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BerkSen - of course Tisch is really easy to get into. Ask anyone. My bad.
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<p>I meant admissions at NYU in general. Tisch is probably the most competitive school at NYU to get into (on the undergrad level).</p>
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First, students review the NALP guide and whatever information provided to them by the law firms (by mail, during recruiting events, or otherwise) and determine at which firms they would like to interview.
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<p>The single most important source they look at is the Vault rankings. You can predict pretty well which firms will be the most popular by looking at where they rank on that list. They check NALP to make sure the firm pays a market salary, if it didn't give an offer to any of its summer associates from the previous year (though this won't indicate how many "cold offers" were given) and to see if they generally allow summers to split with other firms (though some firms will allow this even if their NALP profile says they don't). </p>
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Most do have cocktail parties--and some of these are open to any student, so that those who didn't get a slot can show up.
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<p>In addition to cocktail parties (which are sometimes limited to students receiving callbacks), biglaw firms will very often have "hospitality suites" wherever the screening interviews are taking place (which is often a hotel). They're staffed by the recruiting personnel, and anyone who is interested in a firm but didn't get an interview can stop by and drop off a resume, or even schedule an interview. It's possible to get a callback after dropping off a resume and transcript at one of these.</p>
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but the theory is,, and I think it's right, that you're more likely to get an offer if you got a callback.
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<p>Since a callback is a pre-requisite for getting an offer, I'd say that's certainly correct. I don't know of any firms that give offers after only a screening interview, though I have heard that Greenberg Traurig did it at least once. As I mentioned, it's possible to get a callback and offer without a formal screening interview, but an offer without a callback is almost unheard of.</p>
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The T-14 schools have been pretty much set in stone.
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<p>Employment prospects and, for that matter, the recruiting process itself, are not the same across the T14. Some schools publish class ranks and allow some pre-screening by employers. Firms may also have significantly different grade/rank cutoffs for different schools within the T14.</p>