When to Gear Up to Apply Next Year? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello! To-the-point post since I am a bit lost in terms of where to go. I am a reasonably competitive applicant who received 2 interviews last week, but neither materialized into an offer (1 COA rejection, 1 Dist Ct outstanding for ~6 business days which I expect means rejection). Stats are: ranked top 10 at my T6 (hovering around 4.0 GPA); no LR which I know is a huge ding; clear public interest background with national impact litigation both summers. Enthusiastic recommenders, though less connected than big names at my school. My school's tracker shows that most of the judges I'd applied to (located in NYC, 2nd Cir, 9th Cir, and a few 6th Cir) have already begun interviewing (and many are filled on OSCAR by now), so I don't anticipate anything new coming in unless I'm mistaken on how this works and some judges will interview later into the year.

My question is pretty much the title- when should I move my energy away from scanning OSCAR for the current cycle/desperately applying to pre-plan OSCAR posts and just say I'll do it again next year? Does clerkship apps as a 3L mean I'm just passively looking throughout the year and applying? Also, do clerkships in competitive jx actually open up intermittently, or are circuit judges + competitive districts filling up completely on plan week, and I'm left applying for 2028 and beyond next summer? Truly was hoping I would not be in this position and thought stats would carry a little more weight lol but advice appreciated.

[Anonymous User]

Just keep applying throughout the year. I got my first clerkship for a COA in February of my 3L year.

Also I wouldn't say that you're toast for this cycle. It's only been a week and things have slowed dramatically, but the show isn't over yet.

[Anonymous User]

I’ve only been following the past 2 cycles, so YMMV, but clerkships in competitive places will continue to trickle in well into next spring. At that point you’re sort of competing with grads who may have similar credentials + attractive work experience, but your stats should definitely keep you in the mix. I feel like law school offices make a much bigger deal of The Plan and this chaotic launch week than is perhaps warranted at this point. Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

[Anonymous User]

Seconding: I do think fancy public interest in particular + no flagship LR is an increasingly common (and legitimate) path. It’s a political time sink headache, most iterations at most fancy schools, and not really worth it unless you get an interesting note published or something. A sign of sound judgment in my book, frankly, but I’m not a federal judge.

[Anonymous User]

I know it feels bad, but don’t sweat it—this is just the start of a long race. A lot of my friends picked up clerkships during 3L (including for competitive judges in New York and DC), and the process is a lot more humane and reasonable than plan week.

Keep an eye on OSCAR, but in general, judges will start to think about hiring in the new year, and in particular within a month or two of the plan date. This is also kind of obvious advice, but if you’re dead set on a particular district or circuit, it can’t hurt to take a class or two with one of the professors known for placing students there and try to cultivate that relationship. (There were certainly known profs for CA2 and CA9 at my law school).

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

I would take this post with a grain of salt. Poster seems disgruntled over the I/P conflict more than anything else. Law review is still a significant boost for many judges, but you have the grades to overcome the lack of law review experience. Agree that many students get very competitive clerkships during 3L. I noticed a wave shortly after graduation at my school.

[Anonymous User]

My question is pretty much the title- when should I move my energy away from scanning OSCAR for the current cycle/desperately applying to pre-plan OSCAR posts and just say I'll do it again next year? Does clerkship apps as a 3L mean I'm just passively looking throughout the year and applying? Also, do clerkships in competitive jx actually open up intermittently, or are circuit judges + competitive districts filling up completely on plan week, and I'm left applying for 2028 and beyond next summer? Truly was hoping I would not be in this position and thought stats would carry a little more weight lol but advice appreciated.

I struck out on plan, continued to apply through the summer (fruitless), lined up a district (though not a 'competitive' district) in the fall, and a COA when the plan window opened my 3L year. I kept looking/applying a few times a month through 3L year. In your circumstances, I think it'd make sense to just keep applying.

I don't think you're left applying for 2028. Many, many on-plan judges only filled for 2025-26 last week. I did not apply to NYC/2d Cir so I don't know if the timing is different there, but there are plenty of 9th Cir spots left for 26-27 and 27-28.

Things I did in my 3L year that I think measurably helped me in reapplying: As already suggested in this thread, I made a point to take classes with professors who I knew were well-connected/would be good recommenders. I took a class with one, then did a directed study that produced a paper I published in one of the secondary journals. I think that experience going through drafts and talking through issues helped produce a good rec letter (+call) that made a difference. Having a publication on my resume probably helped too. I also took a bunch of the doctrinal classes you can find recommended on here, just so my transcript looked a little more substantive — I don't think I had many "law &" classes my first time applying, but I don't think adding some of the more commonly looked-for doctrinals hurt either.

