Percentile at HLS (Clerkship Question) Forum

[Anonymous User]

So my GPA after the end of 2L sits right at a 3.77 -- no LR. I'm applying for clerkships in the fall (and sending out applications this summer for the judges who don't follow the plan), and most of the judges to whom I'm sending applications are district court judges in major cities. Many, if not most, of these judges specify in OSCAR that they want applicants to be in the top 10% of their class. Is this a hard and fast requirement? Any flexibility for HLS? I highly doubt 3.77 is in the top 10%. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[20121109]

How exactly did you determine that you have a 3.77 GPA at Harvard when they don't give out A/B/C grades?

[A Purple Cow]

Though we don't have traditional letter grades anymore, HLS still calculates GPA when determining who gets Latin honors. A Dean's Scholar Prize (i.e. book award) is a 5, an H is a 4, a P is a 3, and an LP is a P.

[Anonymous User]

I just graduated from HLS and went through the clerkship process in the last cycle.

No, it's not a hard and fast rule. You should apply. I got interviews with judges who specified "top 10%" with a GPA a decent amount lower than yours. Also, just as a side note, you might not be top 10%, but my bet is that you are actually probably not too far off. A 3.77 is a really excellent HLS GPA. You should make sure to apply to a good number of COA judges too.

[Moxie]

How exactly did you determine that you have a 3.77 GPA at Harvard when they don't give out A/B/C grades?

I'm pretty sure he's using this as his base: --LinkRemoved--

But it's not really a relevant figure.

[Anonymous User]

I just graduated from HLS and went through the clerkship process in the last cycle.

No, it's not a hard and fast rule. You should apply. I got interviews with judges who specified "top 10%" with a GPA a decent amount lower than yours. Also, just as a side note, you might not be top 10%, but my bet is that you are actually probably not too far off. A 3.77 is a really excellent HLS GPA. You should make sure to apply to a good number of COA judges too.

If you don't my asking, what sorts of judges did you apply to? Did you have LR?

[Anonymous User]

I just graduated from HLS and went through the clerkship process in the last cycle.

No, it's not a hard and fast rule. You should apply. I got interviews with judges who specified "top 10%" with a GPA a decent amount lower than yours. Also, just as a side note, you might not be top 10%, but my bet is that you are actually probably not too far off. A 3.77 is a really excellent HLS GPA. You should make sure to apply to a good number of COA judges too.

If you don't my asking, what sorts of judges did you apply to? Did you have LR?

Majority district court judges and then a smaller number of COA judges. The clerkship I ended up getting was with a COA judge though. No law review.

You should apply broadly because the process is unpredictable, and definitely apply to the number of judges that Kirsten Solberg suggests. But again, a 3.77 is a really strong GPA.