T30, 3.1 GPA OCI, am I screwed? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have a little below a 3.1 GPA at a T30 school and I kinda figure I am screwed for big law at this point. I garnered 13 interviews for EIW/OCI but I am worried most of them were lottery since the school does part lottery selection. Honestly, how screwed am I for OCI?

[BrainsyK]

I have a little below a 3.1 GPA at a T30 school and I kinda figure I am screwed for big law at this point. I garnered 13 interviews for EIW/OCI but I am worried most of them were lottery since the school does part lottery selection. Honestly, how screwed am I for OCI?

Don't focus on how screwed. Just interview like you have a shot and really want to join the firm.

[Wubbles]

treat every interview there like you have a shot, and then mass mail like crazy

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the responses! I guess I'm just wondering if that this point the GPA will hold me back a ton

[Anonymous User]

treat every interview there like you have a shot, and then mass mail like crazy

I have mass mailed (emailed my resume and transcript) and have not gotten a single bite. I probably mailed around 100 apps

[Wubbles]

treat every interview there like you have a shot, and then mass mail like crazy

I have mass mailed (emailed my resume and transcript) and have not gotten a single bite. I probably mailed around 100 apps

that's a good start, but with your GPA you really should exhaust the available options from the entire Amlaw 200, NALP, and all of the ranked firms from places you could live on Chambers. Not all of these will be "biglaw" but they are the better firm jobs typically

[unsweetened]

I have a little below a 3.1 GPA at a T30 school and I kinda figure I am screwed for big law at this point. I garnered 13 interviews for EIW/OCI but I am worried most of them were lottery since the school does part lottery selection. Honestly, how screwed am I for OCI?

Screwed is relative. I think it is important to do OCIs and give a good faith effort, but at the same time understand that it'll probably be a low yield activity. I must have done 30 OCI/job fair interviews and practically everything was a dead end.
At this point, I would mass mail.
If you school's CDO has a page with job postings, hit those hard. Sometimes you will have firms that do OCI have positions posted on there and there are fewer people paying attention to those postings.
Apply through career fairs. I got several interviews with big firms this way.
Also FWIW, network as much as you can. This is a whole discussion on its own, but if I could change something about what I did in terms of career search it would have been getting a leg up on networking a lot earlier.
Last thing you might want to do is see if you can get linked up with a firm through your school's clinical programs. There could be a corporate externship program where you could work for credit in a firm's M&A group or whatever. It wouldn't be a typical SA type position, but it would be a foot in the door.

I always figured that getting a job was a matter of probability. Assuming you have a 1% chance of getting an offer, 100 applications might get you about 20 screeners, which would get you 4-5 call backs, and probably 1-2 offers. I did at least 125 applications during 2L. Expect to do that many or more. One of my colleagues went to a T14 and did something like 140 applications.

Short answer - you're screwed for OCI. Good news is that there are lots of other ways to get jobs.

[NoBladesNoBows]

I would go through with it with as much effort and enthusiasm as you can, but to be honest don't expect much.

[Anonymous User]

I have a little below a 3.1 GPA at a T30 school and I kinda figure I am screwed for big law at this point. I garnered 13 interviews for EIW/OCI but I am worried most of them were lottery since the school does part lottery selection. Honestly, how screwed am I for OCI?

Screwed is relative. I think it is important to do OCIs and give a good faith effort, but at the same time understand that it'll probably be a low yield activity. I must have done 30 OCI/job fair interviews and practically everything was a dead end.
At this point, I would mass mail.
If you school's CDO has a page with job postings, hit those hard. Sometimes you will have firms that do OCI have positions posted on there and there are fewer people paying attention to those postings.
Apply through career fairs. I got several interviews with big firms this way.
Also FWIW, network as much as you can. This is a whole discussion on its own, but if I could change something about what I did in terms of career search it would have been getting a leg up on networking a lot earlier.
Last thing you might want to do is see if you can get linked up with a firm through your school's clinical programs. There could be a corporate externship program where you could work for credit in a firm's M&A group or whatever. It wouldn't be a typical SA type position, but it would be a foot in the door.

