Anyone else feel like a failure after striking out at oci? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Feeling like all my hard work last year and getting into a t-14 was for nothing. I worked in a warehouse and drove uber before law school so I know what's it's like to be unemployed and underemployed. All I had to do was get good grades at median or above to finally make a comfortable salary and have a decent job and I feel flat on my face with my shitty grades. I've mass mailed nearly 500 firms and only got 1 screener from a firm that ghosted me after. Making 60k a year with 100s of thousands in debt might be a worse situation than the one I was in before law school.

[Anonymous User]

In the same boat. Not sure what to do either - it is really hard not to get discouraged and depressed, especially with everyone else talking about their offers.

[Anonymous User]

My sympathy to you. Hang in there. It sucks, but you'll end up somewhere ultimately, even if not through the OCI route. And people can be insensitive when they go around talking about all that stuff - I wish people had manners to keep things private.

One question - does your school not use any lottery? You have guaranteed screeners with any form of a lottery OCI, which I thought it what T14 schools used? What is the issue? Low GPA?

[Anonymous User]

Talk to career services ASAP and keep mass mailing (AND periodically follow up on your applications. Mass mail any market (including secondary markets) where you have ties. And don't turn your nose down on public interest either. There are a few that pay (like the NYC Legal Department) and if you're at a T-14 you'll probably get some sort of summer fellowship to offset costs.

[kyle010723]

According to LST, only 38% of 2016 Michigan grad (I just looked up a random T14, didn’t mean to single out UofM) obtained their jobs through OCI. Point being majority of the students did not get their job through OCI. So just keep at it, start contacting alumni at different law firms that can push resume for you, etc.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

I'm also at T14, did mock interviews/ received positive reviews and networked hard in the target market. I'm one step away from striking out. I massmailed to hundreds of firms throughout the summer but only received a couple of screeners that resulted in rejections. I stopped massmailing because I know no one will get back to me lol

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

I'm also at T14, did mock interviews/ received positive reviews and networked hard in the target market. I'm one step away from striking out. I massmailed to hundreds of firms throughout the summer but only received a couple of screeners that resulted in rejections. I stopped massmailing because I know no one will get back to me lol

We're basically the same in terms of: t14, mock interviews, target market networking all summer, a lot of NYC mass mailing pre OCI, multiple pre OCI CBs that didn't pan out, and I struck out at OCI. I received an offer this week from mass mailing after OCI. Keep working. You're doing the right things, you've just gotta keep doing them.

[Anonymous User]

Don’t lose hope. I struck out at OCI 4 years ago and it sucked. Even worse, I didn’t mass mail. I just focused on school went from median to top quarter by 3L) and pivoted my goal (originally wanted corporate) to something more specific (would be like data privacy, healthcare today). I took a job 2L summer that I knew wasn’t going to give me an offer. Got back into 3L and hustled. Ended up getting a biglaw job in winter 2015/2016.

It’s not the end of the world to strike out at oci. Take advantage of your classmates going into cruise control and ace your classes. Try learning about some niche practice. It’ll work out in the end.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

I'm also at T14, did mock interviews/ received positive reviews and networked hard in the target market. I'm one step away from striking out. I massmailed to hundreds of firms throughout the summer but only received a couple of screeners that resulted in rejections. I stopped massmailing because I know no one will get back to me lol

We're basically the same in terms of: t14, mock interviews, target market networking all summer, a lot of NYC mass mailing pre OCI, multiple pre OCI CBs that didn't pan out, and I struck out at OCI. I received an offer this week from mass mailing after OCI. Keep working. You're doing the right things, you've just gotta keep doing them.

Thank you for sharing. I will not lose hope and will keep working on my application. I guess it just takes more efforts for me to achieve the same thing as did my peers.

