Gambling with OCI

[yykm]

Does anyone know how blind OCI (students select the firms, no thte firms selecting students from the bids) plays out? Ie, should I bother selecting higher ranked firms as my top choices even though I suspect they will dismiss me as an applicant once they see my gpa/resume?  I'm transferring with top 1/3ish grades, so Im not sure how a top firm would view me.  I dont want to fill up my preference list with firms that wont hire me, so I thought about spreading out the bids among large and med firms.  Thoughts?

[1LMan]

The reality is that for OCI, if you look at your school's bid page where you pick the particular firm, you will see a hiring contact.  That is almost always a woman, and it is her job to do initial screenings.  Flat out, the hiring attorney will tell her "ok, take students from this rank set of law schools with GPA's in this range."  If your gpa is nowhere near what they ask for, then they aren't going to give you an interview.

Additionally, outside of the top law schools, OCI definitely isn't the way that most students land fruitful employment.  Be ready to mail merge and send out masses of resumes via direct mail.

[rutherford]

The reality is that for OCI, if you look at your school's bid page where you pick the particular firm, you will see a hiring contact.  That is almost always a woman, and it is her job to do initial screenings.  Flat out, the hiring attorney will tell her "ok, take students from this rank set of law schools with GPA's in this range."  If your gpa is nowhere near what they ask for, then they aren't going to give you an interview.

Additionally, outside of the top law schools, OCI definitely isn't the way that most students land fruitful employment.  Be ready to mail merge and send out masses of resumes via direct mail.

I see this and plan on applying accordingly. However, I'm also including on my resume that I was Top 5% with an A average from my prior school. Won't the screener at least consider that? I mean the majority of my grades thus far were from my prior school, plus those grades were in all the first year classes they consider anyway. 

One more thing.  What is considered "top law school"?  Will my top 25 school pass muster? I haven't really heard any stats on the percentage who gets jobs via OCI at my school.

THanks for any input.

[1LMan]

By top school - generally T14.  Really even top 10, because georgetown grads in the bottom half aren't exactly slam dunking interviews.

Make use of your cover letters for your mentioning of being in top 5% and transferring, that is what the cover letters are there for.  Then, bring your transcripts from the old school with you to the initerviews you get or upload them on symplicity if you are allowed.

Where are you at school?

[yykm]

The reality is that for OCI, if you look at your school's bid page where you pick the particular firm, you will see a hiring contact.  That is almost always a woman, and it is her job to do initial screenings.  Flat out, the hiring attorney will tell her "ok, take students from this rank set of law schools with GPA's in this range."  If your gpa is nowhere near what they ask for, then they aren't going to give you an interview.

Additionally, outside of the top law schools, OCI definitely isn't the way that most students land fruitful employment.  Be ready to mail merge and send out masses of resumes via direct mail.

So this applies same reasoning applies at schools with OCI where the employers cant pre-screen the bids?  Last time I checked, my new school has roughly 2 OCI firms per student.  I would hope that this would equate to decent job prospects through OCI.  I plan on mailing out some applications to firms too, but still thought I could find work with the 2:1 odds even as a transfer student.

[1LMan]

If you aren't at a top school (i.e. 1-10) or don't have top 1/3 grades or so, you are going to struggle in OCI.  The ratio means nothing.  We have over 400 employers up for OCI, however, when you are in a competitive legal market, that doesn't mean the job offers are just going to pop out.

OCI employers aren't required to take any students from a particular school if they don't choose to.  They simply agree to participate in OCI.

[yykm]

If you aren't at a top school (i.e. 1-10) or don't have top 1/3 grades or so, you are going to struggle in OCI.  The ratio means nothing.  We have over 400 employers up for OCI, however, when you are in a competitive legal market, that doesn't mean the job offers are just going to pop out.

OCI employers aren't required to take any students from a particular school if they don't choose to.  They simply agree to participate in OCI.

That makes some sense, but your response somewhat distorts your point.  The number of OCI firms means very little depending on the class size.  I think the ratio indicates a lot more.  400 firms for a class of 400 is worse than 400 firms for 200 students.  Being top 1/3 at the former probably wont yield anything, while top 1/3 at the latter would.  From the firms standpoint, it doesnt make much sense ot go out of its way to participate in OCI and not want to firm 1 hire.  Even at my old school,  I had interviews with 2 of 6 spring recruiters as a 1L.  Nothing came of that, but I would think my chances are better at a better school, more firms, and more firms looking to hire my class type (ie, more want to take on 2Ls rather than 1Ls).  Way too many spout off how difficult it is, but just the other day, I read a post from a 3L at BC who was wasnt even top 1/3that found solid work through OCI.

Nonetheless, I do agree that at schools 30 (perhaps 35) and lower have difficulty finding success at OCI.  I checked my old school's (a low t1) OCI and the least stringent reqt was 1/2, while the majority were 1/4 and up.  So I agree that what you say is true for the majority of schools, but good options exist at OCI for students at outside the top 1/4 at non-T14 schools as well.

[1LMan]

Wait, are my to understand that you think you have more job options at a low Tier 1 school than does someone at a top 25 school?

That is just flat out ridiculous.

Hate to burst your bubble, but at a 48 ranked school, with a median gpa, you won't be scoring a bigfirm job.  That's reality.

[Budlaw]

Last I checked, I'm not at a "top school" and I got my job at a national firm through OCI.

So much for your generalizations.

The reality is that for OCI, if you look at your school's bid page where you pick the particular firm, you will see a hiring contact.  That is almost always a woman, and it is her job to do initial screenings.  Flat out, the hiring attorney will tell her "ok, take students from this rank set of law schools with GPA's in this range."  If your gpa is nowhere near what they ask for, then they aren't going to give you an interview.

Additionally, outside of the top law schools, OCI definitely isn't the way that most students land fruitful employment.  Be ready to mail merge and send out masses of resumes via direct mail.

[Budlaw]

Oh yeah...you go to GW not Yale. You're not even at the best school in your city. Stop being an elitist prick.

Enjoy your 200 grand in debt after lawschool for attending the second best school in your own city.

Wait, are my to understand that you think you have more job options at a low Tier 1 school than does someone at a top 25 school?

That is just flat out ridiculous.

Hate to burst your bubble, but at a 48 ranked school, with a median gpa, you won't be scoring a bigfirm job.  That's reality.