Advice on CALI Awards (in Clerkship Resumes) Forum

traydeuce · Post by **traydeuce** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:37 am

So I was chatting with a bunch of Harvard clerks today about making improvements to my resume, and I was like, "should I change all my 'Best Exam' awards to CALI awards?" To which they replied, "what is a CALI award," and, "we don't have those at Harvard," and, "don't do that." So, though I was taken to task for it in the previous CALI thread, I was right; a ton of people don't know what these rinky-dink CALI awards are, while the phrase "best exam" is international language. Like Esperanto. So now you know. Don't say 'CALI' on your clerkship resumes. Unless you want to get super-granular and change it up depending on whether the clerks reviewing your apps went to CALI-participating schools. But even then, the judge who will read your resume undoubtedly went to law school before CALI existed.

missinglink · Post by **missinglink** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:42 am

duckmoney · Post by **duckmoney** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:43 am

traydeuce wrote:So I was chatting with a bunch of Harvard clerks today about making improvements to my resume, and I was like, "should I change all my 'Best Exam' awards to CALI awards?" To which they replied, "what is a CALI award," and, "we don't have those at Harvard," and, "don't do that." So, though I was taken to task for it in the previous CALI thread, I was right; a ton of people don't know what these rinky-dink CALI awards are, while the phrase "best exam" is international language. Like Esperanto. So now you know. Don't say 'CALI' on your clerkship resumes. Unless you want to get super-granular and change it up depending on whether the clerks reviewing your apps went to CALI-participating schools. But even then, the judge who will read your resume undoubtedly went to law school before CALI existed.

When my dad (and so probably many judges) went to law school, it was called the "book" award or "booking" the class. Not sure if that still flies.

Kilpatrick · Post by **Kilpatrick** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:34 am

missinglink wrote:Why not identify parenthetically the significance of the award?

TheFriendlyBarber · Post by **TheFriendlyBarber** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:17 am

A parenthetical would certainly be appropriate, but if you go that route, i'd probably forgo explaining that "CALI" stands for "The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction."

Kilpatrick · Post by **Kilpatrick** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:19 am

Seriously, there are like 100 different law schools from almost every state that have them. I'm sure whatever judge you send it to will know what it means, especially if you put (best exam) or (highest grade in class).

This is like the stupidest humblebrag ever. "Oh man, I have all these CALI Awards but they're so rinky-dink I probably can't even put them on my resume."

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:46 am

I have a question that I don't want to start a new thread about...

A professor emailed me to inform me that I got the second highest grade in the (entire 1L) class on an exam and in the class as a whole.

I am leaning away from incorporating this into my resume, but at the same time...it was a core doctrinal class. Include?

crazyblink653 · Post by **crazyblink653** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:52 am

Anonymous User wrote:I have a question that I don't want to start a new thread about...

A professor emailed me to inform me that I got the second highest grade in the (entire 1L) class on an exam and in the class as a whole.

I am leaning away from incorporating this into my resume, but at the same time...it was a core doctrinal class. Include?

i dunno...i probably wouldn't. it's almost like getting to the World Series and losing: It's great to be there and all, but you really don't brag about it unless you win the whole thing.

this seems like the same situation to me. take solace in the fact that you were better than all but 1 other kid in your class, but leave it off your resume.

agroothuis · Post by **agroothuis** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:41 pm

Kilpatrick wrote:there are like 100 different law schools from almost every state that have them. I'm sure whatever judge you send it to will know what it means, especially if you put (best exam) or (highest grade in class)...."

Hi guys,

Disclaimer: I work for CALI.

This poster is correct. There are over 100 schools that participate in the CALI Awards program. Here's the list: --LinkRemoved-- (sorry it's on our old site).

Harvard doesn't participate. So its students have no reason to know what a CALI Award is. It also doesn't rank its students or report GPA. To me, this always seemed like a policy to take the focus off of student competition. CALI Awards are inherently competitive.

Most people who deal with resumes on a regular basis, however, understand what a CALI Award is.

Plus, using the term "CALI Award" on a resume builds the awareness and understanding of CALI Awards as a whole (thus helping the perceived value of your award). That is, in the off chance someone looks at your resume and doesn't know what a CALI Award is, seeing it and asking about it means they learn what it is.

Try calling it "CALI Award(s) for the highest grade in [class name(s)]."

Austin Groothuis
agroothuis@cali.org

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