OCI Screener - CB - Offer rate? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I was talking with a non law school friend last night about OCI and my experience, and she asked me if my callback/offer number was low or high, and I actually didn't know. I feel like that's obnoxious to ask classmates, specoficallly because I'm a transfer and don't know anyone very well, but I'm genuinely curious to know screener/CB/offer rates at T14.

Add in gpa, class rank, past experience, pr anything else you think was or is releveant to job search.

I know there was a thread like this but it was over 5 years ago, and I'd imagine the market is slightly different today.

[cavalier1138]

I think it's largely a pointless question. Your CSO probably has this information broken down by GPA bands, but those numbers are really variable. I know top students in my class who ended up with relatively low screener-to-callback ratios (for their GPA tier) but had a stellar callback-to-offer rate. So much of this hinges on your specific school, GPA, journal, work experience, interview skills, random chance, and which firms you screened at in the first place. If you were very selective about firms that you screened at, that affects your callback rate. If you targeted a smaller secondary market, that affects your callback and offer rates, etc. etc.

[Anonymous User]

Agreed. It completely varies based on so many variables.

For example, I (CCN top 3%) went

27 Screeners
18 Callbacks
9 offers

But I targetted the elite DC firms

My friend (CCN top 40%)
28 screeners
20 callbacks
15 offers

But he targetted the big class NYC firms.

If you really want to know, you can see from OCS how many screeners/callbacks the specific firms you bid on did. If your average firm gave back CBs to 1/3 of its screeners and you got more than 1/3, you did great. If you did worse, oh well.

[cron1834]

Agreed. It completely varies based on so many variables.

For example, I (CCN top 3%) went

27 Screeners
18 Callbacks
9 offers

But I targetted the elite DC firms

My friend (CCN top 40%)
28 screeners
20 callbacks
15 offers

But he targetted the big class NYC firms.

If you really want to know, you can see from OCS how many screeners/callbacks the specific firms you bid on did. If your average firm gave back CBs to 1/3 of its screeners and you got more than 1/3, you did great. If you did worse, oh well.

Congratulations on your great successes. We're very impressed.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, I was probably bottom 10-20% at CCN. I bid accordingly (very few reaches) and had roughly a 50% success rate at each stage. So 50% of my screeners resulted in CBs and 50% of those resulted in offers. I have a few yrs of irrelevant work experience and decent interview skills.

[Anonymous User]

I was told going in that about 30% conversion rate from screener to CB and around 50% conversion from CB to Offer was "doing great."

For me, I had 29 screeners, 8 CB, 4 Offers. Bottom 1/3 at MVP. I think anecdata is as close as you'll get to answering this -- especially given all the variables.

[malibustacy]

You know... it really varies wildly based on personality, looks, and interview skills. Also, race, gender, and perceived socio-economic status still play as factors.

I've seen situations where two people with similar grades have very different results. With similar grades, one struck out while another got around 10 offers. No need to really feel good or bad based on such metrics, if you have a job offer OP, I'd be happy.

[Anonymous User]

Just below median at PDV. Bid dc and NYC. 40+ screeners, 12 cbs, 1 offer (from pre-oci).

[Anonymous User]

25 screeners/9 CBs/6 CBs accepted/2 offers. Somewhat above median at HLS at the time (6H 4P), but I was interviewing in CA in 2011 and I am not a good interviewer.

[Anonymous User]

I had two pre-OCI offers so during actual OCI I only bid 8. 8 screeners, 4 callbacks, 3 offers. Lower T-14, top 25% (school doesn't rank), Law Review.

[Anonymous User]

Above median at MVP. 30 screeners, 16 CBs, went on 11 of them, 9 offers.

[Anonymous User]

GULC bottom 1/3. 25 screeners/7 cb's/5 offers.

[Wild Card]

Below median at CCN.

30 screeners, 5 callbacks, 1 offer.

[Anonymous User]

.

[cron1834]

MVPD, top 15%, law review, bid DC and another market (think Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, Boston). Several years (4+) of non-legal work experience.

27 screeners.
24 callbacks offered.
12 callbacks attended.
11 offers.

Every year this kind of thread happens, and every year it's unhelpful at best and unhealthy at worst. A biased sample of self-selecting braggarts with unverifiable, anonymous claims. Just... why?

