About to Strike Out Forum

[Danggimmejob]

Median at T14, have gotten zero call back so far through OCI, thought I was a good interviewer.

What should I do? In a lot of debt and cannot afford to not have a biglaw job:(

[Anonymous User]

Keep applying? Mass mail? It's not over until your 2L summer is over. OCI is not the only way to Big Law, but it is the easiest. Work your connections. Get to it.

[Anonymous User]

I was in your situation a year ago, I didn't get any callbacks from OCI but still ended up with a BigLaw SA. Mass mail every firm in every market that you have the vaguest connection to, you should be emailing 200-300 firms, or more. Also, submit your resume to every resume collect that your school does. A few weeks after OCI my school started emailing us about firms that came to OCI but wanted more resumes/interviewees. If your school does lottery for OCI, email every firm that you bid on but didn't get scheduled with. If you start mass mailing now there are still many opportunities out there.

[grades??]

This also depends on what school you are at. Median at Duke and you will get a summer position, but you only have a 40-50% shot at gt. But keep mass mailing. Just depends on the school. If you are at gt for example, you need to consider that you might not get one.

[acr]

You should be emailing as many firms as possible. It's a numbers game. More apps = more screeners = more callbacks = offer. If you're relying solely on your school's OCI, then you're setting yourself up for failure. As a previous poster mentioned, mail firms first in markets where you have connections, even if stringent. Also make sure to email alums at firms asking to set up 15 minute conversations/informational interviews about their practice, and ask if they'd be willing to extend your resume to recruiting at the end. Learn to not give a shit if it's awkward or they say no. Just send out as many as possible. Leverage your network. Email successful family friends, even those who are working in business, asking if they know any attorneys. Get feedback on your interviewing ASAP. It's not enough to "think" you're a good interviewer. Get some objective feedback from your CSO and practicing attorneys. You can always improve your interview skills. You haven't struck out until the end of 2L summer, so just keep grinding.

[Dr. Nefario]

Dude its August 4th....you're not "about to strike out." You should've been mass mailing since last month, but start now. Take several hours, email every firm on the NALP list in NYC and in any other city you have ties to. It is way too early to be thinking you're gonna strike out because people get offers into October.

[smokeylarue]

Seriously don't give up, keep hustling. Even if you strike out, I know some people snagged offers in their 3L year too without doing a 2L BigLaw summer. DO NOT GIVE UP, KEEP HUSTLING.

[texas4ever]

You should plan on applying for clerkships. I know plenty of people who struck out at OCI, did clerkships at the federal or state supreme court level, and then easily got into biglaw. If you take some time to research hiring at biglaw, you'll notice that the the typical lateral attorney postings ask for specific experience, but the judicial clerk track does not, and so you'd be able to submit applications to tons of firms for after your clerkship. If you're median at a T14, a clerkship is not out of reach (although you might be living in Oklahoma for a year). Just make sure to do some research on what's involved in applying for a clerkship so you can get everything lined up.

You should also apply for government jobs for next summer - some of the deadlines come up pretty soon, and you don't want to miss them. It'll take them forever to process your application and interview you, and if you have an SA job by then, you can always decline a government offer.

[existentialcrisis]

Mass mail every NALP firm right now. And any other firms you can find.

[Danggimmejob]

Thanks, everyone! I will start hustling and hope for the best

[Nebby]

Median at T14, have gotten zero call back so far through OCI, thought I was a good interviewer.

What should I do? In a lot of debt and cannot afford to not have a biglaw job:(

Reach out to career services

[magnum_law]

OP, it may be helpful to pinpoint the specific issue moving forward. Median grades at a t14 (assuming somewhere like Duke) is not AT ALL prohibitive for landing BigLaw.

The problem can be;
(1) You bid too ambitiously. Forget the v10 bullshit -- the prestige chase is over. You can correct this by mass mailing, doing resume drops, and NETWORKING.

(2) You bid too heavily on small markets/not enough big NYC. Same remedy as above.

Or

(3) There is an issue with your interviewing skills that is badly hurting you. If so, this needs to be identified and corrected immediately. Reach out to Career Services, honest friends, etc. Practice with them and ask for real feedback.

I know folks below median who have 8 CBs or so from my t14. They invariably had a harder battle than you because of grades (which cannot be corrected). You can turn this around for yourself. Be confident, hustle with the mailings, be likeable/personable/normal, and don't feel that your grades are holding you back (because it's a total non issue).

[Pokemon]

Some good advice already given to you so I will not repeat most of that. Additional advice to consider is sign up for easy courses in fall since your focus then should be to get a jerb and if you do end up striking off start building narratives for 3l lolci/job search.