bigoil69 wrote:blair.waldorf wrote:casebonk wrote:blair.waldorf wrote:current 2L. happy to answer any qs.
Do you feel like a lot of students get jobs near St. Louis? I like everything I've heard about WashU, but it's not near a major legal market. Wondering what it does to make up for that.
Separately, to add to the admits posts:
GPA > 75; LSAT betw 25 and 50;
Applied 10/26;
complete interview 11/12;
acceptance via email 11/21;
scholarship info 11/29.
A lot of students work in STL, but STL biglaw firms [and I'd assume even moreso for mid sized law firms] require very strong ties to the area. There just aren't that many spots available with 7 biglaw firms. So a lot of students work in STL, but much of that is self-selection: students with strong ties here who want to stay here long-term might choose Wash U over say, Georgetown, because they're worried that that will show lack of commitment to the area.
There's also a LOT of people going to New York, quite a few going to Chicago, and a lot of people who are from a secondary market are going back there after graduation [Cleveland, Kansas City, Minneapolis, etc.]. I'm going to Houston [as are a few other people but Wash U has suboptimal TX placement].
Dallas and Houston are my target markets, so I’m glad to hear that at least some WashU students are placing in Texas. Is this a combination of location self-selection and limited Texas interview opportunities? How did you go about finding a Houston position? Thanks!
I'm sorry, I just saw this!
Yeah, I'd say it's a combination of location self-selection and limited Texas interview opportunities. Similar stats will get you into UT, so a lot of people who are dead set on Texas will go to UT over Wash U. Only a couple of Texas firms come to our OCI, and the off campus interview program in Houston and Dallas only has a couple more firms that participate. If you don't have extremely high grades or something else on your resume that makes you really stand out, it can be tough to get a firm job outside of OCI, because your resume is being sent into a blackhole with thousands of others. My friend at UT has lower grades than I do and he received callbacks and offers at firms that I didn't even get a screener at. Not that he wasn't deserving (he very much is!), but it's easier when you can get in front of those firms at OCI instead of sending your resume to a recruiting contact with ten thousand resumes to sift through.
Short version: very high grades, lots of networking, and I applied very broadly. I ended up with a 1L SA in Houston. If you end up seriously considering Wash U, I'm happy to chat further and be candid. It's not impossible to get to Texas, but it's not easy, either. Just PM me.