Chances at a 1L big law job...

[Lawbster]

No OCI.

I sent out about 190 letters and 10 emails or so (exclusively to firms that state that they hire 1Ls) so that the letters would arrive on December 1st. I may do OCI, too, because a couple firms said that they weren't making any decisions until 1L OCI and that they would be on campus for that.

I was getting (and still get) rejection letters/emails constantly. I was expecting probably a 5% favorable return rate and that looks like what it's shaping out to be.

Honestly, autoadmit was right on the money with regards to their 1L interview guidelines.

[thorc954]

Of course. Me personally, I wouldn't waste my time making $10/hour or something when I could travel. for probably what would be my last summer off ever.

are you IP cause if not, I think you are BS'ing. Either that or you have a different concept of big law...

I say this because I was at a top 20 my 1L year and my buddy had a 4.0 and didnt even get 5 interviews at big law firms. 

[Peaches]

190 letters is a lot to send out...  how much did that cost you?

[Lawbster]

190 letters is a lot to send out...  how much did that cost you?

Probably under $130 including stamps, resume envelopes, and resume paper. Really a good investment considering I will probably get at least an offer or two out of it.

[Peaches]

Hmmmm, then why did you post this on another thread in September?

"EXCELLENT advice. 99% of firms just tell you to reapply when grades come out. What's differentiating you from everyone else applying in December? Basically, you have a resume that says 'Expected JD Class of 20XX'

I got a big law job in Washington, DC by applying after grades came out and most of my friends did, too. The people who did send out resumes in December occasionally got an offer, but very few, if any, to big law.

Take it from someone who got a big law job 1L summer: Just wait, apply in Feb. and let your grades speak for themselves."

[dmactoto1]

it is IMPOSSIBLE to say either way who is lying or not, or if there is no chance XXX has this many interviews. firms are looking for a number of things when hiring 1L's, and some people simply have that in their resume/personal statement, etc and get a lot of 1L firm offers. even within a specific law class, 1L interviews vary greatly. for instance, i know of people with up to 7, whereas some people didnt get any. all depends.

my two cents.

[Peaches]

It may generally be impossible to tell who is lying, but it's not impossible to tell if he's lying.  Clearly, he's either lying now, was lying in September, or both.

Everyone I know with that many interviews at big law salaries is at a top 10 school.  Everyone I know with interviews sent their cover letters as e-mail attachments.  (That's what I did, and I have big law -- or mid law at market -- interviews.)  So no need to encourage people at lower-tiered schools that if they just send out more letters they'll get a big law job.  At some point in the next few weeks, they should start exploring other opportunities.

You may have a special resume (and I don't know why you'd send a personal statement to an employer), but the top three deciding factors for interviews at this point are networking, where you go to school and grades.  Every firm will openly tell you that.

[xyha4]

I had a question about GPA. My school (t14) doesn't have a ranking system so I have no idea where I stand with respect to the rest of my class with my 3.69 gpa. I've applied to about 50 big law firms in Chicago and several of them have sent me letters/emails requesting my grades. I have some unique experiences but other than that I'm your average white female. Can anyone chime in on how favorably my gpa would be looked at?

[thorc954]

I had a question about GPA. My school (t14) doesn't have a ranking system so I have no idea where I stand with respect to the rest of my class with my 3.69 gpa. I've applied to about 50 big law firms in Chicago and several of them have sent me letters/emails requesting my grades. I have some unique experiences but other than that I'm your average white female. Can anyone chime in on how favorably my gpa would be looked at?

i would assume favorable.  you are a t14, so i would imagine the curve is around a 3.2 and that would probably put you in the top 20% of your class, maybe top 15%, but thats just a guess.  I would imagine it would look decent. 

[dmactoto1]

Peaches, I know multiple people with 7 interviews at UTLaw. Again, there are a number of factors, including firm's local prestige. Dallas, Houston, and Austin firms love UTLaw kids, and the kids that do well there often end up with a very large number of interviews, relative to 1L's around the country. And yes, all biglaw.