really really horrible OCI luck
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:52 pm
I've officially gotten rejected by every single OCI interview I had. T14, above median, secondary journal.
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Obviously, no. But sorry to hear. Hopefully someone who knows more about the process than me can offer some relevant advice/encouragement.Anonymous User wrote:I've officially gotten rejected by every single OCI interview I had. T14, above median, secondary journal.
1) 13reverendt wrote:Sorry to hear it.
Not worth suicide though.
If I may ask:
1) How many interviews did you bid for?
2) What market(s) were the jobs in?
we bid anonymously for firms and there's a lottery that assigns the screening interviews. I talked with career services before the interviews and they said the firms I had were "Very good matches" for my numbers.FrankReynolds wrote:13 is pretty low. I had almost 3X that...
I was about .15 above median, but we don't get ranked, so I don't know exactly where that puts me in the class.Mark71121 wrote:how far above median were you? median + secondary journal really wasn't a shoe-in for biglaw this year, so i wouldn't say you had bad luck (other than being blindsided by ITE).
did you feel confident when you left interviews?
not really.kurla88 wrote:That sucks. :/ Does career services have any advice to offer?
yes, I bid on a lot of firms that career services told me were safe.rayiner wrote:Did you bid to a lot of safeties? Depending on where you are, I'd guess 0.15 above median is still outside top 1/3. Except at CCN I'd imagine that's "I just hope I get anything out of OCI" territory, according to the predictions of the last couple of months. Did you bid accordingly?
I would love to be a lawyer if I can do it without going bankrupt in the process (not that bankruptcy would help anyway).TonyDigital wrote:How bad do you want to be a lawyer? The answer to that question might help you out.
Is OCI the only way a law student can get a job? I'm a 0L but I'm pretty sure the answer is no. If you have to get out there on your own and make things happen for yourself then that's just what you got to do. Unless you want to quit. Good luck.
If you're at a school where where top 1/3 is disingushable (eg deans list at gulc) then it looks clear you could just be below the cut-off. No luck with smaller firms?Anonymous User wrote:yes, I bid on a lot of firms that career services told me were safe.rayiner wrote:Did you bid to a lot of safeties? Depending on where you are, I'd guess 0.15 above median is still outside top 1/3. Except at CCN I'd imagine that's "I just hope I get anything out of OCI" territory, according to the predictions of the last couple of months. Did you bid accordingly?
.15 above median is not top 1/3, but .2 above is.
I would love to be a lawyer if I can do it without going bankrupt in the process (not that bankruptcy would help anyway).TonyDigital wrote:How bad do you want to be a lawyer? The answer to that question might help you out.
Is OCI the only way a law student can get a job? I'm a 0L but I'm pretty sure the answer is no. If you have to get out there on your own and make things happen for yourself then that's just what you got to do. Unless you want to quit. Good luck.
Problem with "getting out there on my own and making things happen" is that I don't really know exactly what to do to make stuff happen, and career services doesn't really have much to offer except for the OCI program, which hasn't really served me that well. I've made lots of applications on my own, but they haven't really resulted in any interviews.
Getting out there and making things happen on your own takes time and effort and balls, so you need to start now.Anonymous User wrote:yes, I bid on a lot of firms that career services told me were safe.rayiner wrote:Did you bid to a lot of safeties? Depending on where you are, I'd guess 0.15 above median is still outside top 1/3. Except at CCN I'd imagine that's "I just hope I get anything out of OCI" territory, according to the predictions of the last couple of months. Did you bid accordingly?
.15 above median is not top 1/3, but .2 above is.
I would love to be a lawyer if I can do it without going bankrupt in the process (not that bankruptcy would help anyway).TonyDigital wrote:How bad do you want to be a lawyer? The answer to that question might help you out.
Is OCI the only way a law student can get a job? I'm a 0L but I'm pretty sure the answer is no. If you have to get out there on your own and make things happen for yourself then that's just what you got to do. Unless you want to quit. Good luck.
Problem with "getting out there on my own and making things happen" is that I don't really know exactly what to do to make stuff happen, and career services doesn't really have much to offer except for the OCI program, which hasn't really served me that well. I've made lots of applications on my own, but they haven't really resulted in any interviews.
That sucks. It sounds like what you really need is some good, honest feedback. If you have several people working at your career service office, I'd schedule another appointment time with the one whose reputation is the harshest, most brutal one. go in there and specifically ask for an honest assessment about why you're not getting more cbs - whether it's your grades, interviewing, whatever. I hope that they can at least point you in the right direction. I don't know if your school offers mock interviews or if you missed the date for that, but maybe you can ask them to arrange another one with you, even with one of the full-time counselor people, so they can give you more tips on what you may be doing right and wrong.the question i mainly have is: am i the victim of bad luck/bad economy or is there something fundamentally wrong with the way i interview/present myself? career services isn't really offering any meaningful advice or assistance at this point. if i'm not getting callbacks, should i just drop out of law school and cut my losses rather than take on more debt that i won't be able to pay back?