I always figured that getting a job was a matter of probability. Assuming you have a 1% chance of getting an offer, 100 applications might get you about 20 screeners, which would get you 4-5 call backs, and probably 1-2 offers. I did at least 125 applications during 2L. Expect to do that many or more. One of my colleagues went to a T14 and did something like 140 applications.

Short answer - you're screwed for OCI. Good news is that there are lots of other ways to get jobs.

Thank you for your post! This was extremely helpful - guess I will just have to reach out to every connection I know and keep mass mailing like crazy. Quick q: for mass mailing, is it the norm to just email your application materials to firms [based on the contact given by the NALP] instead of snail mail?

[NoBladesNoBows]

I have a little below a 3.1 GPA at a T30 school and I kinda figure I am screwed for big law at this point. I garnered 13 interviews for EIW/OCI but I am worried most of them were lottery since the school does part lottery selection. Honestly, how screwed am I for OCI?

Screwed is relative. I think it is important to do OCIs and give a good faith effort, but at the same time understand that it'll probably be a low yield activity. I must have done 30 OCI/job fair interviews and practically everything was a dead end.
At this point, I would mass mail.
If you school's CDO has a page with job postings, hit those hard. Sometimes you will have firms that do OCI have positions posted on there and there are fewer people paying attention to those postings.
Apply through career fairs. I got several interviews with big firms this way.
Also FWIW, network as much as you can. This is a whole discussion on its own, but if I could change something about what I did in terms of career search it would have been getting a leg up on networking a lot earlier.
Last thing you might want to do is see if you can get linked up with a firm through your school's clinical programs. There could be a corporate externship program where you could work for credit in a firm's M&A group or whatever. It wouldn't be a typical SA type position, but it would be a foot in the door.

I always figured that getting a job was a matter of probability. Assuming you have a 1% chance of getting an offer, 100 applications might get you about 20 screeners, which would get you 4-5 call backs, and probably 1-2 offers. I did at least 125 applications during 2L. Expect to do that many or more. One of my colleagues went to a T14 and did something like 140 applications.

Short answer - you're screwed for OCI. Good news is that there are lots of other ways to get jobs.

Thank you for your post! This was extremely helpful - guess I will just have to reach out to every connection I know and keep mass mailing like crazy. Quick q: for mass mailing, is it the norm to just email your application materials to firms [based on the contact given by the NALP] instead of snail mail?

Yes. Snail mail would probably come off as pretty weird. As a heads up expect most of them to tell you to just check their website (which you should also be doing) but still worth doing.

[Anonymous User]

I was bottom of my t30 class, snagged only 2 screeners with biglaw at OCI; got one callback; got the offer. I sent out over 400 pre-OCI applications and got zero screeners from it. The "you just need one" thing is true.

[unsweetened]

Thank you for your post! This was extremely helpful - guess I will just have to reach out to every connection I know and keep mass mailing like crazy. Quick q: for mass mailing, is it the norm to just email your application materials to firms [based on the contact given by the NALP] instead of snail mail?

I think in order of preference, filling out an online application on the law firm's web site is first. If that's not available, then email. I can count the number of snail mail applications I sent out on one hand, and that was only because it was required by certain places. If it's not a requirement to snail mail, don't do that if you can email instead.

[Anonymous User]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the responses - ended OCI with 1 CB so it could have been worse!

[Anonymous User]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the responses - ended OCI with 1 CB so it could have been worse!

Good luck! All it takes is one.

[Anonymous User]

Lol, well I'm at a school ranked below 50, but directly in a regional city. 9 OCI applications (for week 1). 3 interviews, 3 call backs, all am 200 and one is top 20 biggest law firms in the U.S. 3.1 GPA and secondary journal.