By Brian Justus '11
Contributor

On Grounds Interviews. For incoming first-years, OGI was merely the reason our Peer Advisors were freaking out during orientation. But for upperclassmen, OGI is both a wonderful and scary thing; a determining influence upon their employment prospects and ultimately, their future. Despite all the pressure, however, the students who participated in OGI describe it as a rewarding and worthwhile process—one they were glad to have done and would happily do again.

I, and by extension other first-years, know not whether to be terrified, jaded, or excited about OGI; we’ve heard so many rumors. Second-year Katherine Demamiel felt the same way when she went into OGI this year. “I had never done an interview before OGI, so I was of course very nervous,” Katherine remembered. “[But] the process was a lot less painful than I thought it was going to be. Truthfully, you are going to a top ten law school. You are in demand.”

Even given our enviable positions and theoretically strong resumes, one thing universally recognized in regards to OGI is the massive rise in anxiety levels. Katherine recalled the war of attrition: “It’s a tight squeeze and just leaves you tired and frazzled.” Third-year Lindsay McCaslin, who participated in OGI both this year and last, also weighed in, recollecting how “firm interviews are hard because they happen all at once, and you’re flying all over for very short stays, which gets exhausting. Waiting to receive callbacks from firms is also stressful because you know when our classmates are getting calls from the offices you’re interested in.”

However, the difficulty of the interviewing routine seems to hinge on the area in which you are interviewing and how those employers handle the process. Katherine described her OGI experience as being unexpectedly informal. “I was surprised by just how conversational the interviews were. I felt, for the most part, that I was conversing with someone I was trying to get to know. I rarely got any of those dreaded ‘interview questions’.”

Lindsay, on the other hand, described something entirely different and far more trying. “The public interest interview is definitely a different kind of challenge,” Lindsay prefaced. “For one callback, for example, the office gave me a packet of information to read over and gave me two hours at the office to prep it. I had to prepare an oral argument before a mock appellate court and a cross-examination of a key witness. A little intense, but it wasn’t anything uncommon either.”

But the real question, as with anything else, is whether or not all the effort, stress, and/or pain were worth it. Katherine put it very succinctly, “I think the OGI process is great.” Lindsay expressed a similar feeling, “I like the path I’ve taken and I’m glad I took advantage of OGIs both years. I’m confident it will be worth it.”

Katherine also had a few parting words of advice for people doing OGIs next year. “I wish someone had told me how totally unnecessary it is to take the maximum number of OGIs. You just don’t realize how tired you can get after seven interviews in a day. Take the interviews that you really want and maybe a few backups. Taking the max number of interviews is ridiculous.”

Verdict: Although OGI may be a stressful, time constricted, whirlwind of interviewing, resume exchanging, and business card collecting, in the end it is not only a valuable experience and resource, but also a vital part of upperclassmen life; one which leaves the students in strict recovery for the following week, yet happy to have done it.