Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students? Forum

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Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:48 pm

Tips are greatly appreciated!

arklaw13

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by arklaw13 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:12 pm

What markets are you looking at? And how "less grade sensitive" are we talking? As in median, below median, etc?

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:32 pm

arklaw13 wrote:What markets are you looking at? And how "less grade sensitive" are we talking? As in median, below median, etc?
Anywhere in the South, preferably. Slightly below median.

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:56 pm

fellow vandy student here-

this is also relevant to my interests. i'm somewhere around median, can't tell where. would you have any advice for OCI bidding? should I avoid the top end firms and pursue midrange or lower end biglaw firms? Interested in the south as well but flexible on location honestly.

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:15 pm

Rising Vandy 3L checking in to tell both of y'all to not waste any bids on Nashville. You need to be from there and/or LR + LR-level grades to get something from them.

Without more specific information provided, all I can give is general advice:
- with median grades, and especially without strong, strong ties to the cities, do not expect to land a job on the west coast, in Atlanta, in D.C., in Chicago, and definitely not in Nashville. A fellow 3L of mine landed a job offer from a vault-ranked firm in D.C. with a median GPA back during our OCI. He is emphatically the exception to this rule.
- bid NYC. Mass-mail NYC.
- apply directly to your hometown and to the firms in the nearest major city.
- apply to firms in whatever market you're spending your summer in.

We punch above our weight in job stats because we know how to hustle; this is how you hustle. For my part I landed my current summer associate gig before OCI started because I was working in my hometown and emailed the firms there. It's where I wanted to go, so it worked out. We go to a great school with a well-deserved good reputation, but that doesn't mean you don't have to hustle.

The end is nearly in sight; power through these next couple-or-so months and y'all will be fine.

EDIT to clarify: the reason I'm not really directly answering your question is because unless you're talking about, like, Wachtell or Cravath or Williams & Connolly, you should be focusing on the softness of a market as opposed to specific firms. Particularly because you lose nothing but a couple extra minutes of your time by just throwing them into the mass-mail pot.

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:34 pm

Haynes and Boone (Dallas, Houston)
Baker McKenzie (Dallas)
Milbank (New York)
Shearman (New York)
Hogan Lovells (New York)
Skadden (New York)
Locke Lord (Houston)

All have taken median (or below) students from Vandy the last 2-3 years. Happy to answer any specific questions but these firms are a good place to start.

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:48 pm

lol @ career services told us to only bid skadden at over a 3.6 this year...

any other ny firms that you would recommend focusing on? not to hijack too much - say for someone somewhere b/w median and dean's list territory? guessing focusing on the ones already listed would be the move.

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Re: Firms that are less grade sensitive for Vandy Students?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:03 pm

Anonymous User wrote:lol @ career services told us to only bid skadden at over a 3.6 this year...

any other ny firms that you would recommend focusing on? not to hijack too much - say for someone somewhere b/w median and dean's list territory? guessing focusing on the ones already listed would be the move.
In terms of New York offices that have hired Vandy students recently:

Sidley Austin
Fried Frank
Cahill Gordon

Those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

Simpson Thacher and Cleary Gottlieb usually hire only Dean's List out of Vandy, but it doesn't hurt to throw them into the mass mail mix.

Btw I know for a fact that Skadden has (on multiple occasions) offered people with below a 3.6 from Vandy in the past 2-3 years. So lol @ career services indeed...

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