The idea of cutting my losses is really depressing to me too--I actually love law school, and think that being a lawyer is a good fit for my personal strengths and personality. Biglaw, Inc. disagrees however. I'm really regretting my decision to attend T14 for sticker over several T25s that gave me full or nearly full rides; at the time that I made my decision, all data and advice that I was getting pointed me in the direction of the more prestigious school. What pisses me off more is that the only real distinction between T14 and T25 is the brand name and what career services offers; now career services is not offering me anything useful at all, so I can't help but feel a little gypped--and it's too late to transfer. So the only reason I'm considering cutting my losses is that it seems hard to justify a $130k+ investment in the next two years of education (sticker tuition plus living cost), when there's an increasing likelihood of $0 return.strawberrysmoothie wrote:That sucks. It sounds like what you really need is some good, honest feedback. If you have several people working at your career service office, I'd schedule another appointment time with the one whose reputation is the harshest, most brutal one. go in there and specifically ask for an honest assessment about why you're not getting more cbs - whether it's your grades, interviewing, whatever. I hope that they can at least point you in the right direction. I don't know if your school offers mock interviews or if you missed the date for that, but maybe you can ask them to arrange another one with you, even with one of the full-time counselor people, so they can give you more tips on what you may be doing right and wrong.the question i mainly have is: am i the victim of bad luck/bad economy or is there something fundamentally wrong with the way i interview/present myself? career services isn't really offering any meaningful advice or assistance at this point. if i'm not getting callbacks, should i just drop out of law school and cut my losses rather than take on more debt that i won't be able to pay back?
I doubt that what's happening is 100% you (translation: it's not all you; don't take it personally). Part of it is the market right now, but if there is anything that you could improve on, it sounds like maybe you really just want an honest assessment of what's going on and how you can be a better candidate NOW. If you can't get career services to help you, maybe get a friend or family member, or even a professor or TA or something who has gone through the process and isn't afraid to be really honest with you about giving you 3rd person constructive feedback.
I'm not sure about cutting your losses part... depends how much you actually like the law and law school, but it seems like a waste, to me... but you only know for yourself...
What are your alternative prospects, though? $65k in debt looking for a $30k job with your BA might be worse than $200k looking for a $60k legal job.Anonymous User wrote:The idea of cutting my losses is really depressing to me too--I actually love law school, and think that being a lawyer is a good fit for my personal strengths and personality. Biglaw, Inc. disagrees however. I'm really regretting my decision to attend T14 for sticker over several T25s that gave me full or nearly full rides; at the time that I made my decision, all data and advice that I was getting pointed me in the direction of the more prestigious school. What pisses me off more is that the only real distinction between T14 and T25 is the brand name and what career services offers; now career services is not offering me anything useful at all, so I can't help but feel a little gypped--and it's too late to transfer. So the only reason I'm considering cutting my losses is that it seems hard to justify a $130k+ investment in the next two years of education (sticker tuition plus living cost), when there's an increasing likelihood of $0 return.strawberrysmoothie wrote:That sucks. It sounds like what you really need is some good, honest feedback. If you have several people working at your career service office, I'd schedule another appointment time with the one whose reputation is the harshest, most brutal one. go in there and specifically ask for an honest assessment about why you're not getting more cbs - whether it's your grades, interviewing, whatever. I hope that they can at least point you in the right direction. I don't know if your school offers mock interviews or if you missed the date for that, but maybe you can ask them to arrange another one with you, even with one of the full-time counselor people, so they can give you more tips on what you may be doing right and wrong.the question i mainly have is: am i the victim of bad luck/bad economy or is there something fundamentally wrong with the way i interview/present myself? career services isn't really offering any meaningful advice or assistance at this point. if i'm not getting callbacks, should i just drop out of law school and cut my losses rather than take on more debt that i won't be able to pay back?
I doubt that what's happening is 100% you (translation: it's not all you; don't take it personally). Part of it is the market right now, but if there is anything that you could improve on, it sounds like maybe you really just want an honest assessment of what's going on and how you can be a better candidate NOW. If you can't get career services to help you, maybe get a friend or family member, or even a professor or TA or something who has gone through the process and isn't afraid to be really honest with you about giving you 3rd person constructive feedback.
I'm not sure about cutting your losses part... depends how much you actually like the law and law school, but it seems like a waste, to me... but you only know for yourself...
apologies for incoherency of this response
Why would a management consulting firm hire him over the 2000+ other T14 kids who are above median?Dtackpat75 wrote:Hey it really just time to look outside of the box. Look into some management consulting firms for summer work. I hear they like JDs. Thats not bad work and can be very prestigious and might still help you get a corporate gig down the road. Your chances of big law are slim to none but above median at T14 there are other places out there that would love to have somebody as smart and educated as yourself. Chin up!!