GULC OCI 2021 Forum

[Sleepy_CatLawyer]

Did Gibson DC just interview with Georgetown for lolz or has anyone gotten a CB? I know their NYC office pulled out of OCI.

THIS. Please speak if you’ve gotten a CB

Pre-OCI screener > CB week of OCI > rejection
Have a classmate with a GDC offer

[Anonymous User]

OCS was insistent that pre-OCI was not a big thing in dc and would not affect what jobs were available at OCI. I know a ton of people with multiple dc offers pre-oci (including firms OCS said didn't) while it seems to be very slow at OCI. I can't help but think they were totally wrong and the smaller classes are largely full.

Lol that’s malpractice if OCS really told y’all that. I did predominantly DC OCI in 2019 and many firms filled out huge chunks of their offices entirely with pre-OCI candidates. I think it was almost pointless to bid Skadden DC my year cause they filled so many spots pre-OCI.

I feel like an idiot for trusting OCS. I'm top ~15%, maxed out my screener interviews, and I have zero callbacks. At this point I'm assuming OCI is a loss and I'm sending applications to anyplace that I can find.

FWIW every OCS advisor I spoke with pushed for applying pre-OCI so sorry you dealt with someone on their staff that did not get the memo.

They definitely seem to have pushed it more than they did last cycle. I think they need to be more aggressive though. If you're lit focused you need to be going hard on pre-OCI from the minute grades come back.

Anon who originally mentioned OCS here. To be fair, my OCS advisor absolutely said to do pre-OCI generally, but indicated that it was really only necessary or helpful in New York. I ignored her and got pre-oci offers in DC, so it's no skin off my back, but it also absolutely sucks for those who fairly trusted OCS. The reality is that most students in June aren't thinking about how high levels of pre-oci + small classes = few spots at OCI, even if they know DC is harder. I really think OCS needs to be frank about this specific dynamic in DC.

Think it depends on the OCS advisor. My advisor heavily encouraged me to apply early AND strongly advised DC-only lit focus for OCI bids (top 10%). Early apps 1 offer (albeit CB was week of OCI; market moved slowly still) , OCI 10 CBs (didn’t take all), 3 offers all in DC. I feel fortunate and recognize many are struggling still, but wanted to give OCS some credit. Not fair that not everyone got the same advice.

Jesus christ I'm top 10% and I've completely struck out in DC. Brb drinking heavily.

[Anonymous User]

Lol that’s malpractice if OCS really told y’all that. I did predominantly DC OCI in 2019 and many firms filled out huge chunks of their offices entirely with pre-OCI candidates. I think it was almost pointless to bid Skadden DC my year cause they filled so many spots pre-OCI.

I feel like an idiot for trusting OCS. I'm top ~15%, maxed out my screener interviews, and I have zero callbacks. At this point I'm assuming OCI is a loss and I'm sending applications to anyplace that I can find.

FWIW every OCS advisor I spoke with pushed for applying pre-OCI so sorry you dealt with someone on their staff that did not get the memo.

They definitely seem to have pushed it more than they did last cycle. I think they need to be more aggressive though. If you're lit focused you need to be going hard on pre-OCI from the minute grades come back.

Anon who originally mentioned OCS here. To be fair, my OCS advisor absolutely said to do pre-OCI generally, but indicated that it was really only necessary or helpful in New York. I ignored her and got pre-oci offers in DC, so it's no skin off my back, but it also absolutely sucks for those who fairly trusted OCS. The reality is that most students in June aren't thinking about how high levels of pre-oci + small classes = few spots at OCI, even if they know DC is harder. I really think OCS needs to be frank about this specific dynamic in DC.

Think it depends on the OCS advisor. My advisor heavily encouraged me to apply early AND strongly advised DC-only lit focus for OCI bids (top 10%). Early apps 1 offer (albeit CB was week of OCI; market moved slowly still) , OCI 10 CBs (didn’t take all), 3 offers all in DC. I feel fortunate and recognize many are struggling still, but wanted to give OCS some credit. Not fair that not everyone got the same advice.

Jesus christ I'm top 10% and I've completely struck out in DC. Brb drinking heavily.

You should work on your mass mailing & interviewing instead.

[Anonymous User]

I want to also echo how surprisingly hard DC lit has been despite significant pre oci efforts. Top 10%. All the conventional accolades. I’m not trying to brag, just saying that there’s really nothing more I could have done during 1L to put me in a better position for DC Lit. I thought it would be much easier. 2 pre oci dc CBS that didn’t lead to any offers. 5 DC cbs, and so far one offer (I think it’ll get to 2 maybe 3 in the end if lucky, also canceled one CB). But like these CBS weren’t my top choices. Feel very fortunate to have a good DC lit offer, but yeah, really damn hard and close to getting nothing. I think our issue is simply # of screeners. I had 10 at OCI in DC, and that was fortunate because I got 6 from the lottery/preselect process. Folks I know from other t14s had 20+ Dc screeners. I didn’t even get the *opportunity* to interview with some big firms like hogan akin Latham and sidley.

