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Have multiple offers in hand, all in same region. At this point, when trying to decide between them, I'm not sure what I should be looking at. Do I go by best exit options? Best reputation/most prestigious? Best health? All of my interviewers have emailed me offering to answer any questions that I have, but I'm really not sure which questions are the best for really digging deep and finding the true differences between the firms that will actually matter 3-5 years from now. I liked the people a lot better at the "less prestigious" firm, but it's also a lot smaller (think like a satellite office). I feel like I shouldn't base my decision on the 5/200+ people I met from the "more prestigious" firm but am not entirely sure what to go on at this point, since head and heart are saying different things.

As someone who also liked the people more at the "less prestigious" firms than at the "more prestigious" ones, also interested in this answer. What are the chances that the people we meet at callbacks are truly representative of the culture?

I would say the connection with people on your visit is pretty immaterial, chances are you will never work with those people because they will either be gone from the firm by the time you are there or your will be in a different practice group. You may be able to take general firm culture stuff from these interviews but even cultures within practice groups can be different and can change before you would ever actually work there.

Truth is, if both firms are market-paying and in the same city, it is pretty difficult from the outside to differentiate them accurately. If you can work from home or not, maternity/paternity leave options, and other things like this may show something about basic workplace culture, but its really just about what partners you end up working for. If one firm is a lot more prestigious, that is a consideration that may mean something later in your careers, so at least thats something.

Unless you really know people in the city in the profession that can help you differentiate, as with anything, your future happiness is probably some part hard work, some part attitude, and some larger part just simple dumb luck. Sorry, my answer is not very helpful. Good luck

I am in a similar position and so am also curious about this questions - that being said I have nothing of value to add.

Anonymous User wrote:I am in a similar position and so am also curious about this questions - that being said I have nothing of value to add.

Same

Do you know what practice area you want to work in? If so, eliminate any firm that's not as strong as the others in that area. If not, you'll want to go somewhere that has a variety of strong practices so you can make a better informed decision once you're a summer associate. that's the first step.