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Hey all,

Finished in what I believe is median at NU, (between 3.3-3.4), not entirely sure what median exactly is.

Majority of school does write on and I didnt because I'm involved in a bunch of other activities.

Am I screwed for OCI? Also pls dont quote

Not screwed at all unless you're a bad interviewer

I was median at NU, did totally fine in my target markets....lots of friends of mine well below median also did fine. People with good resumes (prior work experience, etc) did really well even. A few things:

1. Don't be the asshole that has unspectacular grades and no LR, but bids exclusively Lit Boutiques in D.C. or something.

2. Research your target firms. Nail every OCI interview.

3. Really have a great idea of "why" you want corporate work in X city.

4. Network like crazy this summer in your target market.

bid new york, bid new york, bid new york, bid new york

if you don't you are cutting your biglaw chances in half. don't not bid new york. the people i knew who struck out had bad bid strategies that, among other problems, did not bid new york city. almost no one can afford to not bid new york, especially folks at median. its the easiest place to land big law from NU, even easier than chicago, which is competitive every year.

that said, bid those NYC firms you are competitive for. Bidding multiple markets requires constructing a good bid list that will maximize your screeners. Consult the career services folks for this as well as people on this and other websites.

yyyuppp wrote:bid new york, bid new york, bid new york, bid new york

if you don't you are cutting your biglaw chances in half. don't not bid new york. the people i knew who struck out had bad bid strategies that, among other problems, did not bid new york city. almost no one can afford to not bid new york, especially folks at median. its the easiest place to land big law from NU, even easier than chicago, which is competitive every year.

that said, bid those NYC firms you are competitive for. Bidding multiple markets requires constructing a good bid list that will maximize your screeners. Consult the career services folks for this as well as people on this and other websites.

I can't agree more. I was slightly below median at NU (3.2-3.3) with no work experience, and I ended up with ~30 screeners and 6 CBs (3 NY, 1 Chi, 2 regional markets).

I spent nearly 40 hours constructing my OCI bidlist to maximize my screeners. I spent the top 2 spots on the non-grade sensitive Chicago $190k market firms (i.e. Baker, Katten); then, I moved to non-grade sensitive NY firms from 3-low 20s; I used low 20s to mid 30s for regional market firms; and the last five or so spots I used for firms that I really liked and would have ranked very high in a world in which I had a better GPA but knew I would NOT get at that rank so that I could then email and say "Hey, I really wanted to interview with your firm, but I didn't happen to get an interview from bidding, I was wondering if I could do a non-OCI screener." Career Services tells firms the names of the students who bid on them (but not at what rank), so you can create a plausibly genuine pitch to those firms you don't get from the OCI lottery.

I got offered from 3/3 in NY, 0/1 in Chicago, an 0/1 in the regional market (cancelled my interview with the other after getting 3 NY offers I was fine with). New York is now your best friend. It is the least grade sensitive $190k market and has the biggest classes. You must bid there, and you must bid exclusively non-grade sensitive firms overall. You can improve your grades during 2L and use your biglaw return offer to get to a more desirable firm during 3L. It's a hustle, but it's way better than the hustle you'll have to get any biglaw job if you fuck up OCI and strike out.

I was around that range and ended up at a NYC V10. Can’t stress enough how important it is to prioritize NYC.

You really need to network hard, especially if you want a market other than NYC. This can make it or break it for you, don't just rely on OCI bidding to get a job.