Need advice (and gauging my chances) on clerkships and jobs Forum

[dpjd1985]

I'm going to try to be as objective and thorough as possible with this so I can get some feedback from anybody willing to help on what I should be looking at the coming year.

School Rank: Tier 1
Location: East coast, Washington D.C. area
GPA, Class Rank: 3.65, which is around top 9-10% (I would be more specific but our latest rankings haven't come out)
ECs: Journal membership (no editor position, and not on the main law review, but on the top subject-specific journal of the school)
Recs: I have two professors who have encouraged me to apply for clerkships, one who clerked for a Supreme Court Justice and has been very proactive about getting me to apply. Haven't lined up a third yet.
Work experience: Both summers I have interned on the Hill, one in a senate office, the current one in a house committee office. In between I interned for a local attorney in Virginia.
Interests: I was a musician before law school. I have two music degrees with near perfect grades. I haven't done much with that in law school so far, though I'm going to be spending my third year stacking up IP credits to capitalize on some of that background. I've been focusing a lot on constitutional law, regulatory law, national security, and privacy law.

The advice I'm looking for is on three fronts:

1. What should I be focussing on in my last year of classes to make myself more marketable?
2. What are my chances at landing a clerkship? I really hadn't considered the possibility before now because my first year grades had me low in the top third of my class, but I've climbed each semester since so I'm now in a more competitive position. Also, my professor's suggestion that he thinks I'm a good candidate has me reconsidering.
3. If I don't go the clerkship route, how high can I aim with my current credentials? What types of employment are open/closed to me?

[traydeuce]

I don't really give you any chance at clerking federally, unless you're just being really coy about your school's rank and that tier 1 is a t14 or t20.