Top Law Schools

1L here with decent grades (admittedly, I'm looking to improve after 1st semester). I'm looking for advice for my first summer.

Quick Run down:

-From a decent school in the top 50. I'm in the city of Houston, TX.
-Current Class Placement: Top 55%. 3.05 GPA.

What are my chances at securing a summer intern/clerk position at a mid-size firm (25-60 attorneys) for this coming summer?

I hope that this post will help me and other students optimize our time when it comes to sending out resumes. Your input and advice is much appreciated.

Honestly, you are in for an uphill climb.

The problem is that those mid size firms you are talking about rarely have any summer clerk positions. if they do, they usually hire 1 or 2 at max. There are plenty of students in the top 20% that are willing to take the position.

What I would do is work really hard on your grades. Coming from a T50, I think you need to be in the top 1/3 to have a chance at getting a mid size firm job and hustle. I think you need top 25% to have a realistic chance. I would also try really hard to network and send out a ton of emails asking for an informational interview.

I went to a T50 and was in the top 1/3-25% my first semester and improved my grades to just outside the top 10%. It is definitely possible. Work hard and figure out where you screwed up.

Uh grad here. Midlaw is wildly variable. I have a specific practice area (real estate) so getting that is about interest or experience and not grades. Other friends found general midlaw firms and it was definitely not about grades. The poster above had a very different experience obviously. Top half is helpful and higher is more helpful.
However there is absolutely no way to answer your question. No one can predict your chances in particular. Go do mock interviews, informational interviews, and be ready and blast your resume out/do the career fairs that are available to see what sticks.

If you have specific questions I'm happy to try and answer (pm fine too) and I'll track down classmates answers if I don't know. A couple other posters here are midlaw or boutiques in Texas so they may have advice too.