What are normal/good/poor ratios for screeners/callbacks/offers? Forum

[Lesion of Doom]

OCI is underway at my Southeastern T1, and I'm trying to gauge what I should expect in terms of hit rates at each stage of the process. I've observed here a conflicting array of opinions about how many callbacks would result from a given number of screeners, and how many of those callbacks result in offers.

Hypothetically, let's say a student gets 15 screeners. Would a good interviewer be expected to land 7-8 callbacks, with perhaps 3-4 offers? Or is that merely average? I was searching firms and saw a poster claim to have struck out on all seven of her/his callbacks, which seems rare and quite poor.

I truly have no clue what to expect, and yes I also realize that I have to deliver a strong performance, regardless. But like most everyone here, I'm obsessed with acquiring more and more data points, even if purely anecdotal.

[UVA2B]

This isn't an answerable question without grades, region, bid strategy, and a lot of subjective stuff that makes data on it useless and arbitrary. A UGA student with a 3.8 who is targeting Atlanta is going to get a bunch of callbacks if s/he is reasonably pleasant, and probably will get a good number of offers too, but I'm not sure knowing whether their specific yield rate is 15/15, 10/15, or 6/15 is at all helpful for the Emory student with a 3.3.

[Lesion of Doom]

This isn't an answerable question without grades, region, bid strategy, and a lot of subjective stuff that makes data on it useless and arbitrary. A UGA student with a 3.8 who is targeting Atlanta is going to get a bunch of callbacks if s/he is reasonably pleasant, and probably will get a good number of offers too, but I'm not sure knowing whether their specific yield rate is 15/15, 10/15, or 6/15.

That's fair. I had hoped that some very loose standard may exist within the minds of the TLS braintrust, but perhaps not. At my school there's no bid strategy to contemplate; it's entirely preselect. I have a Cornell friend who did 25 screeners to produce 6 callbacks and four offers. I wasn't sure if that would be considered typical, and how the math may change (i.e., get worse) for even top 10%/LR candidates at a T1 when squaring off against elite students from schools of that caliber.

I'm making a run at DC with those numbers and hoping to break in, but I'm nervous and want to learn how to recognize there's a problem sufficiently early to adapt my strategy (broadening my mass mailing, which to this point does excludes certain undesired markets outright) before it's too late.

[cbbinnyc]

OCI is underway at my Southeastern T1, and I'm trying to gauge what I should expect in terms of hit rates at each stage of the process. I've observed here a conflicting array of opinions about how many callbacks would result from a given number of screeners, and how many of those callbacks result in offers.

Hypothetically, let's say a student gets 15 screeners. Would a good interviewer be expected to land 7-8 callbacks, with perhaps 3-4 offers? Or is that merely average? I was searching firms and saw a poster claim to have struck out on all seven of her/his callbacks, which seems rare and quite poor.

I truly have no clue what to expect, and yes I also realize that I have to deliver a strong performance, regardless. But like most everyone here, I'm obsessed with acquiring more and more data points, even if purely anecdotal.

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the answer about screeners => callbacks will vary a lot depending on your school and how conservatively you bid (e.g. the callback ratio will be lower if you get screeners with a bunch of reach firms). I would imagine the callback => offer ratio will be more consistent across schools since a firm generally won't give somebody a callback unless he/she is a viable option. That said, it might vary depending on the firm. I've heard ~40-50% CB => offer. Obviously this is an average, though and YMMV

[Lesion of Doom]

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the answer about screeners => callbacks will vary a lot depending on your school and how conservatively you bid (e.g. the callback ratio will be lower if you get screeners with a bunch of reach firms). I would imagine the callback => offer ratio will be more consistent across schools since a firm generally won't give somebody a callback unless he/she is a viable option. That said, it might vary depending on the firm. I've heard ~40-50% CB => offer. Obviously this is an average, though and YMMV

Thank you. That's very helpful info about the callbacks. My only experience thus far has been two 1L screeners, with one callback, and no offer. I didn't interpret the absence of an offer to be particularly troubling, but I'm mindful.