My other big issue with OCS is this: they said do pre-oci, but they didn’t say *which firms to focus on*. And it seemed pretty arbitrary to me at least which firms did pre oci stuff when. But OCS of all people should know to say “do pre oci with covington.”

Honestly, the death of oci is really unfortunate. It makes this process even more opaque.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know anything about Milbank DC? Had a CB but then silence.

[Anonymous User]

I want to also echo how surprisingly hard DC lit has been despite significant pre oci efforts. Top 10%. All the conventional accolades. I’m not trying to brag, just saying that there’s really nothing more I could have done during 1L to put me in a better position for DC Lit. I thought it would be much easier. 2 pre oci dc CBS that didn’t lead to any offers. 5 DC cbs, and so far one offer (I think it’ll get to 2 maybe 3 in the end if lucky, also canceled one CB). But like these CBS weren’t my top choices. Feel very fortunate to have a good DC lit offer, but yeah, really damn hard and close to getting nothing. I think our issue is simply # of screeners. I had 10 at OCI in DC, and that was fortunate because I got 6 from the lottery/preselect process. Folks I know from other t14s had 20+ Dc screeners. I didn’t even get the *opportunity* to interview with some big firms like hogan akin Latham and sidley.

My other big issue with OCS is this: they said do pre-oci, but they didn’t say *which firms to focus on*. And it seemed pretty arbitrary to me at least which firms did pre oci stuff when. But OCS of all people should know to say “do pre oci with covington.”

Honestly, the death of oci is really unfortunate. It makes this process even more opaque.

The unfortunate truth is that Georgetown isn't really desirable to firms anymore

Like you said, folks at other T14s are still getting 20+ DC screeners and they probably weren't top 10% either (congrats btw).

[Ruraljuror92]

I want to also echo how surprisingly hard DC lit has been despite significant pre oci efforts. Top 10%. All the conventional accolades. I’m not trying to brag, just saying that there’s really nothing more I could have done during 1L to put me in a better position for DC Lit. I thought it would be much easier. 2 pre oci dc CBS that didn’t lead to any offers. 5 DC cbs, and so far one offer (I think it’ll get to 2 maybe 3 in the end if lucky, also canceled one CB). But like these CBS weren’t my top choices. Feel very fortunate to have a good DC lit offer, but yeah, really damn hard and close to getting nothing. I think our issue is simply # of screeners. I had 10 at OCI in DC, and that was fortunate because I got 6 from the lottery/preselect process. Folks I know from other t14s had 20+ Dc screeners. I didn’t even get the *opportunity* to interview with some big firms like hogan akin Latham and sidley.

My other big issue with OCS is this: they said do pre-oci, but they didn’t say *which firms to focus on*. And it seemed pretty arbitrary to me at least which firms did pre oci stuff when. But OCS of all people should know to say “do pre oci with covington.”

Honestly, the death of oci is really unfortunate. It makes this process even more opaque.

Covington didn't do pre-OCI. DC firms gave very few pre-OCI offers.

[Anonymous User]

I feel like an idiot for trusting OCS. I'm top ~15%, maxed out my screener interviews, and I have zero callbacks. At this point I'm assuming OCI is a loss and I'm sending applications to anyplace that I can find.

FWIW every OCS advisor I spoke with pushed for applying pre-OCI so sorry you dealt with someone on their staff that did not get the memo.

They definitely seem to have pushed it more than they did last cycle. I think they need to be more aggressive though. If you're lit focused you need to be going hard on pre-OCI from the minute grades come back.

Anon who originally mentioned OCS here. To be fair, my OCS advisor absolutely said to do pre-OCI generally, but indicated that it was really only necessary or helpful in New York. I ignored her and got pre-oci offers in DC, so it's no skin off my back, but it also absolutely sucks for those who fairly trusted OCS. The reality is that most students in June aren't thinking about how high levels of pre-oci + small classes = few spots at OCI, even if they know DC is harder. I really think OCS needs to be frank about this specific dynamic in DC.

Think it depends on the OCS advisor. My advisor heavily encouraged me to apply early AND strongly advised DC-only lit focus for OCI bids (top 10%). Early apps 1 offer (albeit CB was week of OCI; market moved slowly still) , OCI 10 CBs (didn’t take all), 3 offers all in DC. I feel fortunate and recognize many are struggling still, but wanted to give OCS some credit. Not fair that not everyone got the same advice.

Jesus christ I'm top 10% and I've completely struck out in DC. Brb drinking heavily.

You should work on your mass mailing & interviewing instead.

Don't think it's my interviewing. Not that I'm some stud interviewer or anything but I have a normal ratio of callbacks:offers in non-DC markets and get good feedback from people after interviews. But good of you to make assumptions.