[Anonymous User]

Plenty of your peers are in the same position. Keep plugging away; it's too early to say you've struck out. Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

[Anonymous User]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

Same. Transferring with the hope of getting biglaw to pay my loans off has back fired. Im now paying full price at GULC and i struck out. Mass mailing so far has not played out well, and im thinking thats due to my transfer status. Im considering dropping out at this point and it sucks because i was so excited that i got into GULC and now im miserable at the thought of going to classes on Monday jobless

[Anonymous User]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

Same. Transferring with the hope of getting biglaw to pay my loans off has back fired. Im now paying full price at GULC and i struck out. Mass mailing so far has not played out well, and im thinking thats due to my transfer status. Im considering dropping out at this point and it sucks because i was so excited that i got into GULC and now im miserable at the thought of going to classes on Monday jobless

The good thing is that if you want DC, you've got four more semesters to network and get a job in the area. And tons of people strike out at GULC, you definitely won't be the only one. For both GW and GULC, there are just too many people vying for a job through OCI for it to work out well for everyone.

[Anonymous User]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

Same. Transferring with the hope of getting biglaw to pay my loans off has back fired. Im now paying full price at GULC and i struck out. Mass mailing so far has not played out well, and im thinking thats due to my transfer status. Im considering dropping out at this point and it sucks because i was so excited that i got into GULC and now im miserable at the thought of going to classes on Monday jobless

A number of transfers my year (c/o 2017) struck out and got jobs later in the fall by mass mailing firms. Many firms won't fill their GULC quotas, but don't know yet how many students will accept their offers yet. This will pick up more in mid-September as the offer deadlines hit and firms have a better idea of how their class numbers are shaping up. Can't speak for all firms, but my v10 won't look at you as a transfer for those purposes. Keep mailing, especially into September as the firms finalize their summers and see if they need to get a few more from certain schools. One friend of mine from GULC who struck out got a PI job for 2L summer, and got biglaw during 3L OCI. It's not over yet.

[Anonymous User]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

Same. Transferring with the hope of getting biglaw to pay my loans off has back fired. Im now paying full price at GULC and i struck out. Mass mailing so far has not played out well, and im thinking thats due to my transfer status. Im considering dropping out at this point and it sucks because i was so excited that i got into GULC and now im miserable at the thought of going to classes on Monday jobless

A number of transfers my year (c/o 2017) struck out and got jobs later in the fall by mass mailing firms. Many firms won't fill their GULC quotas, but don't know yet how many students will accept their offers yet. This will pick up more in mid-September as the offer deadlines hit and firms have a better idea of how their class numbers are shaping up. Can't speak for all firms, but my v10 won't look at you as a transfer for those purposes. Keep mailing, especially into September as the firms finalize their summers and see if they need to get a few more from certain schools. One friend of mine from GULC who struck out got a PI job for 2L summer, and got biglaw during 3L OCI. It's not over yet.

Thanks so much for this. Does your v10 take mass-mailers this late?

[BOSStongrl]

Worked my ass off 1L year and transferred but still struck out. This is beyond frustrating

Same. Transferring with the hope of getting biglaw to pay my loans off has back fired. Im now paying full price at GULC and i struck out. Mass mailing so far has not played out well, and im thinking thats due to my transfer status. Im considering dropping out at this point and it sucks because i was so excited that i got into GULC and now im miserable at the thought of going to classes on Monday jobless

A number of transfers my year (c/o 2017) struck out and got jobs later in the fall by mass mailing firms. Many firms won't fill their GULC quotas, but don't know yet how many students will accept their offers yet. This will pick up more in mid-September as the offer deadlines hit and firms have a better idea of how their class numbers are shaping up. Can't speak for all firms, but my v10 won't look at you as a transfer for those purposes. Keep mailing, especially into September as the firms finalize their summers and see if they need to get a few more from certain schools. One friend of mine from GULC who struck out got a PI job for 2L summer, and got biglaw during 3L OCI. It's not over yet.

this actually gives me so much hope- I really appreciate it. i've been mass mailing since i've struck out, so i'm going to hold on to hope that something will come out of it, and definitely nice to know that at least some firms won't ignore me because I'm a transfer. At least now i have the motivation to keep mailing

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

Lol. If you're above median from a t-14 and are striking out, your precise problem is your interview skill. Need to get real here and take the ego hit but nothing other than that is holding you back...

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

Lol. If you're above median from a t-14 and are striking out, your precise problem is your interview skill. Need to get real here and take the ego hit but nothing other than that is holding you back...

