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Hi All,

Probably reading into the human psyche too much here, but is there a "best time of day" to schedule an OCI interview? One of my OCI days is starting to fill up with interviews, so my logic is to put the firms i'm least interested in at the very beginning of the day to get "warmed up" for the rest of the day. put firms I'm most interested in either mid-morning or an hour or so after lunch, but never too close to before lunch or end of the day (i know that's when i'm most grumpy/least engaged, so i would figure an interviewer might have the same tendency).

Experiences/stories all welcome. I do appreciate how paranoid this question is, but TLS is good for these questions lol.

I have yet to go through OCI, but this was the first thing I thought of:


http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

MCFC wrote:I have yet to go through OCI, but this was the first thing I thought of:


http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

Wow, great share. Also, MCFC....nice. You might have noticed my name haha.

Random anecdote: I had my best screener during OCI the last slot of the day, which was lucky because there was no one knocking at the door, so we could chat for another 15 minutes after the initial 20 were up.

Anonymous User wrote:Random anecdote: I had my best screener during OCI the last slot of the day, which was lucky because there was no one knocking at the door, so we could chat for another 15 minutes after the initial 20 were up.

Interesting. Did that lead to a callback or SA?

best slots: first of day, first after lunch, dead last (assuming interviewer isn't absolutely dead tired)

ok slots: somewhere in middle morning or mid afternoon

worst slots: right before lunch, end of day (but not the last)

sergiokun16 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Random anecdote: I had my best screener during OCI the last slot of the day, which was lucky because there was no one knocking at the door, so we could chat for another 15 minutes after the initial 20 were up.

Interesting. Did that lead to a callback or SA?

Lead to a callback, which then lead to an offer for the summer. Screener interviewer was also the head of the office, so it certainly helped that we hit it off.

Do you actually pick your times for OCI? At my T14 I believe our schedules are decided for us.

Anonymous User wrote:Do you actually pick your times for OCI? At my T14 I believe our schedules are decided for us.

Yes. Once we find out if we are pre-selected or not, a list of available times are posted and you sign up first-come first-serve.

Anonymous User wrote: At my T14

Congrats on your T14 btw, I see how that was relevant to the question.

MCFC wrote:I have yet to go through OCI, but this was the first thing I thought of:


http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

That could be selection bias--i.e., scheduling most important/difficult/likely to be granted cases early, and then rolling through the rest.

I would imagine that if one collected data on the correlation of published court of appeal opinions with schedule, you'd see a strong correlation between published opinions/being argued either first or last.

Eh...I think you're reading too much into it, and there are factors you don't have.

For example:

Some firms (though it is on the rare side) will swap interviewers during the day. Thus the interview in mid-afternoon might actually be the first interview done with that particular interviewer (or interviewers) - the flipside is you could also be the last guy before that particular interviewer gets to leave, even though it's not yet lunch.

The firms taking larger classes that extended a 30+ interview slots will likely have multiple interviewers going simultaneously. In such a situation I would argue that who you get matters more than when you go (you're more likely to hit it off with a complementary personality in a "tough" time slot than with a clashing personality at a "good" time slot), but who interviews you will likely be beyond your control.

Some people aren't doing so hot after lunch - there's a thread on here about awkward OCI moments filled with interviewers that experienced "gastrointestinal distress" during post-lunch interviews. For my part, I had a post-lunch interview with a guy whose allergy medication had clearly just run out and like 10 of the 20 minutes were just him coughing and sneezing while I offered to get him water/tissues for the 3rd time; didn't lead to a CB.

Some people aren't doing so hot first thing in the morning - that litigator interviewing you at 8am didn't get much sleep after staying up till 3am the night before; he also had to stay up till 3am because he's too junior to get out of something like losing a whole day to OCI.

In the end, it's probably not worth stressing over. If you get to pick your own time slots, ensuring that you have breaks between interviews (so that your interviews can spill over if needed), is going to be more important than trying to stack things first-in-the-morning or right-after-lunch.

Haha literally makes no difference. Also, so much of it is personal. The interviewer might not have had their morning coffee and so does not end up liking the first candidate much or you go after 3-4 really dismal candidates and seem even more awesome in comparison.

For me, I had a great first interview one day when the partner said "you will have so many offers" and we had a good convo but no CB, I also hounded the door of a firm during the day (because I did not get an assigned slot with them) and with 3-4 other people after the day ended so we all only got 10 minute interviews and got a CB from it.

sergiokun16 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: At my T14

Congrats on your T14 btw, I see how that was relevant to the question.

Was going to write a substantive note, but these kinds of comments discourage people (like me) from responding to you.

I think the differences are minor and mostly random, but to the extent possible I would avoid both right before and right after lunch.

Since you can pick the times *we couldn't, I would just pick whatever you prefer. Not back to back and whether you are a morning person or don't want to fret over it all day, or you think you won't be as fresh at 4PM or w.e..

In scheduling mine, I am giving myself 40 mins to an hour between interviews when it works with my schedule so that I can just get away with a little decompression and relaxation between, instead of being run dry. Scheduling the interviews I care most about earlier in the day, around 9 or 10, so that I'm fresh. Interviews that I do not care as much about I am doing later, in case I happen to be tired after a few sets of interviews in one day.

sergiokun16 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: At my T14

Congrats on your T14 btw, I see how that was relevant to the question.

Your butthurt may get in the way of people answering your thread's question.

sundance95 wrote:

MCFC wrote:I have yet to go through OCI, but this was the first thing I thought of:


http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

That could be selection bias--i.e., scheduling most important/difficult/likely to be granted cases early, and then rolling through the rest.

I would imagine that if one collected data on the correlation of published court of appeal opinions with schedule, you'd see a strong correlation between published opinions/being argued either first or last.

Sure. I didn't think I was proving anything or giving serious advice; the question just jogged my memory of the study.

MCFC wrote:

sundance95 wrote:

MCFC wrote:I have yet to go through OCI, but this was the first thing I thought of:


http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

That could be selection bias--i.e., scheduling most important/difficult/likely to be granted cases early, and then rolling through the rest.

I would imagine that if one collected data on the correlation of published court of appeal opinions with schedule, you'd see a strong correlation between published opinions/being argued either first or last.

Sure. I didn't think I was proving anything or giving serious advice; the question just jogged my memory of the study.

sorry, it's an interesting chart and it got me thinking

sergiokun16 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: At my T14

Congrats on your T14 btw, I see how that was relevant to the question.

Why did you think it was necessary to say this?

Anonymous User wrote:best slots: first of day, first after lunch, dead last (assuming interviewer isn't absolutely dead tired)

ok slots: somewhere in middle morning or mid afternoon

worst slots: right before lunch, end of day (but not the last)

I've had a dead last interview before where it was clear that decisions had already been made and I'd likely have to meet an impossible standard to dislodge another candidate for a CB.

I don't think it matters since there are so many variables at play, but if you need a method, you can use the primacy effect and recency effect: people tend to remember things they learned first, and things they learned most recently.

FWIW: Here is a stat I have never understood but for years this guide remains intact….I kept it in mind during my OCI days. Most successful sales are made before 10AM.

Do not worry about things you cannot change. Worry about things you can change.