interning at a tier 1, i need to secure my ppo this time come what may. what do i do to stand out? i feel seniors make an impression of you in the first week, how do make sure my intent of securing a ppo is known. also any pointers on what to do/not to do would be great thanks

I think your desire to work hard to land a PPO is something to be lauded, but you should mentally prepare yourself for the possibility of not getting one. This can happen through no fault of your own since the stars may not align in a number of ways. One simple example would be that the team which you are interning at is not looking to hire associates due to a hiring freeze.

Let the work speak it for itself. A lot of people would give you stupid advice like networking and small talking with your team. All that is secondary and won’t matter if your work is not high quality. Don’t seem dumb or annoying. Do not bother your partner unnecessarily. Just lock in and focus on producing your best work product. Also, work on your presentation skills as it often is the decider for your call back or PPO. Good luck!

I see many interns fawn over the associates and be overly reverential. Someone bowed and said thank you, in fact. Please don’t act like subordinates, this is a place that you eventually hope to work in and you must show that you are a culture fit. Just be polite, professional, and prompt. The manner in which your work is presented is extremely important, pay attention to formatting, the language etc. Ask the associate what the expectation is before beginning. Small details, like adhering to the firms internal styles, pagination, headers etc. set your work apart at the first glance. Don’t be lazy or shy away from work, when people get that impression they don’t want to delegate to you again. Youre most likely there for a month or so, do try and go the extra mile. If you don’t understand ask immediately, there is nothing worse than someone who messes up the work and shrugs it off saying they didn’t understand. Adhere to deadlines, taking longer is okay, but not without informing anyone. To be transparent, you’re not accountable for the work you do but when you act that way, you stop being a serious candidate in people’s eyes. Curiosity, diligence, and basic competence go a long way. These are quite basic and fundamental to dos, but you’d be surprised.

not op but this is some great advice! To op - Even if u do all this, and even the team like ur work - keep ur balls low. It's completely random at times. So dont stress if u dont get it this time. U will eventually get something. Nothing to worry about. everyone gets something eventually. It's not the end of world. You will achieve something one day or the other.

depends on what sort of drafting. A good command over English, well-structured sentences that have a coherent flow, and free of grammatical errors and ai generated content should be good enough. You may use AI to fix typos and help you structure at times, but don't make it write the entire thing and submit it- it becomes apparent.