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3.4X GPA, Dean''s List/Top third at GULC. Strong ties to SoCal (1L Summer, UG, Born & Raised). Is it risky to bid solely on CA (primarily SoCal), or should I bid some NY firms, even though I really just want to return to CA upon graduation?

i don't know GULC's alumni base or historical GPA cutoffs for firms in LA. Your career office should have info on both.

I def recommended that a family member not attend Cornell on a full ride, and instead take a partial scholly at a much higher ranked school because Cornell's biglaw placement in California was atrocious. I would be surprised if GULC has much better placement #s than Cornell, but you need to ask the people who aggregate stats on this at your school.

Top third doesn't seem that safe to me. You probably want to go for the mega/take anybody SA classes in NYC.

Of the two firms that I have been at in LA (one LA based one NYC based), we take one or two GULC students each summer, but we have never taken a Cornell student at either.

Bidding solely on SoCal from Georgetown seems like a recipe to strike out to me.

acr wrote:Bidding solely on SoCal from Georgetown seems like a recipe to strike out to me.

You're certainly starting your at bat with one strike against you. I think you have a shot, but hedge a little bit and bid some NYC offices of firms with CA offices so you can try and get back here that way.

You'll likely have a shot at Sheppard Mullin, they really like people with SoCal ties.

If GULC is still doing the OCI On Tour thing, you should go. It's a lot of SoCal firms, gives you another shot.

As above posters have said though, you should bid widely. If your priorities are BigLaw > CA, then you need to go for NY as well.

I would strongly urge you to cast a wide net. I had marginally better numbers than you (from a different T14) and struck out in both Norcal and Socal. I'm from Socal. I'm also generally a popular, easy going, good-at-talking person. I just got kind of nervous and intimidated by the whole OCI process at the last minute and bombed interviews. CA firms pretend (at least) to care more about fit I think. NYC firms are more grades focused and can provide a good backstop, that you may end up needing. This is too big of a thing to risk it.

It would be a good idea to throw in some NYC bids. Better to have an SA in NYC than none at all. It would put you in a much better position for trying again 3L season, or you may be able to transfer offices. My old firm had an LA office, and people were allowed to switch offices for personal reasons, but they never recruited at GULC for their LA office.

The key to SoCal (and California in general) from an East Coast school is start early and, if you're there this summer, try to get as many interviews NOW as possible before OCI. Bid what you can for OCI, but given that probably not many SoCal offices even send people to GULC (I don't know whether they do), you'll probably have bids left over for NYC. Also, doesn't GULC do OTIP? Do OTIP.

If you're relying on OCI alone, you are doing it wrong.

Anonymous User wrote:3.4X GPA, Dean''s List/Top third at GULC. Strong ties to SoCal (1L Summer, UG, Born & Raised). Is it risky to bid solely on CA (primarily SoCal), or should I bid some NY firms, even though I really just want to return to CA upon graduation?

Similar ties, different T14, struck out of market paying California firms, got a V15 NYC.

So... yeah, it's risky to bid solely on CA.

To elaborate, your grades aren't good enough for the bigger LA firms such as Gibson, Skadden, Paul Hastings, O'Melveny. The places you may be competitive for have really small classes, or pay well below market.