GULC OCI bid list (how fucked am I?) Forum

[UnemployedHoya]

MOD EDIT: [Post Deleted on request of OP]

[Anonymous User]

For starters, move all of your NY and DC firms ahead of Chicago and Boston.

Not having ties anywhere doesn’t mean that more insular cities will welcome you with open arms.

It helps that you are gay and Latino, but that’s GPA erases any and all advantages you might have had.

Why is Fried Frank not on your bid list? Also, you need to bid to less selective firms in NY as well. There are plenty of low Vault firms with decent sized summer classes.

[RecruiterMan]

"unemploya" would be a better username

[proteinshake]

"unemploya" would be a better username

you have no friends

[SomewhatLearnedHand]

"unemploya" would be a better username

I loled.

[Anonymous User]

(Post Deleted)

I'm also at GULC working on my bidlist. I would not waste a bid on Arnold & Porter DC as they seem to have a pretty hard GPA cutoff. Posters above are correct that outside of DC/NY cities want more ties and a "I don't have ties anywhere" argument won't really resonate.

[Anonymous User]

GULC alum here. You're not going to get callbacks at Weil or White & Case with those grades (I know the GULC median grade report has them at like a 3.3, but it's not accurate) so I would move them way down. I would move up firms like Seward and Stroock. I'd add Fried Frank but I know they have a GPA floor and you might be below it. What about Pillsbury NYC? or a firm like Hughes Hubbard NYC? I think your Boston and Chicago bids are wastes, those classes are small and they care about if you're going to stay in the area long-term. Shoot for NYC because it has the biggest classes and lower-ranked DC firms because you can sell your connection to DC after attending GULC.

[Anonymous User]

I second the Fried Frank suggestion -- I have a friend or two who went there with a pretty low GPA from GULC.

This isn't 100%, but there are a few firms on there that I think aren't worth bidding with that GPA unless there's some specific reason you have them listed -- e.g., Arnold & Porter DC, Ropes & Gray Boston. I think they'll have fairly high GPA cutoffs.

I agree with adding in a decent amount more NYC firms with big classes, and keeping NY firms at the top of your list. At least my year, not that many people bid Boston firms, so it was easy to get interviews even at firms ranked pretty low.

Also, once bid lists come out, people will start offering to trade or give away interviews -- pick up a few that way. It will be a slog, but you should do as many OCI interviews as you can while maintaining quality.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

I don't know about some of these firms. But the best strategy is to make sure you get screeners for all the firms that you're still competitive for. There are some firms that will take a 3.0x, especially with your background. But you're not going to even see these firms if you're bidding them so low because they don't have large classes or many interview slots. And you can use a lower bid on a firm like Weil and still land an interview. I think it's worth interviewing with Weil, W&C, and Paul Hastings because you're diverse, but not at the expense of losing out on a firm that is more in line with your GPA range.

And some of your middle to late bids are complete throwaways. Get rid of those: Ropes, Goodwin, A&P, Schiff Hardin, McDermott, the London bids, etc. Either because of your grades or because of the small # of interview slots. The second half of your bid list should be for the firms with a large number of interview slots (usually NYC firms).

1 Kramer Levin NYC (Fine)
2 Weil Gotshal NYC (Move farther down)
3 White Case NYC (Move farther down)
4 Schulte Roth NYC (Fine)
5 Paul Hastings NYC (Move farther down)
6 Winston Strawn NYC (Fine, move up)
7 Greenberg Traurig NYC (Fine)
8 Pryor Cashman NYC
9 DLA Piper NYC (Fine)
10 Kelley Drye NYC
11 Curtis Mallet NYC
12 Norton Rose NYC
13 Seward Kissel NYC (Move up)
14 Morgan Lewis NYC (Move way up to top 5)
15 Stroock NYC (Move up to top 5)
16 Baker Hostetler NYC
17 foley hoag Boston (Note: All Boston firms are highly selective for grades)
18 Goodwin Procter Boston (Erase zero chance)
19 Mintz Levin Boston
20 Ropes Gray Boston (Erase zero chance)
21 Baker & McKenzie Chicago (Fine, but need top 5 bid)
22 Mayer Brown Chicago (Erase, replace with Mayer New York)
23 Arnold & Porter DC (Erase)
24 Holland Knight DC
25 Goulston Storrs Boston
26 Schiff Hardin Chicago
27 Foley Lardner Chicago
28 Drinker Philadelphia
29 Fox Rothschild Philadelphia
30 Squire Patton DC
31 Venable DC
32 Linklaters London
33 Freshfields London
34 Allen & Overy London
35 Akin Gump NYC
42 Wiley Rein DC
36 K&L Gates DC (tiny summer class)
41 Perkins Coie DC
38 Pillsbury Winthrop DC (Move way up and bid NY)
37 McDermott Chicago
39 O'Melveny DC (erase)

[nealric]

I don't know about some of these firms. But the best strategy is to make sure you get screeners for all the firms that you're still competitive for. There are some firms that will take a 3.0x, especially with your background. But you're not going to even see these firms if you're bidding them so low because they don't have large classes or many interview slots. And you can use a lower bid on a firm like Weil and still land an interview. I think it's worth interviewing with Weil, W&C, and Paul Hastings because you're diverse, but not at the expense of losing out on a firm that is more in line with your GPA range.