[cbbinnyc]

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the answer about screeners => callbacks will vary a lot depending on your school and how conservatively you bid (e.g. the callback ratio will be lower if you get screeners with a bunch of reach firms). I would imagine the callback => offer ratio will be more consistent across schools since a firm generally won't give somebody a callback unless he/she is a viable option. That said, it might vary depending on the firm. I've heard ~40-50% CB => offer. Obviously this is an average, though and YMMV

Thank you. That's very helpful info about the callbacks. My only experience thus far has been two 1L screeners, with one callback, and no offer. I didn't interpret the absence of an offer to be particularly troubling, but I'm mindful.

Well, 1L screeners are a whole different animal. Most firms only hire a couple 1L SAs, if any, so your chances of getting an offer are much more slim. I wouldn't take the lack of an offer from a 1L callback to mean anything. For 1Ls, I've heard (though this is just a rumor, don't have great sources for this) that firms will give way more 1Ls callbacks than they need to as sort of a preemptive recruiting tool - they don't intend to hire many, but they want you to come back to interview for a 2L position and, by showing interest in you, you might be more likely to do so. Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense to me.

[2014]

Assuming you are interviewing with firms you should reasonably be interviewing with given your school/grades/resume, anything from a 20-50% screener --> CB ratio is totally normal. Below that and you've possibly mis-bid or are interviewing badly (or are focusing on secondary markets where demand for SA spots far outpaces supply) and above that you should feel great about your results. 50% for CB --> offer is a fine ballpark but it is wildly firm dependent so a much lower or higher number shouldn't be a surprise or cause any undue concern.

[BulletTooth]

You may want to check with your career services office to see if they have information on screener ==> callback and callback ==> offer. I know my school had this information, and it was helpful in deciding what firms to focus on. In terms of callback ==> offer, my understanding is that the ratio varies substantially from firm to firm. Some firms (usually the higher ranked ones) view the callback as a way to sell their firm, knowing that you'll likely have other offers coming in while lower-ranked firms will use the callback to weed out potential candidates. Grades are going to be the biggest determinant for both cases, however.

[Anonymous User]

Here's some anecdotal info. rising 2L's may find useful.

I'm lower T14, non-urm and was top 35% or so going into recruitment last year. I did not go straight through and had work experience that may have helped, but who knows. I also did not have any law school awards or anything. In other words, I was probably just OK on paper, though considered myself fairly strong in interviewing (I'm sure everyone says that...ha).

I went 10/10 CB to offers (5 in the V10, four in NYC). My sense is that if you interview well, there's really no reason not to get an offer if you have a CB. Perhaps predictably, I went 0/4 interviewing with firms with GPA averages more than .15 ahead of my GPA (so basically no CBs in the top of the V5). Again, this is NY so perhaps not relevant out of market.

During recruitment I was curious what degree a strong interview could overcome GPA. I felt my interviewing put me over at a lot of firms. Even then, I couldn't overcome my GPA at places like Cravath or S&C. I also have since learned from a friend at a V5 firm (who was close with the recruiting coordinator) the firm had too many students from my school on its CB list. The interviewer had put me in the 'yes' pile, but when recruiting wanted to limit the CB numbers, they went by GPA, and I was the lowest and therefore moved from the CB pile to the no-CB pile. This could be BS, but it seemed reasonable.

All and all, the interview/CB process is really superficial. The short interviews are more a way of weeding out than identifying talent.

Far more importantly, the summer associate experience is great, so if you're stressed know that you get one great summer before signing your life away.

[pancakes3]

should have made your run at DC via mass mail and then bid conservatively for NYC/local market through OCI.

15 DC screeners is a shit ton.

also don't let the expectation of ratios cloud the ultimate goal. it only takes one - especially for DC

[Lesion of Doom]

Thank you guys for all the posts. Very helpful.

I think it's the nerves of gunning for DC along with my local market (NC), and frankly neither of those is safe even with solid credentials. Just have to see.