median at UCLA, you are more likely to strike out at OCI than land something. But depending on your school, maybe firms dip deeper into the class. I know two transfers who got jobs at top big law, one from Penn and one from Davis, but they both had excellent grades. A 3.47 at UCLA would not be a shoe in anywhere, but definitely not guaranteed strike out. Make sure you interview well and just focus on bidding firms whose GPA range you are actually within. I wouldn't reach higher than a firm asking for 3.5 (maybe 3.55 if you have law review or other stuff like an engineering undergrad for IP). Don't waste bids on firms like OMM/Gibson/Irell/QE/MTO/S&C - I recall them all having super high GPA cutoffs and the simple fact is that your interviewer is instructed to only give callbacks to those who meet the grade cutoffs. I think firms like Paul Hastings/Morrison Foerster/Alston Bird/MSK/Manatt/Akin Gump/A&P/Proskauer/Sheppard Mullin/Jenner and Block are more in your range. Maybe Sidley too, I can't recall where they fell. Also I can't recall really where any of those fell specifically so obviously double check their GPA requirements, but they are all good firms, most with non-LA headquarters.