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What's the TLS wisdom on an applicant's chances of getting on offer once they get a callback?

Once you get the callback is it more of a "as long as you don't f*** up the callback interviews we'll hire you" attitude or are they still scrutinizing you? I've heard that at the callback stage it's all about "fit" (your personality with the firm's culture, etc). Does it differ greatly firm to firm?

Thanks!

It varies a lot firm to firm but the most likely answer is that your performance on callbacks will matter very much in determining whether you get an offer.

It definitely differs greatly from firm to firm.

For big NYC firms, around 60 to 70% is probably right. Two routine outliers are Sullivan & Cromwell, which gives 95%+ offers to those it calls back, and Davis Polk, which is often closer to 30% to 40% of those it calls back.

Smaller firms have wider variance, though it's common to hear people say the ratio is generally lower.

Yeah, I think everyone is pretty right on. Generally bigger firms give a higher ratio than smaller firms. With a lot of variance by firm.

Another factor that I noticed with OCI is the timing of the callback. If your cb is scheduled right away the firms are more likely to make you an offer, whereas the farther down the road it is scheduled the less likely.

For most firms you're certainly not safe simply getting a callback. They give more callbacks than they have SA spots.

Anecdotally, for the LA/SF/SV market coming from a T20, I did 23 screeners, had 12 callbacks, and 4 offers (though I withdrew from consideration from several firms after getting an offer I knew I'd take). In general I'm a good interviewer, though my grades were probably on the lower end of some V20s.

OP here. Thanks for the great input!

Anonymous User wrote: Anecdotally, for the LA/SF/SV market coming from a T20, I did 23 screeners, had 12 callbacks, and 4 offers (though I withdrew from consideration from several firms after getting an offer I knew I'd take). In general I'm a good interviewer, though my grades were probably on the lower end of some V20s.

That's the market I'm looking at. And those CB to offer numbers are pretty scary. Congrats on getting 4 offers, though!

trebekismyhero wrote: Another factor that I noticed with OCI is the timing of the callback. If your cb is scheduled right away the firms are more likely to make you an offer, whereas the farther down the road it is scheduled the less likely.

Got the CBs recently (early July). Hopefully a good sign.

The ratio is scary but also skewed. I know I definitively did not get offers at 3 firms. The rest I withdrew from.

NALP has an annual report that addresses this question (or used to). When I went through OCI a few years ago, offer rate varied by city, with Houston having the highest callback to offer rate at around 50% (perhaps a little higher).

Your school hopefully should have data of its own students callbacks and offers

Mack.Hambleton wrote:Your school hopefully should have data of its own students callbacks and offers

Thanks, actually I don't think my school does, but I will ask.

Can anyone else speak to their experience in the LA/SF/SV market with callbacks to offers ratio?

School Range: USC/UCLA
Market(s): LA, SF, SV
Approximate class rank: Top 10%
Callbacks received: 14
Callbacks accepted: 12 (received 3 rejections; withdrew post CB from 6 firms after receiving first offer)
Offers: 3

School Range: UCLA/USC
Market(s): LA
Approximate class rank: Top 10%
Callbacks received: 5
Callbacks accepted: 5
Offers: 1

For more look at the stickied 2014 oci results page

It really depends, both on the timing of your interviews and on fit factors. I had an average screener/CB ratio (maybe slightly over 50%?), but a high CB/offer ratio (6 of 7 CBs I accepted). Grades were fine but not stellar, interesting softs, UChicago, targeting LA and Chicago.

Wow, thanks guys. It sounds really tough. I was hoping it was closer to 50% offers. I'll check out the 2014 OCI results page, thanks.

Any SF/SV people want to weigh in?

To emphasize one important thing about the data, you should be more interested in the firm's callback to offer ratio, not any given individual's record. Results are notoriously feast or famine, with lots of people over-performing (getting offers most places they do callbacks) and others under-performing (getting very few offers despite doing numerous callbacks).

Anonymous User wrote:School Range: UCLA/USC
Market(s): LA
Approximate class rank: Top 10%
Callbacks received: 5
Callbacks accepted: 5
Offers: 1

Different person, same stats.

Does anyone know if the callback to offer ratio is higher w/r/t early callbacks? Or does this very greatly from firm to firm (and across markets) as well?

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone know if the callback to offer ratio is higher w/r/t early callbacks? Or does this very greatly from firm to firm (and across markets) as well?

The earlier the callback, the more likely there are more open spots in the class. So while there will be variance across firms and markets, there is at least a small bump as a result.