How much does undergrad matter for clerking? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Study popped up a week ago about how when controlled for graduation honors, those from elite undergrads are 50% more likely to get a S.Ct. clerkship.

Does this sort of thing matter for COA or district court level clerkships? Maybe idiosyncratic a bit

[Anonymous User]

Yeah this is going to be completely idiosyncratic. Some judges may care, some won’t at all.

I’m not sure SCOTUS clerks are especially helpful for predicting non-SCOTUS success for the rest of us. They’re a tiny percentage of all clerks in a given year.

There probably is also a correlation between elite undergrad and other federal clerkships, but it’s probably more related to the law school you attend than to UG directly - people from elite UGs are disproportionately represented at T14 schools overall (as well as in SCOTUS clerks). In part this is because people who are really book smart at age 18 (and thus able to get into elite UGs for purely academic reasons), some of whom are naturally brilliant but some of whom benefited from going to top schools their whole lives and lots of support and tutoring etc, will also probably get the good grades and LSAT scores required to get into the top law schools, in part law schools value elite UGs for various cultural reasons.

Someone who has the academic chops and law school pedigree to be competitive for COA/DCt clerkships isn’t going to be ruled out due to their UG, and someone with a fancy UG isn’t going to sail into a clerkship without the other qualifications. Sure, all else equal, some judges will pick the elite UG grad over the directional state grad. Some won’t. Candidates are rarely otherwise equal in every way.

There’s also nothing anyone can do to change their UG and so they shouldn’t apply/not apply based on their UG.

[Anonymous User]

Study popped up a week ago about how when controlled for graduation honors, those from elite undergrads are 50% more likely to get a S.Ct. clerkship.

Does this sort of thing matter for COA or district court level clerkships? Maybe idiosyncratic a bit

Sometimes. It matters most for some justices, superfeeders, FedSoc judges who hire off-plan, and YLS students with no real grades. It also matters is invisible ways. Those from elite undergrads often have better connections before starting law school and may get more favorable treatment from profs early on. It's easy to overstate these effects, though. Most judges don't care, and those who do care may prefer their own alma mater over HYPS.

[Anonymous User]

My judge cared, particularly if KJD. Certainly wouldn't overcome weak grades or weaker law school, but he definitely took note of it. Nothing you can do about it though, and I highly doubt there are going to be judges who ding a Magna at T14 because they went to a state school. And, if there was a judge who had a blanket HYPS only rule I wouldn't want to clerk for them because that type of person sounds like a nightmare.

[Anonymous User]

I think it's like any other soft credential, some judge care, some judges don't. Like others have said, I don't see any judges dinging someone with great law school performance, rec letters, work experience etc., because they didn't go to an elite undergrad. At least neither of the judges I clerked for would care.

[Anonymous User]

The judges I clerked for (COA/D Ct) could not have cared less. TBF they hired me, so they didn’t really care about name-brand schools.

[crazywafflez]

I'm in middle USA, but judges here sometimes care about UG- not in the way you'd think though. They usually odn't care about prestige of it, but do care about their individual UG (so if you are a sooner and they were a sooner, they'll be a fan)- they also tend to like more local schools in general. Certainly, going to an elite UG won't *usually hurt you, but in my jurisdiction, judges actively take from the local school, then some from their alma mater if it is different, and then a smattering of other schools. Again though, this is middle USA, not the coasts or a big city like Chicago, so your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous User]

I agree that it’s very judge specific. Some will likely be pickier than others. But from personal experience, I’ve met plenty of clerks at my D.Ct. and COA who went to non-flagship public undergrads. I think so long as you get into a good law school and keep your grades up, it shows a track record of willingness to work hard that is very valuable in the clerkship hiring process.