1L grade waiting thread Forum

[09042014]

Still gradeless for two more weeks! I wish I had them now so I knew whether to even bother with OCI already.

No matter how terrible your grades are, you should do OCI.

[3ThrowAway99]

Well I got quite the surprise with an A in property today! I was seriously worried about getting a C on that test (but generally expecting a B). It is nice because the test is a 4 credit class (in addition to being a total, complete, and utter surprise). However, I got 8 credits of B so far this semester, and the other A I got was for a 1 credit class... I still have one grade outstanding (3 credit class). I think I may not know for another week. Really hoping for an A (of course), but got a B on the mid-term so I probably can't have great hopes that it will happen. Even if the last class ends up being an A, my GPA is going down from first semester. But at least at this point I feel like unmitigated GPA true disaster has been averted (it was looking like I could literally go from very close to a 3.7 first semester to a flat 3.00 second semester, but now I think I'll at least have a 3.2+ second semester and year average of at least 3.45+).

[3ThrowAway99]

Still gradeless for two more weeks! I wish I had them now so I knew whether to even bother with OCI already.

No matter how terrible your grades are, you should do OCI.

I've kind of been wondering this myself re: OCI given my drop in GPA... whether it is worth sending out all the apps to firms at on-campus and off-campus OCI... It looks like after this semester I may not end up being top 25% due to a substantial GPA drop from first to second semester. I go to a lower T1.

The school is involved in a number of job fairs (a network member for several off-campus OCI locations, and we also have on-campus OCI), but at least with firms I think prob. around top 20% is necessary to have a shot. Not positive though. If any thing I guess this probably means I will need to be a lot more agressive in my job search. I have thought about emailing Career Services to try to get realistic cut-offs for when it is worthwhile, but I think getting a non-rosy estimate (i.e. 'everyone has a shot') may not happen.

OTOH, I do get the impression that firms will look fairly far past grades for really strong work experience, as I know a 1L who got a rare firm job, and I think what did the trick was work as a biz. administrator (I suspect his grades really weren't very strong, but could be totally wrong). In my case I have some good work experience, but also have a choppy resume and little or no "business" experience, which I think firms are often most interested in (aside from actual legal field experience of course).

[09042014]

Still gradeless for two more weeks! I wish I had them now so I knew whether to even bother with OCI already.

No matter how terrible your grades are, you should do OCI.

I've kind of been wondering this myself re: OCI given my drop in GPA... whether it is worth sending out all the apps to firms at on-campus and off-campus OCI... It looks like after this semester I may not end up being top 25% due to the drop in grades (it looked like I wasn't far off from 10% after first semester...). I go to a lower T1.

The school is involved in a number of job fairs (a network member for several off-campus OCI locations, and we also have on-campus OCI), but at least with firms I think prob. around top 20% is necessary to have a shot. Not positive though. If any thing I guess this probably means I will need to be a lot more agressive in my job search. I have thought about emailing Career Services to try to get realistic cut-offs for when it is worthwhile, but I think getting a non-rosy estimate (i.e. 'everyone has a shot') may not happen.

OTOH, I do get the impression that firms will look fairly far past grades for really strong work experience, as I know a 1L who got a rare firm job, and I think what did the trick was work as a biz. administrator (I suspect his grades really weren't very strong, but could be totally wrong). In my case I have some good work experience, but also have a choppy resume and little or no "business" experience, which I think firms are often most interested in (aside from actual legal field experience of course).

If you are Top25% and the cut off is 20%, you should gun your fucking ass off. No firm has hard cut offs. You should do do every off campus OCI. In a market with no ties? Bullshit something.

This is especially turn since in 2007 you would have been competitive for big law. The firms probably have tons of grads from your school at your GPA level. So if they like you, it's not going to be the biggest deal you are slightly below what they could have done.

Also OCI isn't like law school admissions. Your GPA isn't everything.

[3ThrowAway99]

Still gradeless for two more weeks! I wish I had them now so I knew whether to even bother with OCI already.

No matter how terrible your grades are, you should do OCI.

I've kind of been wondering this myself re: OCI given my drop in GPA... whether it is worth sending out all the apps to firms at on-campus and off-campus OCI... It looks like after this semester I may not end up being top 25% due to the drop in grades (it looked like I wasn't far off from 10% after first semester...). I go to a lower T1.

The school is involved in a number of job fairs (a network member for several off-campus OCI locations, and we also have on-campus OCI), but at least with firms I think prob. around top 20% is necessary to have a shot. Not positive though. If any thing I guess this probably means I will need to be a lot more agressive in my job search. I have thought about emailing Career Services to try to get realistic cut-offs for when it is worthwhile, but I think getting a non-rosy estimate (i.e. 'everyone has a shot') may not happen.

OTOH, I do get the impression that firms will look fairly far past grades for really strong work experience, as I know a 1L who got a rare firm job, and I think what did the trick was work as a biz. administrator (I suspect his grades really weren't very strong, but could be totally wrong). In my case I have some good work experience, but also have a choppy resume and little or no "business" experience, which I think firms are often most interested in (aside from actual legal field experience of course).

