OCI - Transfer Bidding Forum

[Anonymous User]

General questions regarding transfer bidding. How should I be bidding for OCI as a transfer?

As for me, I'll be transferring into lower T14 from TTT or TTTT

1.) Should I use the same GPA as my transferor school or am I considered median at my transferee school?

2.) Should secondary markets go higher-up on my list, or should I just bid the fuck out of NYC?

3.) Should I even bother bidding DC?

4.) Should I mass-mail every firm in every market I would like to work in, regardless of whether I've bidded on them during OCI?

5.) Should I bid on any V5? V10? V25? or only 25 - 100 + small boutiques?



If others have questions too, y'all could join in this thread to ask q's as well

[zoomzoom88]

bump

[mandimeoutof10]

Bumping this because I'm interested as well.

[MonsterTRM]

General questions regarding transfer bidding. How should I be bidding for OCI as a transfer?

As for me, I'll be transferring into lower T14 from TTT or TTTT

1.) Should I use the same GPA as my transferor school or am I considered median at my transferee school?

2.) Should secondary markets go higher-up on my list, or should I just bid the fuck out of NYC?

3.) Should I even bother bidding DC?

4.) Should I mass-mail every firm in every market I would like to work in, regardless of whether I've bidded on them during OCI?

5.) Should I bid on any V5? V10? V25? or only 25 - 100 + small boutiques?



If others have questions too, y'all could join in this thread to ask q's as well

I'm a transfer student at NU. Transferred from a T30 school.

1. I have a buddy of mine who was nearly #1 at a TTT, and managed to snag a V10 at OCI. I would have thought that was a stretch. Its better to err on the cautious side and bid firms that take larger classes and a lower GPA median that shooting for only V10's.

2. Bid the fuck out of NYC if you want a job. If you have a connection to a secondary market, then bid that high as well. Outside of really NYC, DC, and maybe LA, most firms care that you have some sort of connection to that market.

3. Depends on the firm, your ties, your interests, etc.

4. Yes. But don't just mass mail, do targeting mailings. Include something that individualizes each letter. I know it takes longer, but it's worth it.

5. Put some reaches farther up your list, but also include some V50-V100's too. I think V5 is out, probably not worth it. If you're bidding heavy on NYC, I think a better focus in bidding strategy is to bid firms with large classes. Also firms that have 80 interviews versus 20 at OCI, those should definitely go lower.

[heavoldgotjuice]

General questions regarding transfer bidding. How should I be bidding for OCI as a transfer?

As for me, I'll be transferring into lower T14 from TTT or TTTT

1.) Should I use the same GPA as my transferor school or am I considered median at my transferee school?

2.) Should secondary markets go higher-up on my list, or should I just bid the fuck out of NYC?

3.) Should I even bother bidding DC?

4.) Should I mass-mail every firm in every market I would like to work in, regardless of whether I've bidded on them during OCI?

5.) Should I bid on any V5? V10? V25? or only 25 - 100 + small boutiques?



If others have questions too, y'all could join in this thread to ask q's as well

I'm a transfer student at NU. Transferred from a T30 school.

1. I have a buddy of mine who was nearly #1 at a TTT, and managed to snag a V10 at OCI. I would have thought that was a stretch. Its better to err on the cautious side and bid firms that take larger classes and a lower GPA median that shooting for only V10's.

2. Bid the fuck out of NYC if you want a job. If you have a connection to a secondary market, then bid that high as well. Outside of really NYC, DC, and maybe LA, most firms care that you have some sort of connection to that market.

3. Depends on the firm, your ties, your interests, etc.

4. Yes. But don't just mass mail, do targeting mailings. Include something that individualizes each letter. I know it takes longer, but it's worth it.

5. Put some reaches farther up your list, but also include some V50-V100's too. I think V5 is out, probably not worth it. If you're bidding heavy on NYC, I think a better focus in bidding strategy is to bid firms with large classes. Also firms that have 80 interviews versus 20 at OCI, those should definitely go lower.

Thanks Monster - couple follow ups:

I'm planning to bid heavy NYC, so I should bid firms with lower GPA cut offs, and that firms with smaller interview slots should be ranked higher than firms with larger interview slots (e.g., firm A offers 20 slots and firm B offers 50 slots, so firm A should get the higher rank?)?

Thanks again

[echooo23]

General questions regarding transfer bidding. How should I be bidding for OCI as a transfer?

As for me, I'll be transferring into lower T14 from TTT or TTTT

1.) Should I use the same GPA as my transferor school or am I considered median at my transferee school?

