feeling lost ahead of OCI Forum

[2020throwaway]

hi TLS

I currently attend a T14 school. this year, I got all B's ... no idea where I am in the class , but I would guess bottom 1/4 . Seems like every upperclassmen I met is headed for a V10. It looks like I have just about no chance at getting anywhere near that, and I even have a closer chance of being unemployed. The worst part of it is, I don't feel like i am particularly interested in any area of law. Stories of the associate experience in both litigation and corporate areas sound very unappealing. I'm also somewhat tired of feeling like I keep having to work on my future (not striking out in the short term, and "doing well" at some law firm in the medium term, and who knows in the long term). At this point, I feel like my goal really is to get a job, any job that will pay for my expenses and debt. It feels depressing to be spending my time on this law school thing, when I feel like I've been met with failure at every turn. I don't even know what I learned, or what I care about. Even more scary is that the internet is full of scary stories about the legal profession, or things that remind me of the striver mindset.

At this point, it would be somewhat ill-advised to drop out before OCI, but what should I do? what should i think? how did other people who felt aimless during 1L end up? Should I push forward, even though I feel like I've lost all interest in what I'm doing? I am hoping that working at a firm will at least give me something to do other than browse the internet (what I currently spend most of my time doing).

Should I try to take some time off, enjoy the summer, hopefully grab an offer at EIP, and see how 2L year goes? The problem with this is, that I'm worried about striking out and TLS makes me think I should spend my free time mass-mailing, hustling on other recruiting activities.

[Anonymous User]

Don't drop out pre OCI. If you aren't V10 or bust and if it makes you feel any better, my V70 (lmao) grade cutoff for the T14 is like 2.6-2.8.

[Anonymous User]

and what V70 would that be?

[Anonymous User]

Pretty much every AmLaw100 firm starts Associates at atleast $115k, even in the smallest markets. There might be some outliers. You'll be fine coming from a T14 imo and will find something.

[Anonymous User]

TL;DR: you don't suck, all is not lost, reflect on who you are what you want and what you are capable of and what is important to you

Your Grades & Job Prospects
I was at a T20, definitely got B's, B+'s, an A-, and even a B- (!!!) my 1L year. I was really disappointed after the first year but went into OCI still feeling somewhat hopeful. I got interviews, callbacks, and I'm pretty sure I was a backup to a couple offers, but ended the summer with no offers. I felt TERRIBLE--all my other friends got jobs lined up, and I was incredibly dejected going into my 2L year. That being said, I didn't give up and hustled. I worked harder and/but my GPA crept up minimally. I was really involved in school extracurriculars and my journal. took all the leadership positions I could get. I formed beneficial and positive relationships with attorney mentors (who got me interviews or spoke of me positively to their hiring people) and with my school career office (who got me an interview with a firm, which eventually became my biglaw job). I'm not saying it's always going to be possible to get a job doing 3L recruiting (if you even have to), but I'm saying that it's definitely not impossible. It is way too early for you to start digging yourself into the wallowing hole where you've already sentenced yourself to an unsuccessful OCI. I think a big difference between what happened to me and other people I know who were in similar positions was that I as more positive going into OCI and coming out of it, and I made use of my determination, frustration, and put it towards making things happen. Try to think that way going into OCI--put out positivity, and your interviewers will sense it. Your grades are far from the end of the world, and the interviewers know that.

Is Law (School) For You?
Obviously, this is a highly personal, individual-specific answer and no one can really answer this except you and your gut. For what it's worth, after I struck out at 1L OCI and my self-worth hit rock bottom, I wondered if this was the right choice, why was I hauling ass (unsuccessfully) to try and get a job that probably would work me into the ground? I never grew up wanting to be a lawyer--for me, it's mostly because of the paycheck, I want to support my unemployed parents and much younger sister, I like/am good at project management, and I honestly like power suits (or maybe this is all justification my brain has concocted so I can survive this lifestyle). Either way, I recognize this was never my "dream" job--my dream job would be to be an animator and artist for Pixar and Disney. In any case, I was really honest with myself and what I know I can/can't put up with: I know I can't be happy with a job where I am struggling to pay the bills, I'm a little self-important so I like jobs that feed my ego, and I don't really mind the grind so much. Because of these factors, I knew I would make myself happy and be okay with the law lifestyle (and I do find corporate law genuinely interesting).

