Benefits of OCI if your credentials are below average. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Are there any benefits of going through OCI if your credentials are well below what most firms look for at your school? I am a student at UT and I am .015 below our median GPA. I had a sh!tty first semester (3.08) and a pretty good second semester (3.65) and I basically feel like I am in this weird limbo now where OCI is probably pointless, but I was matched with 19 firms, so I feel like I should at least go to some interviews. I spent the past few days going through the online profiles of the associates at the firms I was matched with and they are all honors graduates and law review members. I am below median and a member of two secondary journals. I do have an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League caliber school and good ties to the city I am applying to (my mom and uncle are big law partners and my sister is an associate at a big firm + middle and high school in the city), but I feel like that isn't enough to overcome my grades. Also, I have been largely unable to "hustle" this summer because I am not working in the city that I am targeting (was told by someone who should have probably known better that because I had fairly strong ties to the community and family members who are big law partners those summer cocktail parties were not necessary for me to attend ). To make matters worse, even though I ranked firms with a lower GPA high on my list, I was not matched with basically any of them. The CSO at my school encourages every student to go through the process but, to be honest, I do not really trust their assessment. My family members at firms keep telling me to keep all my interviews, but I feel like they are just trying to keep my spirits up and that they are sending me on a fruitless path. All of my law school friends are either not interested in OCI or will soar through the process, so they are of no help with my problem. Any advice on whether or not I am screwed or if there are some benefits to OCI even if a call back (lol not even a job offer) are probably off the table the second they see my transcript would be greatly appreciated.

TL/DR: Below median UT student (bottom 20% first semester, top 20% second semester) wondering whether there is a point in participating in OCI.

[yyyuppp]

if you do OCI, you might get a job at a law firm and start making 190,000 a year as a 1st year associate, with raises and bonuses each year.

on the other hand, it might take a few days of interviewing to make this happen.

in all seriousness there is no downside to interviewing. it sounds like your around median or something. thats in the running I'm guessing.

[SomewhatLearnedHand]

There is no downside. At worst, they say no and you are in the same boat you are now. At best, you have a job making 190K first year.

[Anonymous User]

Dude, 0.015 is hardly below median. Bid wisely and I'm sure you'll get something.

Benefits of OCI: (1) you may get a 190K job, (2) you meet a lot of well-groomed lawyers and get to hold conversations with them, (3) you practice interview skills, (4) you'll lose some weight, (5) you get to dine in fancy restaurants for free during CB interviews.

The downside is that OCI can be pretty exhausting. Especially if you need to do more than 5 screeners for several days in a row, and you need to talk about the same stuff over and over again. But weighing in the odds of getting a 190K job, I'd say it's well worth it.

The worst case scenario, you don't get anything from OCI, and that's hardly a downside. The effort put in looking for a job is nothing, compared with what you'll be facing in the future. Don't be lazy.