[Anonymous User]

Top 30% CCN
29 screeners, 6 CB, 3 offers

I'm not a great interview and did a lot of screeners that were out of reach based on grades/no law review.

[Hikikomorist]

MVPD, top 15%, law review, bid DC and another market (think Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, Boston). Several years (4+) of non-legal work experience.

27 screeners.
24 callbacks offered.
12 callbacks attended.
11 offers.

Every year this kind of thread happens, and every year it's unhelpful at best and unhealthy at worst. A biased sample of self-selecting braggarts with unverifiable, anonymous claims. Just... why?

I appreciate these threads. They provide a good chance to gauge your social skills.

[UVA2B]

Every year this kind of thread happens, and every year it's unhelpful at best and unhealthy at worst. A biased sample of self-selecting braggarts with unverifiable, anonymous claims. Just... why?

Very much agreed. So many folks just want to show off how good they were at getting hired at worst, or want to provide a context-less insight into how tough hiring can be for some at best.

Hiring isn't admissions (to the extent law school admissions is formulaic). There is literally nothing to divine from someone telling you how many screeners/CBs/offers they got, even if they provide minimal context like the market they targeted, the school they attend, or their grades at that school.

If you have a job, be happy about it. If you were inundated with offers for jobs, figure out which job is best for your personal career and go with that.

But for the love of all that is holy, I can't stress enough how little it matters how many CBs you had, how many offers you received, and where that stacks you in some sort of competition. It isn't helpful for anyone, particularly the unfortunate folks who are still looking for jobs and have similar credentials as you. This only adds to the neuroses of legal hiring among law students.

[Anonymous User]

Who in the world would want 11-15 offers?

You can only keep 5 if you follow NALP. As soon as I got my first offer I cancelled callbacks and screeners with every firm I liked less than that one. So I ended up only doing 3 callbacks and had 2 offers, but that was one more offer than I needed. Some major ego stroking going on here.

How many offers you have is the most irrelevant of possible things you can seem to maximize for bragging rights. It can't go on a resume and is meaningless the second you accept an offer.

[cron1834]

In agreement w/the last few posts.

[Anonymous User]

Every year this kind of thread happens, and every year it's unhelpful at best and unhealthy at worst. A biased sample of self-selecting braggarts with unverifiable, anonymous claims. Just... why?

Very much agreed. So many folks just want to show off how good they were at getting hired at worst, or want to provide a context-less insight into how tough hiring can be for some at best.

Hiring isn't admissions (to the extent law school admissions is formulaic). There is literally nothing to divine from someone telling you how many screeners/CBs/offers they got, even if they provide minimal context like the market they targeted, the school they attend, or their grades at that school.

If you have a job, be happy about it. If you were inundated with offers for jobs, figure out which job is best for your personal career and go with that.

But for the love of all that is holy, I can't stress enough how little it matters how many CBs you had, how many offers you received, and where that stacks you in some sort of competition. It isn't helpful for anyone, particularly the unfortunate folks who are still looking for jobs and have similar credentials as you. This only adds to the neuroses of legal hiring among law students.

Someone created a thread, I provided my experience. Had I seen something like this beforehand, I would have significantly reduced the number of bids I made. This forum and elsewhere conveys the idea that it's hopeless to abandon NYC and that focusing on DC or secondary markets is a fool's errand. I was certainly fortunate and likely had some good luck come my way (a lot of this is a crapshoot), but I think it is helpful to know that if you put yourself in a good position during your first year, you can focus on where you want to be and not lean on the NYC crutch as much.

But I'll delete what I put in if you want to also take it out of your quotes.

As for why so many offers? I stayed within NALP guidelines, but I was juggling two different markets a plane ride apart from each other and trying to learn about which firms I wanted to be at. Not everyone comes into law school knowing in-depth what firm they've always wanted to go to, and simply going for the highest on the Vault ranking wasnt appealing either. That means attending a good number of callbacks to get a feel/find ways to differentiate firms even based on limited information.

[UVA2B]

Every year this kind of thread happens, and every year it's unhelpful at best and unhealthy at worst. A biased sample of self-selecting braggarts with unverifiable, anonymous claims. Just... why?

