I think law students usually fail to grasp this. Don't worry about being budget conscious like a law student. If you get CBs, go ahead and order $40 of room service if that's what you want for dinner so you don't have to be around people any longer. CBs are definitely a draining experience since you have to be 100% "on" for 4+ hours straight. Book whatever flight time works for you on whatever airline has times that are most convenient. It won't be first class, but they will 100% work around your schedule.Anonymous User wrote:I would say it depends - are we talking this Thursday (Aug 2)? If so, you'll probably be OK scheduling callbacks the week of Aug. 13. If we're talking next week (Aug 9) and not doing a callback until the week of August 20, then you're really late.
Can confirm that the firm will fly you in and out of whatever city you ask for (I'm all over the place over the next couple of weeks for callbacks in 3 different cities) and you should be open to leaving your vacation early. No questions asked, just tell them what you want. It's almost always a travel agent for a large firm.
On things like meals, you won't submit your receipts to the firm until later. If you interview in a city like NY, you may schedule 3 CBs at 3 different firms over 3 days. These firms will split the cost of your travel/hotel bill amongst themselves, and you only submit the expenses to 1 firm (whichever you feel like) and then they reimburse you and chase their money from the other firms you interviewed with.
So, one of my CBs in NY let me book my own hotel of my choosing. I stayed at a place that was $500/night (not outrageous for a full-service hotel in NY, re: one that offers a restaurant and room service so you can fully focus on interview prep). Then, I spent roughly $25 on lunches and $40 on dinner. On the last night, I got dinner with 2 friends, ran up a $190 tab amongst the 3 of us, and I just picked it up.
Then once I got an offer from one of the firms, I submitted my receipts to a different firm (even the $190 dinner, expecting they'd just cover roughly $50 of it for my portion). The firms covered every dime, no questions asked. There's no need to be "creative" or anything like that. Don't go crazy, but also don't try to save money and stay in a shithole or fly on budget airlines. Just treat it like normal business travel.