If you are Top25% and the cut off is 20%, you should gun your fucking ass off. No firm has hard cut offs. You should do do every off campus OCI. In a market with no ties? Bullshit something.

This is especially turn since in 2007 you would have been competitive for big law. The firms probably have tons of grads from your school at your GPA level. So if they like you, it's not going to be the biggest deal you are slightly below what they could have done.

Also OCI isn't like law school admissions. Your GPA isn't everything.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement! I def have been feeling pretty hopeless about the prospect of OCI/job hunt for next year, so it's nice to have a glimmer of hope that things could work out better than I've been feeling they prob will.

[Grizz]

Whelp all grades in. Can't say what I got. No meaningful anonymity. Suffice it so say that GPA increased .2

So I did better.

[stratocophic]

Whelp all grades in. Can't say what I got. No meaningful anonymity. Suffice it so say that GPA increased .2

So I did better.

Solid d00d, congrats

[starchinkilt]

Whelp all grades in. Can't say what I got. No meaningful anonymity. Suffice it so say that GPA increased .2

So I did better.

Solid d00d, congrats

+1

[Gamecubesupreme]

Will your first semester grades from 2L matter for OCI?

I thought it does, but I am getting conflicting information.

[Grizz]

Will your first semester grades from 2L matter for OCI?

I thought it does, but I am getting conflicting information.

No.

[emorystud2010]

.

[09042014]

Will your first semester grades from 2L matter for OCI?

I thought it does, but I am getting conflicting information.

You won't have those until Jan 2012. Well past OCI.

[missinglink]

So I guess grades are due Monday (the 6th). I don't expect that to mean I'll get it anytime soon.

I've become somewhat of a madman checking for updates now. My split so far has me really needing something good from my last 2 courses.

I envy those who just get them all at once. This slow drip of good news and bad news is tough. Like ripping off a bandaid, grades are best delivered in one fell swoop.

[dailygrind]

I envy those who just get them all at once. This slow drip of good news and bad news is tough. Like ripping off a bandaid, grades are best delivered in one fell swoop.

this is my theory as well. i know i have at least one grade in, but i'm not gonna check until all of it's ready. the rollercoaster of emotions is just too unhealthy.

[Cupidity]

Will your first semester grades from 2L matter for OCI?

I thought it does, but I am getting conflicting information.

No.

No, but course selection matters slightly. While you don't want to overburden yourself in the busy OCI/Callback season, make sure your schedule isn't just 3 "Law & ______" courses, it will make you look like a slacker.

[missinglink]

Heh. I'm looking at registering for the most gunner-ish courses available. For some reason I can't bring myself to sign up for fluff courses. Maybe discretion in course selection would be the better part of valor.

[Holly Golightly]

Will your first semester grades from 2L matter for OCI?

I thought it does, but I am getting conflicting information.

No.

No, but course selection matters slightly. While you don't want to overburden yourself in the busy OCI/Callback season, make sure your schedule isn't just 3 "Law & ______" courses, it will make you look like a slacker.

Don't foil my plans!

[of Benito Cereno]

3.62 at CLS
where does this leave me? should i bid only v10 + top dc firms?
very good cv otherwise i think, ie good ug and 1L summer job

[liLtuneChi]

3.62 at CLS
where does this leave me? should i bid only v10 + top dc firms?
very good cv otherwise i think, ie good ug and 1L summer job

that's a little outside top 10%

you should get a v10 firm (at worst Skadden)

[of Benito Cereno]

I thought 3.6 was top 10

[MrKappus]

I thought 3.6 was top 10

3.6 is around top 10% at T30's. At CLS I'm sure it's more like 15-20.

[09042014]

Damn NU inflates the shit out of our grades. That's like top third here.

[Holly Golightly]

Damn NU inflates the shit out of our grades. That's like top third here.

God bless them.

[of Benito Cereno]

I thought 3.6 was top 10

3.6 is around top 10% at T30's. At CLS I'm sure it's more like 15-20.

3.41 is top 29%... so thats highly unlikely

[thesealocust]

3.62 at CLS
where does this leave me? should i bid only v10 + top dc firms?
very good cv otherwise i think, ie good ug and 1L summer job

You certainly could, but you should think about it more.

First, do you want to work in DC (chiefly regulatory and litigation work in a swamp) or NYC (chiefly transactional and litigation for financial institutions work on an island made out of tall buildings and garbage)? You don't need to know the answer now, but it really is two different worlds.

V10 is basically 8 similar NYC practices (But Debevoise and Paul Weiss, at the very least, are in the same league and just not quite as high on the vault list) and 2 random DC firms. So it's not that meaningful for career purposes. There are NUMEROUS firms outside of the V10 that are rationally better choices for many people than V10 firms: Anybody who considers working outside of DC or NYC, several firms with narrower practices (Quinn and Boies being obvious examples), all of the worthwhile DC practices, etc.

So no, it wouldn't be that smart to just bid on V10 firms and top DC practices. You could do it, but you'd be starting your career search with an egregiously random cutoff. You might find your list looks a lot like V10 + top DC practices after researching and carefully selecting, but it's a bad starting point.