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I’m currently a magistrate clerk on the EDCA. Prior to that I clerked at the district level in a flyover district I guess (think EDTX, WDLA, NDMISS). I like clerking and want to continue doing it. But at this point in my life, I’m only willing to clerk in cities I truly want to live in. NY, LA, Dallas, and Houston are some on my list. I’m applying to district courts as well, but how competitive are magistrate clerkships in the aforementioned districts?

I can only speak to NY (don't have GPA stats for the others) and, as a caveat, I'm basing this purely on GPA stats that our clerkship office has ... but, at least coming from NYU, magistrate spots for SDNY are pretty competitive. The average successful applicant is top 25% or so. (One exception - SDNY magistrate spots in White Plains seem to be less competitive, if you're willing to make that commute). You might try EDNY - magistrate spots there are still relatively competitive, but notably less than SDNY.

SDNY and EDNY are very competitive; elsewhere, not so much.

For LA, below median to top third are all competitive.

OP here. Thanks. Forgot about EDNY. And as far as top third, what school are you referencing?