And some of your middle to late bids are complete throwaways. Get rid of those: Ropes, Goodwin, A&P, Schiff Hardin, McDermott, the London bids, etc. Either because of your grades or because of the small # of interview slots. The second half of your bid list should be for the firms with a large number of interview slots (usually NYC firms).

1 Kramer Levin NYC (Fine)
2 Weil Gotshal NYC (Move farther down)
3 White Case NYC (Move farther down)
4 Schulte Roth NYC (Fine)
5 Paul Hastings NYC (Move farther down)
6 Winston Strawn NYC (Fine, move up)
7 Greenberg Traurig NYC (Fine)
8 Pryor Cashman NYC
9 DLA Piper NYC (Fine)
10 Kelley Drye NYC
11 Curtis Mallet NYC
12 Norton Rose NYC
13 Seward Kissel NYC (Move up)
14 Morgan Lewis NYC (Move way up to top 5)
15 Stroock NYC (Move up to top 5)
16 Baker Hostetler NYC
17 Foley Hoag Boston (Note: All Boston firms are highly selective for grades)
18 Goodwin Procter Boston (Erase zero chance)
19 Mintz Levin Boston
20 Ropes Gray Boston (Erase zero chance)
21 Baker & McKenzie Chicago (Fine, but need top 5 bid)
22 Mayer Brown Chicago (Erase, replace with Mayer New York)
23 Arnold & Porter DC (Erase)
24 Holland Knight DC
25 Goulston Storrs Boston
26 Schiff Hardin Chicago
27 Foley Lardner Chicago
28 Drinker Philadelphia
29 Fox Rothschild Philadelphia
30 Squire Patton DC
31 Venable DC
32 Linklaters London
33 Freshfields London
34 Allen & Overy London
35 Akin Gump NYC
42 Wiley Rein DC
36 K&L Gates DC (tiny summer class)
41 Perkins Coie DC
38 Pillsbury Winthrop DC (Move way up and bid NY)
37 McDermott Chicago
39 O'Melveny DC (erase)

Generally agreed, but unless things have drastically changed, you can bid Stroock pretty low and still get an interview. I think I had them ranked at something like 70 when I was interviewing and still got a screener. Don't think it's necessary to put them in the top 5.

[UnemployedHoya]

I don't know about some of these firms. But the best strategy is to make sure you get screeners for all the firms that you're still competitive for. There are some firms that will take a 3.0x, especially with your background. But you're not going to even see these firms if you're bidding them so low because they don't have large classes or many interview slots. And you can use a lower bid on a firm like Weil and still land an interview. I think it's worth interviewing with Weil, W&C, and Paul Hastings because you're diverse, but not at the expense of losing out on a firm that is more in line with your GPA range.

And some of your middle to late bids are complete throwaways. Get rid of those: Ropes, Goodwin, A&P, Schiff Hardin, McDermott, the London bids, etc. Either because of your grades or because of the small # of interview slots. The second half of your bid list should be for the firms with a large number of interview slots (usually NYC firms).

1 Kramer Levin NYC (Fine)
2 Weil Gotshal NYC (Move farther down)
3 White Case NYC (Move farther down)
4 Schulte Roth NYC (Fine)
5 Paul Hastings NYC (Move farther down)
6 Winston Strawn NYC (Fine, move up)
7 Greenberg Traurig NYC (Fine)
8 Pryor Cashman NYC
9 DLA Piper NYC (Fine)
10 Kelley Drye NYC
11 Curtis Mallet NYC
12 Norton Rose NYC
13 Seward Kissel NYC (Move up)
14 Morgan Lewis NYC (Move way up to top 5)
15 Stroock NYC (Move up to top 5)
16 Baker Hostetler NYC
17 Foley Hoag Boston (Note: All Boston firms are highly selective for grades)
18 Goodwin Procter Boston (Erase zero chance)
19 Mintz Levin Boston
20 Ropes Gray Boston (Erase zero chance)
21 Baker & McKenzie Chicago (Fine, but need top 5 bid)
22 Mayer Brown Chicago (Erase, replace with Mayer New York)
23 Arnold & Porter DC (Erase)
24 Holland Knight DC
25 Goulston Storrs Boston
26 Schiff Hardin Chicago
27 Foley Lardner Chicago
28 Drinker Philadelphia
29 Fox Rothschild Philadelphia
30 Squire Patton DC
31 Venable DC
32 Linklaters London
33 Freshfields London
34 Allen & Overy London
35 Akin Gump NYC
42 Wiley Rein DC
36 K&L Gates DC (tiny summer class)
41 Perkins Coie DC
38 Pillsbury Winthrop DC (Move way up and bid NY)
37 McDermott Chicago
39 O'Melveny DC (erase)

This was the kind of advice I was looking for. Thank you!! I will take this into consideration.