Alas, plenty of time has passed, and I have yet to update everyone on the happenings (or, more accurately, the non-happenings) of my second foray into OCI land. Needless to say, no news has become, for the most part, bad news, and I am goddamn sick of it. Out of the 19 interviews I did at OCI, 16 have been converted into dings. Yes, dings. Dammit. Three I have yet to hear from. It's very discouraging, and it makes you wonder for whom these firms were really looking. Actually, it doesn't. Eliminating median grades-holding students, I've come up with the conclusion that they are looking for the bright, shining superstars of the 3L class (um, isn't it likely these superstars went to superstar firms their 2L summers already?), and these firms have to resign themselves to sifting through the median graded students to get to these (unlikely) superstars. I'm still holding out hope for my firm (please please please call soon and say you have room for me in SF!), but this lack of welcoming responses from firms at OCI has been quite an experience.
As a 2L interviewing with 30 or 40+ firms, you feel like the cream of the crop, the top of the list, the ace of spades. As a 3L interviewing with fewer than 20 firms, most of whom aren't even looking for 3Ls in earnest, you feel unwanted, alone, and frustrated. It's a different ballgame altogether. Even coming from a top school does not really help your chances. Receiving ding after ding (did someone say donuts? maybe not...) has really humbled me. On retrospect, I realize I entered this experience with the sense of entitlement that I had developed over the years that I deserved a good job "because, dammit, I go to a goddamn top law school and they should be falling all over themselves to employ me." That really is not the case. For those 2Ls out there who are considering their 2L summer firm choices, I would highly recommend you pick your firms wisely as 3L interviewing is not the cakewalk that your past couple months have been.
3 comments:
OCI is definitely not good for the ego. I don't know what they want, and I don't know how they can decide based on a resume and a 20 minute interview. Still, as you say, something will work out!
I totally agree. Don't panic and take the first thing you get unless it's what you really want. It's a lot easier to be picky and take your time 2L year than to go through the process again as a 3L. I only know 2 people (1 each in 2003 and 2004) who have done so successfully.
Don't even get me started about how our joke of a law school screws us over if we're not in the top ten percent...
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