When to ask for extension on offer expiration Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm sitting on an offer right now and still waiting to hear back from other firms, and will have to ask for an extension on the current offer. Is it best practice to ask for an extension as soon as I think I might need it, or should I wait until a few days before expiration? Is either approach going to be a bad look?

[LBJ's Hair]

just so we're clear, your plan here is to send an email to the firm that *did* give you an offer and tell them: "I realize you made me an offer but I'm considering better firms, can you push the deadline a week so I can say no five days from now?"

instead of doing that -- which strikes me as a truly, truly terrible idea -- perhaps you should email all the places you're waiting to hear back from *now* and let them know you'd love to work there but need an answer very soon, as you're running up on your offer deadline

your initial post seems like, very blasé about this whole thing, and I'm...not sure why?

[LBJ's Hair]

^rereading your original post, I assumed you were a 3L but you actually didn't say that. if you're a rising 2L doing EIP, not the best look, but not nearly as bad

[Anonymous User]

just so we're clear, your plan here is to send an email to the firm that *did* give you an offer and tell them: "I realize you made me an offer but I'm considering better firms, can you push the deadline a week so I can say no five days from now?"

instead of doing that -- which strikes me as a truly, truly terrible idea -- perhaps you should email all the places you're waiting to hear back from *now* and let them know you'd love to work there but need an answer very soon, as you're running up on your offer deadline

your initial post seems like, very blasé about this whole thing, and I'm...not sure why?

Thanks for your answer. I see your point on coming off as "can you push the deadline a week so I can say no later?"

I did email the places that I'm waiting to hear back from and they said they'll try to hurry but I'm just worried that I won't have enough time to get their final decisions (whether yes or no) before the original offer expires.

[Anonymous User]

I disagree with the above poster. It's not necessarily a bad thing to ask for an extension on an offer, and it's not that uncommon (especially if you're going through OCI - your school might even have a policy that the firm is in violation of, although I wouldn't necessarily waive that in front of their face).

I do agree, however, that the preferred move here is to tell the other firms that you've got an offer in hand and that you need to hear back by X date. That's very common, and preferable in the scheme of things.

[Anonymous User]

Just to clarify, you just did your 2L Summer and have an offer to return, but are waiting on other offers? Did you not like the firm you were at or is it below market comp? Did you split your summer?

[Anonymous User]

I don't think it's a bad look to ask for an extension. I agree that first course of action is to try and speed up the others, but if a firm thinks it's that much of a bad look to ask for an extension, you might not want to go there. These places should know that you're going through OCI and everyone is on a different timeline. I don't know what world you have to be living in to think that someone is only considering your firm.

Definitely check your school's policy too. I've had more than one firm break the rules. I didn't waive it in front of them, but politely asked for an extension. One particular firm decided to ignore me, which.. honestly.. is reason enough for me to stop considering them. Other firms have affirmatively said "if you need more time, just ask," or "what deadlines do we need to be aware of". That makes me think much more highly of them.

[enibs]

For me, the bad look is for a firm to try to force you to accept their offer before you know what your options are. Our firm gives extensions as a matter of course. We want you to choose us because we’re your top choice, not because we didn’t give you time to consider other offers. But less secure firms will pressure students to accept before all their options are on the table. Ask yourself whether that’s a firm you want to work for. (Though I do understand that if it’s your only offer in hand, it’s hard to turn down if you can’t get an extension.)

[Anonymous User]

If you very politely explain that you are still very interested in the firm but would like an extra week to consider all available options and make a fully informed decision, that should be fine. You'd want to do this in the sweet spot of late enough to not seem like they're just a backup you're stringing along, but not spring it on them at the last minute either. IMO 3-4 business days before the offer expires is ideal.

[Grazzhoppa]

Tell the other firms you have an offer deadline and need a decision ASAP. In the interim just accept the best offer you have; easy to renew later and no one cares.

[enibs]

Tell the other firms you have an offer deadline and need a decision ASAP. In the interim just accept the best offer you have; easy to renege later and no one cares.

This is bad advice. Firms do care if you accept an offer and then renege to take an offer from another firm. You will have burned your bridges completely with the first firm in the event you ever wanted to consider them in the future. In addition, many firms won’t consider a candidate who has already accepted an offer. And if you don’t tell them and they give you an offer and find out later that you had already accepted another offer, there’s a risk they’ll rescind. It might work out to accept an offer and keep looking and then renege if you get a better offer. But you may get burned. Just ask for the extension if you can’t get other firms to give you an answer before your deadline.

[Anonymous User]

Tell the other firms you have an offer deadline and need a decision ASAP. In the interim just accept the best offer you have; easy to renege later and no one cares.

This is bad advice. Firms do care if you accept an offer and then renege to take an offer from another firm. You will have burned your bridges completely with the first firm in the event you ever wanted to consider them in the future. In addition, many firms won’t consider a candidate who has already accepted an offer. And if you don’t tell them and they give you an offer and find out later that you had already accepted another offer, there’s a risk they’ll rescind. It might work out to accept an offer and keep looking and then renege if you get a better offer. But you may get burned. Just ask for the extension if you can’t get other firms to give you an answer before your deadline.

I half agree. I think if OP accepts this offer and then a couple weeks down the road gets an offer from their first choice firm, there is a way to graciously navigate that to renege and accept the new offer.

But I agree that once you’ve accepted an offer, you should stop accepting interviews but I don’t think you need to update all the firms you’ve already interviewed with. I may be off but my firm would rather you reneg now then go through our SA program and trade up as a 3L or even worse start as an associate and try to lateral quickly. Much easier to just replace a 2L SA in the middle of OCI season.

[Anonymous User]

Just to clarify, you just did your 2L Summer and have an offer to return, but are waiting on other offers? Did you not like the firm you were at or is it below market comp? Did you split your summer?

Yes, I just finished 2L summer.

I'd rather not go into specifics about why but the firm doesn't really fit my needs.