You need to think about yourself--don't compare yourself to upperclassmen because they're living their lives, you're living yours. What's happening to them really has no bearing on what is important to you, though it's hard to remember that in a profession where we constantly rank ourselves, compare eggplant size by Vault rankings and paychecks. Ask yourself why you came to law school? What does it mean to you at the end of the day/what is it worth to you? What's important to you? You're not wrong--the legal profession is still a risky area to enter and it won't always be stable, but what industry really is? Is stability important to you? Then maybe you use that to calibrate your internal GPS as to what next step will take you closer to what's important to you.

Sorry this was long, but I get you're in a rough mental place--just do your best to step back and assess whether your current mental state is a product of your grades and thinking you're "a failure" (though you absolutely are not), or whether it's a reflection of genuine feelings you may not have been able to address or let surface during the craze of 1L.

[Anonymous User]

hi TLS

I currently attend a T14 school. this year, I got all B's ... no idea where I am in the class , but I would guess bottom 1/4 . Seems like every upperclassmen I met is headed for a V10. It looks like I have just about no chance at getting anywhere near that, and I even have a closer chance of being unemployed. The worst part of it is, I don't feel like i am particularly interested in any area of law. Stories of the associate experience in both litigation and corporate areas sound very unappealing. I'm also somewhat tired of feeling like I keep having to work on my future (not striking out in the short term, and "doing well" at some law firm in the medium term, and who knows in the long term). At this point, I feel like my goal really is to get a job, any job that will pay for my expenses and debt. It feels depressing to be spending my time on this law school thing, when I feel like I've been met with failure at every turn. I don't even know what I learned, or what I care about. Even more scary is that the internet is full of scary stories about the legal profession, or things that remind me of the striver mindset.

At this point, it would be somewhat ill-advised to drop out before OCI, but what should I do? what should i think? how did other people who felt aimless during 1L end up? Should I push forward, even though I feel like I've lost all interest in what I'm doing? I am hoping that working at a firm will at least give me something to do other than browse the internet (what I currently spend most of my time doing).

Should I try to take some time off, enjoy the summer, hopefully grab an offer at EIP, and see how 2L year goes? The problem with this is, that I'm worried about striking out and TLS makes me think I should spend my free time mass-mailing, hustling on other recruiting activities.

Start mass mailing yesterday. There's plenty of helpful topics on this in the Legal Employment forum. Also you really shouldn't be that focused on getting a V10....and I think most people don't really know what practice area they want to end up in at this point. It's tough to really know prior to getting your feet wet.

[2020throwaway]

Thank you. A very meaningful post that was enjoyable to read. Yeah, I agree that this is not the end of the world, even if I am no-offered. I am a bit restless because I would like to figure out what I'd be interested in doing. I hope that a law firm SA gives me a chance to do that, and the least I can do is express my desire to get there. I'll look around the forums to see how I should go about mass mailing

TL;DR: you don't suck, all is not lost, reflect on who you are what you want and what you are capable of and what is important to you

Your Grades & Job Prospects
I was at a T20, definitely got B's, B+'s, an A-, and even a B- (!!!) my 1L year. I was really disappointed after the first year but went into OCI still feeling somewhat hopeful. I got interviews, callbacks, and I'm pretty sure I was a backup to a couple offers, but ended the summer with no offers. I felt TERRIBLE--all my other friends got jobs lined up, and I was incredibly dejected going into my 2L year. That being said, I didn't give up and hustled. I worked harder and/but my GPA crept up minimally. I was really involved in school extracurriculars and my journal. took all the leadership positions I could get. I formed beneficial and positive relationships with attorney mentors (who got me interviews or spoke of me positively to their hiring people) and with my school career office (who got me an interview with a firm, which eventually became my biglaw job). I'm not saying it's always going to be possible to get a job doing 3L recruiting (if you even have to), but I'm saying that it's definitely not impossible. It is way too early for you to start digging yourself into the wallowing hole where you've already sentenced yourself to an unsuccessful OCI. I think a big difference between what happened to me and other people I know who were in similar positions was that I as more positive going into OCI and coming out of it, and I made use of my determination, frustration, and put it towards making things happen. Try to think that way going into OCI--put out positivity, and your interviewers will sense it. Your grades are far from the end of the world, and the interviewers know that.

