Columbia already saw the writing on the wall and moved its on-campus interview process to January 2021. No one knows for sure when this whole thing will be over, half of the transcripts students will have to show employers will be a bunch of “Pass” grades, and by the end of the summer, a lot of firms are just going to be taking stock of where their layoffs and furloughs have left them, so why persist in the delusion that firms will be hiring in August? And from what we’ve been hearing, other schools have also gone the Columbia route with at least Duke and Georgetown postponing early interview time as well.
Apparently, Harvard will become the first “HYS” school to put off early interviews. EIP, the Early Interview Program, will move to January 2021 according to a message sent to Above the Law:
Today, we write with an important update on EIP and the upcoming law firm recruiting season. After numerous discussions with students and employers, we have decided to move EIP Week to January 2021 and to suspend EIP Preview for this recruiting season. We will provide additional information about EIP in the coming weeks as we flesh out the details of our program.
While other schools moved first, Harvard’s decision likely opens the floodgates on recruiting changes. Biglaw firms aren’t going to fill their future classes without talking Harvard students, so there’s not going to be any appetite to gather everyone from Chicago in August only to tell them to expect a callback in February. By Friday, the rest of the T14 will almost certainly have pushed on-campus recruiting to match whatever Harvard’s doing.
I guess our on-campus interview shopping guide is going to have to be a lot more winter weather-centric…
Earlier: Elite Law School Postpones On-Campus Interviews Because Of Coronavirus
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.