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Better students attracts better recruiters which attracts still better students, and so forth.
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<p>Again, the recruiters are irrelevant. You would gain nearly the exact same benefit from the prestige of the degree whether or not anybody showed up on campus to interview you.</p>
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Again, the recruiters are irrelevant. You would gain nearly the exact same benefit from the prestige of the degree whether or not anybody showed up on campus to interview you.
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<p>Oh, I rather doubt that. Let's face it. Your law career is heavily affected by the first job you get out of law school. If you end up in a mediocre law job, your chances of ever rising to the top of the field are impaired. On the other hand, if you get a top law firm job, your chances of getting to the top, while still relatively small, are maximized. </p>
<p>However, like I said, it's harder to get one of those top law firm jobs if you don't happen to go to one of those schools where those recruiters are not there. Furthermore, those top recruiters only show up at a handful of law schools, certainly not ALL law schools. It's easier to get a job through on-campus recruiting than without it. </p>
<p>Put another way. Let's say, for some odd reason, all the top law recruiters decided to stop recruiting at HLS and YLS. I highly doubt that this would not hurt the students. Fewer of them would get the type of top jobs that they do now.</p>
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Put another way. Let's say, for some odd reason, all the top law recruiters decided to stop recruiting at HLS and YLS. I highly doubt that this would not hurt the students. Fewer of them would get the type of top jobs that they do now.
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<p>I basically disagree. Which option would you prefer in terms of career prospects: (1) Columbia law school except that you have to take care of your sick family member during OCI week; or (2) New York Law School and you are free to participate in OCI?</p>
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I highly doubt that this would not hurt the students. Fewer of them would get the type of top jobs that they do now.
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<p>I doubt it would make a big difference at all. They could still mail resumes to firms and other organziations, who would happily interview them. The credential is much more important than access to recruiters.</p>
<p>to some extent, i think this whole chicken and egg argument is a little illogical -- by definition recruiters come to these schools because the students' credentials make them desirable -- the law firms want their shot at these students so they show up to recruit. to suppose that they suddenly wouldn't do so, while still wanting these candidates, just seems to be an illogical supposition to me.</p>
<p>but, let's look at an example. i'm basing what i say on how things were when i was at yls, which admittedly was quite a few years ago. and to approach your supposed situation -- i'll talk about first year's experience since fewer firms came to campus to recruit first years. i would say it was much harder to get a west coast job for the summer after first year than an east coast one. east coast firms seemed to come more often to recruit first year or at least post letters at admissions that they were interested in yls first year. they were also more likely to pay for interview trips. so what happened when first years tried contacting west coast firms? did they jump at the yls return address and grab the desirable first year? generally speaking -- unless a student had a demonstrated west coast interest, it was hard for a student to get a foot in the door -- firms didn't want to be used as a means for a west coast summer vacation. they wanted to know this was a serious potential future full time candidate. there were a few west coast firms that actively sought yls first years, but certainly, not to the same extent as east coast firms.</p>
<p>so were credentials alone enough? no - not from what i saw in this situation. firms are looking for long term investment -- you don't get much return from a summer associate, or even a brand new associate the first couple of years.
and in search of that long term investment, they come to campus recruiting for second year summer associates and first year associates because they want their shot not only at A hls or yls candidate, but THEIR choice of yls and hls candidate. when they come interviewing, not every yls and hls student is considered equally desirable -- not every one gets an offer from every firm -- they want a chance for school based interview to cull the list of those worthy of being called in for the more extensive firm interviews, where again, not every yls and hls student gets an offer. if those SAME firms didn't come to campus, they'd still need to cull thru all the yls and hls resumes to decide who to call in -- that one credential isn't enough for them. for firms that DON'T recruit on campus -- because historically they haven't been as successful in getting yls and hls students to come to them -- a resume in the mail from yls or hls may be enough to get the student a call for an interview.</p>