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

I would take this post with a grain of salt. Poster seems disgruntled over the I/P conflict more than anything else. Law review is still a significant boost for many judges, but you have the grades to overcome the lack of law review experience. Agree that many students get very competitive clerkships during 3L. I noticed a wave shortly after graduation at my school.

I’m the anon who wrote this. I could care less about the conflict (I’m on neither side), but even prior to that, it’s an open secret (at least at my T6) that write-on grading is far from being blind, diversity is what matters the most, and certain leadership roles always get spots (think LALSA/BLSA president) if they want. I know my judges (district and COA) did not care in the least and a ton of the clerks from top schools with excellent grades were not on LR.

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

I would take this post with a grain of salt. Poster seems disgruntled over the I/P conflict more than anything else. Law review is still a significant boost for many judges, but you have the grades to overcome the lack of law review experience. Agree that many students get very competitive clerkships during 3L. I noticed a wave shortly after graduation at my school.

I’m the anon who wrote this. I could care less about the conflict (I’m on neither side), but even prior to that, it’s an open secret (at least at my T6) that write-on grading is far from being blind, diversity is what matters the most, and certain leadership roles always get spots (think LALSA/BLSA president) if they want. I know my judges (district and COA) did not care in the least and a ton of the clerks from top schools with excellent grades were not on LR.

Law review selection is a joke these days but unfortunately it does mean something to many judges. Saying it “signals nothing” is just not true. May be true for a portion of federalist society judges. It doesn’t help your credibility that you don’t seem to know the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less.”

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

I would take this post with a grain of salt. Poster seems disgruntled over the I/P conflict more than anything else. Law review is still a significant boost for many judges, but you have the grades to overcome the lack of law review experience. Agree that many students get very competitive clerkships during 3L. I noticed a wave shortly after graduation at my school.

I’m the anon who wrote this. I could care less about the conflict (I’m on neither side), but even prior to that, it’s an open secret (at least at my T6) that write-on grading is far from being blind, diversity is what matters the most, and certain leadership roles always get spots (think LALSA/BLSA president) if they want. I know my judges (district and COA) did not care in the least and a ton of the clerks from top schools with excellent grades were not on LR.

Law review selection is a joke these days but unfortunately it does mean something to many judges. Saying it “signals nothing” is just not true. May be true for a portion of federalist society judges. It doesn’t help your credibility that you don’t seem to know the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less.”

Different anon. My judge is very liberal and was joking about law review with the interns last week - basically telling them to take hard classes and do well instead of wasting their time doing law review if they’re serious about clerking. I did law review and it taught me skills, so I recommend it to people, but I know that at my school (lower t-14), grades was not really a factor. Diversity (race, sexual orientation, first gen) was really paramount to selection.

[Anonymous User]

Law review (especially at a school like Columbia) is an absolute joke. It signals nothing. And trust me, if the judge isn’t aware (most are - law review doesn’t correlate with grades at all for most top ones), the clerks do and will let them know. You will land a clerkship, don’t worry.

I would take this post with a grain of salt. Poster seems disgruntled over the I/P conflict more than anything else. Law review is still a significant boost for many judges, but you have the grades to overcome the lack of law review experience. Agree that many students get very competitive clerkships during 3L. I noticed a wave shortly after graduation at my school.

I’m the anon who wrote this. I could care less about the conflict (I’m on neither side), but even prior to that, it’s an open secret (at least at my T6) that write-on grading is far from being blind, diversity is what matters the most, and certain leadership roles always get spots (think LALSA/BLSA president) if they want. I know my judges (district and COA) did not care in the least and a ton of the clerks from top schools with excellent grades were not on LR.

Law review selection is a joke these days but unfortunately it does mean something to many judges. Saying it “signals nothing” is just not true. May be true for a portion of federalist society judges. It doesn’t help your credibility that you don’t seem to know the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less.”

Different anon. My judge is very liberal and was joking about law review with the interns last week - basically telling them to take hard classes and do well instead of wasting their time doing law review if they’re serious about clerking. I did law review and it taught me skills, so I recommend it to people, but I know that at my school (lower t-14), grades was not really a factor. Diversity (race, sexual orientation, first gen) was really paramount to selection.

Different anon. I was on law review at a CCN and are selections process was an absolute shit show just from every perspective. If I was a judge and knew what went on behind closed doors I'd ascribe no signaling factor to it. that being said, still happy I did it because some people in the legal industry still see it as valuable (even though, imo, they shouldn't).

[Anonymous User]

There has certainly been a shift in the judiciary. Judges have definitely noticed that many candidates graduating summa cum laude from Harvard and equivalent schools are not being accepted to law review, highlighting how disconnected law review membership has become from actual merit.

[Anonymous User]

At Penn, despite how political Law Review is, practically everyone from the most recent graduating class who got a clerkship (not counting state courts) was on Law Review. Granted, Penn Law Review considers grades and has grade on spots.