[Anonymous User]

I want to also echo how surprisingly hard DC lit has been despite significant pre oci efforts. Top 10%. All the conventional accolades. I’m not trying to brag, just saying that there’s really nothing more I could have done during 1L to put me in a better position for DC Lit. I thought it would be much easier. 2 pre oci dc CBS that didn’t lead to any offers. 5 DC cbs, and so far one offer (I think it’ll get to 2 maybe 3 in the end if lucky, also canceled one CB). But like these CBS weren’t my top choices. Feel very fortunate to have a good DC lit offer, but yeah, really damn hard and close to getting nothing. I think our issue is simply # of screeners. I had 10 at OCI in DC, and that was fortunate because I got 6 from the lottery/preselect process. Folks I know from other t14s had 20+ Dc screeners. I didn’t even get the *opportunity* to interview with some big firms like hogan akin Latham and sidley.

My other big issue with OCS is this: they said do pre-oci, but they didn’t say *which firms to focus on*. And it seemed pretty arbitrary to me at least which firms did pre oci stuff when. But OCS of all people should know to say “do pre oci with covington.”

Honestly, the death of oci is really unfortunate. It makes this process even more opaque.

Covington didn't do pre-OCI. DC firms gave very few pre-OCI offers.

Covington did screeners pre oci. They cut their OCI GULC slots from 84 to 21.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW every OCS advisor I spoke with pushed for applying pre-OCI so sorry you dealt with someone on their staff that did not get the memo.

They definitely seem to have pushed it more than they did last cycle. I think they need to be more aggressive though. If you're lit focused you need to be going hard on pre-OCI from the minute grades come back.

Anon who originally mentioned OCS here. To be fair, my OCS advisor absolutely said to do pre-OCI generally, but indicated that it was really only necessary or helpful in New York. I ignored her and got pre-oci offers in DC, so it's no skin off my back, but it also absolutely sucks for those who fairly trusted OCS. The reality is that most students in June aren't thinking about how high levels of pre-oci + small classes = few spots at OCI, even if they know DC is harder. I really think OCS needs to be frank about this specific dynamic in DC.

Think it depends on the OCS advisor. My advisor heavily encouraged me to apply early AND strongly advised DC-only lit focus for OCI bids (top 10%). Early apps 1 offer (albeit CB was week of OCI; market moved slowly still) , OCI 10 CBs (didn’t take all), 3 offers all in DC. I feel fortunate and recognize many are struggling still, but wanted to give OCS some credit. Not fair that not everyone got the same advice.

Jesus christ I'm top 10% and I've completely struck out in DC. Brb drinking heavily.

You should work on your mass mailing & interviewing instead.

Don't think it's my interviewing. Not that I'm some stud interviewer or anything but I have a normal ratio of callbacks:offers in non-DC markets and get good feedback from people after interviews. But good of you to make assumptions.

People with worse grades than you at Georgetown have landed litigation offers in DC. It's your interviewing.

[Anonymous User]

I want to also echo how surprisingly hard DC lit has been despite significant pre oci efforts. Top 10%. All the conventional accolades. I’m not trying to brag, just saying that there’s really nothing more I could have done during 1L to put me in a better position for DC Lit. I thought it would be much easier. 2 pre oci dc CBS that didn’t lead to any offers. 5 DC cbs, and so far one offer (I think it’ll get to 2 maybe 3 in the end if lucky, also canceled one CB). But like these CBS weren’t my top choices. Feel very fortunate to have a good DC lit offer, but yeah, really damn hard and close to getting nothing. I think our issue is simply # of screeners. I had 10 at OCI in DC, and that was fortunate because I got 6 from the lottery/preselect process. Folks I know from other t14s had 20+ Dc screeners. I didn’t even get the *opportunity* to interview with some big firms like hogan akin Latham and sidley.

My other big issue with OCS is this: they said do pre-oci, but they didn’t say *which firms to focus on*. And it seemed pretty arbitrary to me at least which firms did pre oci stuff when. But OCS of all people should know to say “do pre oci with covington.”

Honestly, the death of oci is really unfortunate. It makes this process even more opaque.

Covington didn't do pre-OCI. DC firms gave very few pre-OCI offers.

This isn't true. I had a pre-oci interview with Covington and I know several others who did as well.

There were lots of people with pre-OCI offers around DC. It's certainly not like New York interviewing en masse, but it's really not fair to call DC pre-oci offers "very few"—especially relative to how many fewer offers there are to go around.

[jaguargirl22]

Anyone know anything about Milbank DC? Had a CB but then silence.

Also waiting to hear back - when was your CB?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know anything about Milbank DC? Had a CB but then silence.

Also waiting to hear back - when was your CB?

Same (different anon), had mine the week OCI started.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know anything about Milbank DC? Had a CB but then silence.

Also waiting to hear back - when was your CB?

Same (different anon), had mine the week OCI started.

(original poster here) My CB was on Monday. I'm an anxious af person though, so that's why it's only been 3 days and I'm already stressed lol. Also all my other offers have come within ~4 hours after I finished the CB, so this is unusual, but maybe I've just been lucky.