Is Law (School) For You?
Obviously, this is a highly personal, individual-specific answer and no one can really answer this except you and your gut. For what it's worth, after I struck out at 1L OCI and my self-worth hit rock bottom, I wondered if this was the right choice, why was I hauling ass (unsuccessfully) to try and get a job that probably would work me into the ground? I never grew up wanting to be a lawyer--for me, it's mostly because of the paycheck, I want to support my unemployed parents and much younger sister, I like/am good at project management, and I honestly like power suits (or maybe this is all justification my brain has concocted so I can survive this lifestyle). Either way, I recognize this was never my "dream" job--my dream job would be to be an animator and artist for Pixar and Disney. In any case, I was really honest with myself and what I know I can/can't put up with: I know I can't be happy with a job where I am struggling to pay the bills, I'm a little self-important so I like jobs that feed my ego, and I don't really mind the grind so much. Because of these factors, I knew I would make myself happy and be okay with the law lifestyle (and I do find corporate law genuinely interesting).

You need to think about yourself--don't compare yourself to upperclassmen because they're living their lives, you're living yours. What's happening to them really has no bearing on what is important to you, though it's hard to remember that in a profession where we constantly rank ourselves, compare eggplant size by Vault rankings and paychecks. Ask yourself why you came to law school? What does it mean to you at the end of the day/what is it worth to you? What's important to you? You're not wrong--the legal profession is still a risky area to enter and it won't always be stable, but what industry really is? Is stability important to you? Then maybe you use that to calibrate your internal GPS as to what next step will take you closer to what's important to you.

Sorry this was long, but I get you're in a rough mental place--just do your best to step back and assess whether your current mental state is a product of your grades and thinking you're "a failure" (though you absolutely are not), or whether it's a reflection of genuine feelings you may not have been able to address or let surface during the craze of 1L.

[northwood]

Hi op. All is most certainly not lost. Go through OCI and also try to get something for 2L. A lot of your peers are going to biglaw, but that doesn’t make them better than you, or you less than anyone if you don’t follow suit. Stay true to yourself, what you want and your career goals and don’t value yourself or your worth by comparing yourself to anyone else.

Try to take some time during your mailing process to find out what you want.

Law is a profession full of strivers. Kinda goes with the nature of this gig. But there are also a lot of people in law who are not ( but they are more difficult to find because while they work hard, they don’t self promote themselves and just punch in, punch out and live).

If after all this you still want to continue law school, know that you’ll be ok. If not, know that it’s.
Both ok to do something else and that you’ll be ok.

[Dcc617]

hi TLS

I currently attend a T14 school. this year, I got all B's ... no idea where I am in the class , but I would guess bottom 1/4 . Seems like every upperclassmen I met is headed for a V10. It looks like I have just about no chance at getting anywhere near that, and I even have a closer chance of being unemployed. The worst part of it is, I don't feel like i am particularly interested in any area of law. Stories of the associate experience in both litigation and corporate areas sound very unappealing. I'm also somewhat tired of feeling like I keep having to work on my future (not striking out in the short term, and "doing well" at some law firm in the medium term, and who knows in the long term). At this point, I feel like my goal really is to get a job, any job that will pay for my expenses and debt. It feels depressing to be spending my time on this law school thing, when I feel like I've been met with failure at every turn. I don't even know what I learned, or what I care about. Even more scary is that the internet is full of scary stories about the legal profession, or things that remind me of the striver mindset.

At this point, it would be somewhat ill-advised to drop out before OCI, but what should I do? what should i think? how did other people who felt aimless during 1L end up? Should I push forward, even though I feel like I've lost all interest in what I'm doing? I am hoping that working at a firm will at least give me something to do other than browse the internet (what I currently spend most of my time doing).

Should I try to take some time off, enjoy the summer, hopefully grab an offer at EIP, and see how 2L year goes? The problem with this is, that I'm worried about striking out and TLS makes me think I should spend my free time mass-mailing, hustling on other recruiting activities.

Do not skip EIP. That’s the big show where you’ll have the best chance at a biglaw job. It would be the height of stupidity to miss.

What markets are you looking at? If your grades are genuinely bad then bid New York. V10 or whatever doesn’t matter. Firms are either paying market or $180K. That’s what matters.

You went T14 for a reason. Bid conservatively, mass mail, and talk to OCS. Their job is to get you a job.

Nobody can tell you if you’ll like being a lawyer. Not liking 1L is not indicative of anything. You don’t really learn anything in law school. It’s all a sham and a waste of time. However, it can be a platform for biglaw, which may also suck, but meh. If it makes you feel any better, you’ve had basically zero exposure to any real legal work, especially to stuff on the corporate side. You’ll probably be fine.