Very much agreed. So many folks just want to show off how good they were at getting hired at worst, or want to provide a context-less insight into how tough hiring can be for some at best.

Hiring isn't admissions (to the extent law school admissions is formulaic). There is literally nothing to divine from someone telling you how many screeners/CBs/offers they got, even if they provide minimal context like the market they targeted, the school they attend, or their grades at that school.

If you have a job, be happy about it. If you were inundated with offers for jobs, figure out which job is best for your personal career and go with that.

But for the love of all that is holy, I can't stress enough how little it matters how many CBs you had, how many offers you received, and where that stacks you in some sort of competition. It isn't helpful for anyone, particularly the unfortunate folks who are still looking for jobs and have similar credentials as you. This only adds to the neuroses of legal hiring among law students.

Someone created a thread, I provided my experience. Had I seen something like this beforehand, I would have significantly reduced the number of bids I made. This forum and elsewhere conveys the idea that it's hopeless to abandon NYC and that focusing on DC or secondary markets is a fool's errand. I was certainly fortunate and likely had some good luck come my way (a lot of this is a crapshoot), but I think it is helpful to know that if you put yourself in a good position during your first year, you can focus on where you want to be and not lean on the NYC crutch as much.

But I'll delete what I put in if you want to also take it out of your quotes.

As for why so many offers? I stayed within NALP guidelines, but I was juggling two different markets a plane ride apart from each other and trying to learn about which firms I wanted to be at. Not everyone comes into law school knowing in-depth what firm they've always wanted to go to, and simply going for the highest on the Vault ranking wasnt appealing either. That means attending a good number of callbacks to get a feel/find ways to differentiate firms even based on limited information.

Happy to edit your information out, even though it doesn't reflect anything about you. And please remember that this isn't about you or your offers. It's more just a suggestion that the information this thread provides isn't helpful to those looking for jobs.

[Anonymous User]

I'll agree that it doesn't add much of value. It's impossible to determine anything by it. For example, I went:

Targeted top D.C. firms
12 screeners
13 callbacks (dropped off a resume or two at hospitality suites)
went to 7 callbacks
6 offers

There were people with much better resumes than me who did worse in OCI, and there were people with much worse resumes who pulled in 10+ offers. It really seems like this is just to satisfy your own curiosity. Also, OP, you are right that it is definitely obnoxious to ask classmates how they did finding jobs, especially if they are not close friends. If I were asked my callback to offer ratio by a close friend, I'd probably tell them without thinking anything of it. But if one of our transfers whom I only knew in passing asked me, I'd definitely consider them a gunner and suspect they're an ass who just wanted to see if they did better than everyone.

This is a bad thread. OP, if it sates your curiosity, I don't know your callback-offer rate, but you had a really, really high one. You're special. You're the most special person in this entire thread.

[Anonymous User]

OP here, I understand that job hunting is wack so nlthjng can be relied on, but I actually found this helpful. Everything around OCIs is so sensitive. I think it's good to see that some people at the top struggled (not for them, just saying it's good to understand that happens) and good to see that you can also bring out other aspects of yourself and be successful even without the highest of grades. I think this type of information prepares people to first understand that things can't be predicted, but also understand that you have to be much more of the full picture in an interview.

Reading posts like this can show someone at the top not to rely on grades, and someone nearer the bottom to keep faith, but to prepare in other ways. Found it helpful, thanks to all!

Edit to address above post: actually no I didn't, only had 6 CBS and 3 offers from 25+ screeners it was just general curiosity because I missed out on all 1L prep for this stuff and had no idea what to accept going into OCI, and of course, it's now awkward to ask.

[Anonymous User]

Just to provide additional anecdata:

Top 20% at a top 25 school (outside of the t14).

I targeted two cities, NYC and ATL. My results varied quite a lot between the two cities.

I had 11 NYC screeners, 5 Callbacks, 3 offers. One of the CB's was a ding, one was pending and I withdrew b/c I accepted an offer.
(In NYC, I targeted the V20-V50 range of firms with just a few outside that range in either direction.)

I had 12 ATL screeners, 1 callback, and I accepted a NYC offer and withdrew before finding out whether that CB would have been an offer or not.
You could chalk it up to "ATL is a hard market to get into if you don't have ties," but... I do have ties. I'm *literally* from ATL.