Jobless 2L at NU with 3.0 GPA Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've been applying to jobs nonstop since I struck out at OCI. Mass mailed 300+ firms, and I have applied to in house positions and public interest jobs that seem interesting but I haven't had an interview since September. I continue to apply for any random biglaw job that comes on simplicity. What now?

[albanach]

I've been applying to jobs nonstop since I struck out at OCI. Mass mailed 300+ firms, and I have applied to in house positions and public interest jobs that seem interesting but I haven't had an interview since September. I continue to apply for any random biglaw job that comes on simplicity. What now?

What are your goals?

Networking and working with career services are the typical approach. CS are there for you - make them work. Be in there every week. More often if necessary. Take their advice.

Also, work with your professors to see where you're going wrong in exams. Was your third semester any better? No idea what grading is like there - is there any chance of paper classes where you could get an A-? Are clinics heavy on the B+? See what you can do to turn the 3.0x into 3.1x. You're probably not going to get higher than than. Be careful not to chase professors known to give out A's, as it's typically going to be balanced by C's and the class will be full of gunners.

[Anonymous User]

I've been applying to jobs nonstop since I struck out at OCI. Mass mailed 300+ firms, and I have applied to in house positions and public interest jobs that seem interesting but I haven't had an interview since September. I continue to apply for any random biglaw job that comes on simplicity. What now?

What are your goals?

Networking and working with career services are the typical approach. CS are there for you - make them work. Be in there every week. More often if necessary. Take their advice.

Also, work with your professors to see where you're going wrong in exams. Was your third semester any better? No idea what grading is like there - is there any chance of paper classes where you could get an A-? Are clinics heavy on the B+? See what you can do to turn the 3.0x into 3.1x. You're probably not going to get higher than than. Be careful not to chase professors known to give out A's, as it's typically going to be balanced by C's and the class will be full of gunners.

NU career services is notoriously useless

[Anonymous User]

NU career services is notoriously useless

This cannot be stressed enough. Their top contribution to me was forwarding the daily job email (that i receive every morning automatically) to me.

regardless, you should constantly be emailing and networking with alumni, they're always there and a ton of them want to help. Profs too.

It's easy to get discouraged but you just gotta keep motoring for something substantive, especially if you're gonna shoot for 3l OCI (it sounds like you're pretty biglaw focused)

Edit - Also, idk why but sometimes it feels like we get shafted on job postings. I have friends at other (lower ranked) schools that are constantly sending me postings and we get like maybe 4 not terrible openings a week. it's mad annoying.

[QContinuum]

I've been applying to jobs nonstop since I struck out at OCI. Mass mailed 300+ firms, and I have applied to in house positions and public interest jobs that seem interesting but I haven't had an interview since September. I continue to apply for any random biglaw job that comes on simplicity. What now?

What are your goals?

Networking and working with career services are the typical approach. CS are there for you - make them work. Be in there every week. More often if necessary. Take their advice.

Also, work with your professors to see where you're going wrong in exams. Was your third semester any better? No idea what grading is like there - is there any chance of paper classes where you could get an A-? Are clinics heavy on the B+? See what you can do to turn the 3.0x into 3.1x. You're probably not going to get higher than than. Be careful not to chase professors known to give out A's, as it's typically going to be balanced by C's and the class will be full of gunners.

NU career services is notoriously useless

Force them to be less useless. Don't let 'em off the hook by only dropping in once or twice a month. Occupy their office. As one of the other mods is fond of saying: leave a permanent assprint on your preferred chair in their office. Get them to put you in touch with alumni who may be in a position to help. Get them to go over - and re-go over - your cover letter and resume. Come up with alternative versions and run them by Career Services. Did you strike out at OCI due to poor bidding, bad grades, or bad interview strategy, or all of the above? If you secured a decent number of screeners at OCI and those were not grade-selective firms (i.e., you weren't doing those screeners with the V10/V20 or elite litigation boutiques), and you failed to convert them into callbacks, or if you had a decent number of callbacks and failed to convert them into offers, then you need to work on your interviewing strategy pronto. Get Career Services to set up as many mock interviews for you as possible so you can improve how you present yourself.