Here's the TL;DR: I'm a 3L at Ohio State with decent grades. I didn't get an offer last summer, the job search has been impossible and miserable thus far, and I'm tired of it. So I'm strongly considering San Francisco. I'm posting here for people to say, "Fuck it, I agree with you, might as well try given how bad the Ohio market is," or, "You're out of your god damned mind."

Here's more details:

-From Ohio. Family in Ohio. Undergrad at Ohio State.

-Currently a 3L at Ohio State with decently solid grades (not quite top 10% material, but very respectable).

-Probably going to graduate with $110k debt (law school plus undergrad)

-Published on Business Law Journal, currently Note Editor.

-Summered at a firm in Akron, where only one out of five SAs got offers (I was obviously not one). This has made getting interviews very difficult (hard to explain why I didn't get an offer without getting an interview).

-No luck at 3L OCI, either.

-I've sent out 109 applications to Ohio firms, got one interview, and it sucked (the guy asked me some dumb question about mountain climbing).

-I'm tired of all this bullshit.

-I love San Francisco. Probably my favorite city in the US. Just visited there again this past weekend. Had lunch and phone conversations with half a dozen alums. Going again in January.

-Generally speaking, OSU alums in San Francisco have been incredibly helpful and receptive. Several have also made it sound like they would go to the plate for me to try and help out in any way possible.

-One more alum thing: I had lunch with an OSU alum, and in short, he basically said that there are 2-3 extremely well established OSU grads out there who can make things happen in terms of getting me, at minimum, part time work while I search for full time employment. He did this (did doc review for about six months), networked, and got FT employment within a year. Anecdotal, of course, but that would be a career path I'd be willing to stomach.

-All this is likely making me irrationally optimistic for the SF market.

-I'm going to be in SF again in January to continue networking with alums.

-Because of the seemingly impossible job chase in Ohio, fuck it, I really want to go out to The City and make a go of it.

So, have I lost my mind, or should I actually start signing up to take the California bar?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24237188)

i know top third T14ers that struck out in SF/SV. "decent grades" at osu isn't going to cut it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24237394)

There are honestly still people who are unemployed and doing contract doc review bullshit since they were laid off in 2008-2010, and these are not OSU grads.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24237580)

So can you find a job there? Probably if you hustle enough. Will it be enough to pay your bills? That gets quite a bit dicier. You would probably have to PAYE and live in a ghetto apartment with multiple roommates in a TTT area. (I doubt you'd be able to afford living in the city unless you lived in Hunter's Point or some other area where any white dude may as well draw a target on his back. But you could find an apartment in a TTT suburb and commute.) But if it's worth it to you to live in SF, it's not totally insane. Just don't have any delusions of living in a nice part of SF with models and bottles.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24238667)

I graduated from a similarly ranked state flagship and moved to NYC with no job prospects, no place lined up, and hardly knowing anyone. Before I had my bar results, I had locked down a solid job in one of the few more sophisticated areas of small firm practice, and while it wasn't biglaw money, it was more than enough to live on, the hours were tolerable, and I actually got to do stuff. At this point, I could probably stick around a few more years and make partner if I wanted, but instead, I'm starting my own shop.

Based on your stats, you're near the top of the 90% of law grads that didn't get plucked for biglaw, and you won't have much trouble finding a tolerable small firm job in a big market like SF. You won't make half a biglaw salary, but your life will be a lot better. I say move to SF and never look back.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24240041)

Life is a marathon. It's going to be hard wherever he goes initially, but once he gets that first job and actually learns to practice, the employment picture gets much better. The cost of living situation is definitely a concern, but he could get a room in Oakland off of Craigslist on the cheap, and he has to eat wherever he is. SF has a better economy than most of the country, and he could potentially do doc review, tutor LSAT, wait tables or whatever while he waits for his admission. He can't plan the rest of his life over a short term, risk averse calculation that would leave him wondering for the rest of his life what it might have been like if he had manned up and tried his luck in the big city.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24241010)

It's fine to not be risk-averse and wait tables or whatever, but he should take a minute to think that he is leaving for an incredibly competitive market where the rent is the highest in the country.

Also, "However, big cities like NYC and SF are fairly meritocratic, and most of the people that had better stats than him would have already gotten jobs and would not be competing against him" is simply not true. It should come as no surprise that there are plenty of Boalttt/Hastttings grads who have not found jobs.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24295970)

The thing about big cities is they're just more liquid, more buyers and more sellers of everything, so if you're willing to sell yourself below market value, you can find a buyer more quickly than in a less liquid market. It may be insurance defense or something similarly unpalatable, but after you get a couple years of experience, you become more marketable to other small firms. If all else fails, he could hang a shingle doing bankruptcies, misdemeanor defense, immigration or something else where the clients are poor and cost is their main concern.

If this dude passes the bar, and finds himself a $600 room w/ roommates in Oakland, he'll be fine so long as he has about $10k in cash or credit to burn through while he's looking. He's going to be facing a similarly tough economy whether he stays in Ohio or moves to SF, and if he doesn't want to live his entire life in Ohio, he should get out now while he can.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24298285)

if you're gay, it might be a good place for you. otherwise, it's a shithole in decline and you should avoid.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24296418)

http://www.mofocareers.com/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2387919&forum_id=2#24296423)