Below-median at HLS hoping to land a job in DC Forum

[Anonymous User]

Spring grades aren't out yet, but I'm guessing it's below-median (2Hish). I'm an international KJD at HLS, with a 1L firm job overseas. I'm desperately hoping to find a 2L SA in DC (for personal reasons). Any advice about how to improve my chance is welcome.

Also a few questions:
1. Any idea which DC firms are less grade-selective and willing to take a large chunk of HLS grads? I know there exists the vault ranking, but I'd also love to hear any anecdotes.
2. Since the bottom line is to at least get a job, I plan to bid heavily on NY during OCI and leave about 10 spots or so for DC. For these spots, should I bid more competitive firms and massmail the rest (as I'm worried that these firms won't give me an interview if I just shoot them an email)?
3. Is it too late to start networking now, with the hope of getting a reference to interview? No way a social butterfly here...

Thanks for any input!

[lawlorbust]

I'll defer to other HLSers on this, but some possibly helpful advice:

1) Talk to OCS, this is what they do.

2) You're not at great risk of striking out with 2Hs (assuming that you don't have below-average interviewing skills, etc.) so you probably don't have to bid that heavily on NY. Just be realistic about which firms will be wasted interviews (paradigm = S&C) and try to grab as many free slots when EIP starts. Also, the DC firms with big summer classes tend to be the selective ones, so you'll probably have to throw bids at firms which take 1-4 HLS students per class.

3) Cross-reference the Who Works Where list with the firms that are coming to EIP. If there are firms that have taken HLS grads but aren't going to be at EIP, then yes, shoot them emails.

[hdivschool]

I agree with lawlorbust's advice. Also, OCS should have a document with information about the firms at EIP and how selective they are.

[mvp99]

Talk to OCS but also verify with other people that what they suggested is correct or in your interest.

[cjw564]

What type of international student? Many DC offices have a lot of LATAM work, so if you are from Latin America, that might be a huge benefit. On the other hand, DC offices generally do not handle much Asia work - thus if you are from Asia, it will count as a negative.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for all the advice! I'll talk to OCS once grades are out. Would love to learn from peer wisdom for now.

A few more questions:
1) Is it realistic to get in a firm's NY office and ask for splitting the summer between DC and NY office? I know one person who did this but not sure if it's common.
2) Should I start massmailing now? If yes, should I email some firms even if they are coming to OCI since I won't be able to bid all of them?
Sorry for bombarding all these questions as I'm getting super paranoid after seeing how small these DC firms' summer classes are...

I agree with lawlorbust's advice. Also, OCS should have a document with information about the firms at EIP and how selective they are.

OCS tells us how many selective firms you can bid with x Hs, without defining what "selective" means in the context.

What type of international student? Many DC offices have a lot of LATAM work, so if you are from Latin America, that might be a huge benefit. On the other hand, DC offices generally do not handle much Asia work - thus if you are from Asia, it will count as a negative.

Too late to start learning Spanish now lol

[soj]

.

[Anonymous User]

Spring grades aren't out yet, but I'm guessing it's below-median (2Hish).

There's a big difference between 2Hs for the spring semester versus 2Hs total for the entire year. For the year, are you 2H/8P? That'll be a lot harder than ~4H.

1) Is it realistic to get in a firm's NY office and ask for splitting the summer between DC and NY office? I know one person who did this but not sure if it's common.

Not common, but not unheard of. But each office has its own hiring needs, hiring committee, etc. Wouldn't count on it.

I plan to bid heavily on NY during OCI and leave about 10 spots or so for DC.

I strongly disagree with this proposal. If you want DC, bid long in DC. Bid 5 to 10 relatively less competitive NY.

Any idea which DC firms are less grade-selective and willing to take a large chunk of HLS grads?

Also, the DC firms with big summer classes tend to be the selective ones, so you'll probably have to throw bids at firms which take 1-4 HLS students per class.

Agreed. Do your research. Target the smaller DC offices that don't often get any/many HLS acceptances -- check the OCS spreadsheets or HLS Dope to see what firms come every year and give out offers but no one accepts. When you interview, have good reasons why you want that firm and office.

[Anonymous User]

I got multiple DC offers with 3Hs. Get the eip data from last year. Find the DC firms with the highest yield. Bid those. I'm talking places like Miller, Dechert, Akin, Orrick. Be prepared to do 33 interviews at eip. Have a damn compelling narrative.

Oh and my buddy had 5 Hs, ties to DC, and is charismatic as hell. One offer and he had to backchannel through an old boss for it. Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

i was below median at a school ~30 schools down from harvard on the us news and am now a junior associate in DC biglaw. Just one anecdote but you can definitely do this. I would recommend reaching out to every harvard alum in dc with a targeted email that explains your interest in their practice group and how you would like to set up a phone call to briefly chat. Then, when you apply to these firms, mention how you love the firm based on your talk with X. When you get to the interview, you have given yourself a better chance than others by being able to back up your interest with hard evidence (I reached out to X who told me about Y practice group, and it sounds like a perfect fit...). You can do this and it is definitely not too late to start networking

[cjw564]

There are people with 7 h's who strike out of dc. Then I know a couple people (urm and non urm) with lp who got dc biglaw.

Point is, like others have said itt, eip at Harvard is much less numbers driven (except sullcrom/munger/wilcon/wilmer dc/gdc dc/wrlk/kvn/susman) than 1L's are told. Bid smartly and interview like a normal person and you can land a dc biglaw.

If you are AA male (edit, did not remember that you are international, but for firm diversity purposes, you generally don't have to be American to get the benefit) at hls, you are golden for dc firms regardless of grades.