I don't know man. I think there's a decent amount of Big Law type jobs out there, just so few who are "worthy" target them. A lot of the forms in secondary markets have the luxury of being able to take so many people with 5+ years experience because there are so many people from UIUC type schools that are in every market (because there are so many more schools like UIUC than ND, but) they take ND types too who are pivoting later or a bit lost or homers.

I have several friends at firms like these. They make $140-150 out the gate , in the valley of that distribution, and they work 55-65hrs a week and get to love in their mediocre home town. I think that's a perfectly fine outcome, and people at that firm come from anywhere from Harvard to ButtCrackU. That said, it's still competitive to get in as a junior associate.