How do you give constructive feedback for interviewing though? I have a handful of friends who've told me that OCS said they're completely fine, but who I feel can come across as awkward/disorganized/not serious. I didn't have the heart to say it to them, because how do you help someone not be awkward? I felt like it'd just be kicking someone who's down to tell them that they actually don't present well without simultaneously having specific advice for them, and I figured it'd be better to let them preserve what little confidence they had left at that point.

[Anonymous User]

I relate wholeheartedly. It seems like all they care about is GPA and nothing else. The personality matters only if you are median or above.

Not OP, but I’m actually above median from a T14 and is almost struck out now. Did mock interviews before and received positive comments so I know the problem is not my interview skill. I started mass mailing yesterday even though I knew it was late. I would not give up any hope but my near future looks dim to me now.

Getting positive feedback from OCS means very little IME.

Lol. If you're above median from a t-14 and are striking out, your precise problem is your interview skill. Need to get real here and take the ego hit but nothing other than that is holding you back...

How do you give constructive feedback for interviewing though? I have a handful of friends who've told me that OCS said they're completely fine, but who I feel can come across as awkward/disorganized/not serious. I didn't have the heart to say it to them, because how do you help someone not be awkward? I felt like it'd just be kicking someone who's down to tell them that they actually don't present well without simultaneously having specific advice for them, and I figured it'd be better to let them preserve what little confidence they had left at that point.

Yeah you can’t really fix awkward, but other things are easy. If they seem disinterested you can encourage them to show more interest or bump up their energy. If they seem disorganized or scattered, maybe encourage them to slow down and see if there’s something they can do appear more poised.

[Anonymous User]

Not all is lost! I struck out at OCI with a below median GPA in 2012 (c/o 2013). I got a state government job out of law school, then went to a small firm, and then managed to get into a larger firm after a few years. Five years out and I’ve got a “bigfed” (i.e. a GS14 attorney job) making 120k/yr. If you’ve missed the classic TLS legal employment route of biglaw through OCI—>exit, you just need to get creative and hustle. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs since I graduated, but it was all worth it.

[oblig.lawl.ref]

This forum is full of T-14 rising 2Ls talking about how, per LST, almost everyone gets BL pre-OCI and full of these post-OCI. By that I mean, you're not at all alone. It took a while and it wasn't always in their preferred market or, more likely, preferred practice area but lots of my classmates who did OCI like 3-5 years ago struck out and eventually made it into BL and other good jobs. I was almost in the same spot but ended up landing a 2L SA pretty late via mass mailing. I also knew quite a number of people who ended up in pretty nice jobs within a few months of passing the bar. I know that seems like a long time but hang in there.

[Anonymous User]

I know how you feel. I struck out at OCI last year and kept slowly mass mailing all school year long. I didn't get a SA, but I did end up at an entertainment boutique that's reputable in its industry. I slowly networked (tbh, i only met a handful of people, but you should definitely aim to do more than that) all summer long (note: I was split between pursuing corp biglaw & doing entertainment so most of my networking was with entertainment people).

Then in late June, I got a text from a guy in my section saying that his V10 firm was looking for corp associates. Fast forward two months and I now have an offer. I definitely thought it was over two weeks after my CB when i hadn't heard anything but my career counselor kept prodding me to send follow-ups to get a definitive answer. After sending my second follow-up (and 6 weeks after CB) I got phone call extending an offer.

I felt awful all of 2L and reading this site definitely made me feel worse and made me doubt going to law school since it seems every thread is about how impossible your chances of biglaw are after striking out at OCI. (Not to mention, it absolutely sucks when everyone at school is talking about their offers & every conversation starts with "so what are you doing this summer?" And then during the summer when every SA you know is going on fun summer trips with their biglaw $$$.) Just remember: You're not the only one. There are definitely other students at your school who will strike out and many who have done so before in previous years. And if it happens, it's not the end of the world. You can still get biglaw in 3L. In fact, the V10 firm I got an offer from is leagues better than what I could've expected in OCI. I had a really great 2L spring semester and got a semester GPA that was 0.3-0.4 higher than I was getting in previous semesters and it helped raise my GPA to make me more competitive for firms I couldn't touch with a 10' pole in 2L.