2.) Should secondary markets go higher-up on my list, or should I just bid the fuck out of NYC?

3.) Should I even bother bidding DC?

4.) Should I mass-mail every firm in every market I would like to work in, regardless of whether I've bidded on them during OCI?

5.) Should I bid on any V5? V10? V25? or only 25 - 100 + small boutiques?



If others have questions too, y'all could join in this thread to ask q's as well

I'm a transfer student at NU. Transferred from a T30 school.

1. I have a buddy of mine who was nearly #1 at a TTT, and managed to snag a V10 at OCI. I would have thought that was a stretch. Its better to err on the cautious side and bid firms that take larger classes and a lower GPA median that shooting for only V10's.

2. Bid the fuck out of NYC if you want a job. If you have a connection to a secondary market, then bid that high as well. Outside of really NYC, DC, and maybe LA, most firms care that you have some sort of connection to that market.

3. Depends on the firm, your ties, your interests, etc.

4. Yes. But don't just mass mail, do targeting mailings. Include something that individualizes each letter. I know it takes longer, but it's worth it.

5. Put some reaches farther up your list, but also include some V50-V100's too. I think V5 is out, probably not worth it. If you're bidding heavy on NYC, I think a better focus in bidding strategy is to bid firms with large classes. Also firms that have 80 interviews versus 20 at OCI, those should definitely go lower.

Thanks Monster - couple follow ups:

I'm planning to bid heavy NYC, so I should bid firms with lower GPA cut offs, and that firms with smaller interview slots should be ranked higher than firms with larger interview slots (e.g., firm A offers 20 slots and firm B offers 50 slots, so firm A should get the higher rank?)?

Thanks again

Don't forget to also consider class size (e.g., firm A has summer class of 30 > firm B has summer class of 10).

[shock259]

Can you be more specific on your T14? That will influence this.

1. Employers will look at your transferor school GPA, but definitely do not just plop your old school GPA into your new school bidding list and expect to have the same results. A 3.99 from a TTTT is going to be viewed as less impressive than a 3.99 from a T14. Because it's really hard to know how employers will view you, the median student is a good starting point. Better yet, ask OCS what firms are transfer-friendly at your school and what ones are not. I remember some firms being notoriously open to transfers, but some would refuse to take any. Your OCS should have past data on this.

2. It depends on how your OCI is run. At CLS, everyone bid the shit out of NYC. Secondary market interviews were actually really easy to get because only a few people had the requisite ties, and few secondary market people would be there anyway. For example, there were 2-3 firms interviewing for their offices in Denver. I bid them all super low and got all the interviews because there were only a couple of people at CLS from Denver, and everyone knows not to bid a secondary market that you have no ties to.

Basically, assuming you are somewhat flexible and don't mind working in NYC for a bit, bid the fuck out of NYC. Bigger classes size give you the best chance at an offer. Way, way better chance.

3. I bid a little DC. And I took all DC interviews I could outside of the bidding process. I ended up with a couple of callbacks and offers, but it was significantly less than in NYC. It's a numbers game, and the class sizes are so damn small in DC. I wouldn't waste bids on it if I were you. But don't be afraid to try and pick up interviews in others ways for DC offices. Just expect a lot of competition.

4. This is what I did. I didn't have a lot of success, but it definitely didn't hurt. Most firms 1) never responded or 2) told me to bid on them at OCI or 3) told me to stop by their hospitality suite at OCI. Some firms actually responded and set up interviews. It's a lot of work, but it may be worth it. It made me feel a lot better going into OCI knowing that I had letters out and interest from some firms already.

5. Some firms are going to be out of reach based on the TTTT on your resume. Some schools will be out of reach because the firms don't like transfers. Number one goal is to figure out which firms they are and don't waste your bids on them. That said, don't be afraid to bid low on selective firms. It's VERY easy to get interviews with extremely selective firms because no one bids them (because they don't have the grades). I put Cravath near the end of my bid list but got an interview there. Why? Because most people don't have the grades for it and they know it, so they don't bid it at all. Contrast that with a firm that is less grade-selective at your T14. That firm is going to be super hard to get an interview at. All those median and below median people have to bid somewhere, and it's going to be at firms like that.

There's a tiered strategy that I can't quite recall right now. But for my bids, I think I basically did this:
Bids 1-10: Least grade-selective, most overbid firms
Bids 11-20: Target firms that are decently selective and always filled but not hugely overbid
Bids 21-30: Reach firms: most grade-selective firms, but underbid (IE Cravath example from before).

Please double check that the strategy above is credited, though. It's been a while. The Legal Employment forum can help.

Good luck!