2L at a T3 with a midlaw job this summer. My stats are: top 5%, exec. board of LR, fed COA externship (I know its minimally useful), 4 years of paralegal work prior to law school.

I am looking to do 3L OCI/mass mailing come August to increase options. I am in a pretty saturated market (not NYC or DC).

My school's 3L OCI is more or less non-existent, so I'm really just looking for info/tips on mass mailing strategies. Is the timeline for mass mailing the same as with 2L OCI (i.e., mail out around mid July)? Are interview questions different as a 3L (i.e. do they expect you to have a better idea of a precise field you want to go in to, as opposed to just "litigation," etc.)? Are any factors weighted differently in 3L recruiting (i.e. grades v. interview skill and firm fit)? Any other differences in approach to 3L interviewing/recruiting?

Also, I know the likelihood of getting an offer out of 3L OCI/mass mailing is very low, so I don't need the lecture about being naive or overly optimistic. Just advice on how best to get an offer considering my current position. Thanks.

What are you trying to do? Get an SA while you study for your bar exam between graduation and your clerkship? That sounds hellish.

If you have a federal CoA clerkship, you will have no problem finding a firm job during / after that. See the clerkship threads for advice on converting that into a job.

I just finished my 2L year, will be doing a mid-law SA for the next 2.5 months. I want to apply for post-grad jobs at other firms during the upcoming recruiting season. The fed COA gig was an externship, not a clerkship, and I do not have a post-grad clerkship lined up.

I misread that. Yes that's entirely different. In that case I don't have much to offer; sounds like hustling is a good idea though. I don't know much about timeline.

i went through 3L oci. im at a top school, but not a lot of firms came for 3l OCI so i mass mailed a bunch and got interviews. just sent a pretty generic cover letter (maybe one-two sentences that were firm-specific but nothing too special). my 1L grades were pretty good, my 2L grades were around median, maybe a little better. the interviews were pretty typical, same as 2L, maybe a little more substantive since i had legal experience now, but they weren't grilling me or anything. you will need to have a practice group in mind though, i would advise saying either lit or corporate, they're not going to put you in one of the smaller groups if those guys didnt get a chance to know you throughout the summer. also from last year, 3L recruiting was geared heavily towards corporate, don't know if it's the same this year.

that was my experience, but unfortunately don't have much advice. its a pretty 'black box' system. not sure what they were looking for. i do know that all the firms i got interviews with, were ones that a had a shot in during 2L oci as well. but the process is pretty identical to 2L recruiting - send in cover letter + transcript, go through an initial screener, then have callback.

When did you do your mailings?

I'm a summer associate at a V30 firm in NYC from a T14 school. I'm starting to think that I'd like to end up in my home market instead of moving to NY. It's a smaller secondary market -- like Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Miami, etc. My summer firm does NOT have an office there.

Any tips for getting a post-graduation job in thismarket? How long after (hypothetically) receiving an offer this summer will I have to take it? Should I be mass mailing over the summer, and if so, is there any decent chance of my summer employer finding out?