Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships? Forum

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GxGw1994

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Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by GxGw1994 » Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:26 pm

Does a first semester GPA around median severely limit your chances for getting a good internship for the summer? I don't expect anything prestigious, but I want something that's decent. Will I even get an interview without any prior experience?

My school is only in the top 50 but is respected in my market.

nixy

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by nixy » Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:15 pm

How do you define "good internship" and "decent" - what kind of job do you actually want? You're probably not going to get a 1L SA with a big firm at median from a T50 school, no. But there are tons of other summer opportunities out there - depends what you actually want.

BasilHallward

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by BasilHallward » Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:17 pm

If "good" to you means a 1L SA or getting paid any substantial amount of $$, yes, you are likely locked out. But you need to get busy finding something though. You're median at a T50, which means finding a legal job at graduation could be a challenge if you sit around reading tea leaves. Find a federal internship in a market you desire to work in long-term. If this is your home market, even better. FWIW, I was slightly above median after first semester at T14 and had a federal judge internship lined up by the first week of January for the summer in my home market. Getting this locked down early helped me focus on getting back to the drawing board concerning test taking for the second semester. Then, OCI was a cakewalk (still median though) because every firm knew this judge and I had way more callbacks then deserved. In short, find something quickly and knock your second semester out of the park. At a T50, you could be disclosed from OCI screeners, depending on your school. Forget about 1L SA's and $$. All those spots are long gone.

Npret

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by Npret » Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:19 pm

BasilHallward wrote:If "good" to you means a 1L SA or getting paid any substantial amount of $$, yes, you are likely locked out. But you need to get busy finding something though. You're median at a T50, which means finding a legal job at graduation could be a challenge if you sit around reading tea leaves. Find a federal internship in a market you desire to work in long-term. If this is your home market, even better. FWIW, I was slightly above median after first semester at T14 and had a federal judge internship lined up by the first week of January for the summer in my home market. Getting this locked down early helped me focus on getting back to the drawing board concerning test taking for the second semester. Then, OCI was a cakewalk (still median though) because every firm knew this judge and I had way more callbacks then deserved. In short, find something quickly and knock your second semester out of the park. At a T50, you could be disclosed from OCI screeners, depending on your school. Forget about 1L SA's and $$. All those spots are long gone.
I’m asking because I don’t know the answer to this question - can federal internships be obtained during the shutdown? Will anyone be reading or hiring for I ternships now?

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cavalier1138

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by cavalier1138 » Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:20 pm

Npret wrote:
BasilHallward wrote:If "good" to you means a 1L SA or getting paid any substantial amount of $$, yes, you are likely locked out. But you need to get busy finding something though. You're median at a T50, which means finding a legal job at graduation could be a challenge if you sit around reading tea leaves. Find a federal internship in a market you desire to work in long-term. If this is your home market, even better. FWIW, I was slightly above median after first semester at T14 and had a federal judge internship lined up by the first week of January for the summer in my home market. Getting this locked down early helped me focus on getting back to the drawing board concerning test taking for the second semester. Then, OCI was a cakewalk (still median though) because every firm knew this judge and I had way more callbacks then deserved. In short, find something quickly and knock your second semester out of the park. At a T50, you could be disclosed from OCI screeners, depending on your school. Forget about 1L SA's and $$. All those spots are long gone.
I’m asking because I don’t know the answer to this question - can federal internships be obtained during the shutdown? Will anyone be reading or hiring for I ternships now?
My understanding is that all admin positions are furloughed, so the people who would actually start the process of hiring interns are not able to do so.

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BansheeScream

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by BansheeScream » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:54 am

Npret wrote:
BasilHallward wrote:If "good" to you means a 1L SA or getting paid any substantial amount of $$, yes, you are likely locked out. But you need to get busy finding something though. You're median at a T50, which means finding a legal job at graduation could be a challenge if you sit around reading tea leaves. Find a federal internship in a market you desire to work in long-term. If this is your home market, even better. FWIW, I was slightly above median after first semester at T14 and had a federal judge internship lined up by the first week of January for the summer in my home market. Getting this locked down early helped me focus on getting back to the drawing board concerning test taking for the second semester. Then, OCI was a cakewalk (still median though) because every firm knew this judge and I had way more callbacks then deserved. In short, find something quickly and knock your second semester out of the park. At a T50, you could be disclosed from OCI screeners, depending on your school. Forget about 1L SA's and $$. All those spots are long gone.
I’m asking because I don’t know the answer to this question - can federal internships be obtained during the shutdown? Will anyone be reading or hiring for I ternships now?
Depends on agency and section. For some DOJ sections for example, a non admin person may handle the hiring. It's possible that a supervisor capable of making intern hiring decision is non-furloughed. For judicial internships, the clerks and JA usually handle the admin portion and the Judge makes the final hiring call. Federal court system is funded until Friday so they could still hire.

You likely wouldn't be able to start an internship at a three letter agency or do the necessary background check process when the government is shutdown because (as said above) the admin people aren't working.

nixy

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Re: Does a mediocre first semester lock you out of good summer internships?

Post by nixy » Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:43 am

For places that are shut down but still working, it’s unlikely that hiring interns will count as excepted work, even if the people who usually hire interns are still at work.

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