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Hello all,

I am a 1L starting to look into clerking, and I was wondering how heavily judges weigh UG transcripts in their hiring processes. For the highly competitive judges, can things like UG grades be dealbreakers? I'm at a T14 (in the P/V/D range) and did very well my first semester, but I am a bit worried that a slightly subpar grade I got in a law-related class during UG might come back to haunt me. I still managed to graduate summa cum laude from my UG institution. Is it nuts to nitpick like this? Someone tell me I'm nuts.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:25 am

Hello all,

I am a 1L starting to look into clerking, and I was wondering how heavily judges weigh UG transcripts in their hiring processes. For the highly competitive judges, can things like UG grades be dealbreakers? I'm at a T14 (in the P/V/D range) and did very well my first semester, but I am a bit worried that a slightly subpar grade I got in a law-related class during UG might come back to haunt me. I still managed to graduate summa cum laude from my UG institution. Is it nuts to nitpick like this? Someone tell me I'm nuts.

Lol yes this is nuts. You graduated summa cum laude.

I won't nitpick this particular candidate, who will be fine, but there are feeders that care a lot about UG institutions and grades. You can probably guess who they are.

You are kind of nuts lol and trying to bring certainty to an inherently unpredictable process. Some non-plan judges (fedsoc) will interview/hire you now if you want to end the process early.

Or you can hold off for more competitive judges. The more competitive you get, the more it comes down to soft factors and fit. For instance, Justice Rehnquist played tennis with his clerks. Some judges hire only based on recommendations from certain professors. I've heard of a judge who hires two rockstar clerks and two clerks who...um...learn from the rockstars. And with at least some of these judges, non-ivy undergrad is a setback, as is non-HYS law school.

Good luck!

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:25 am

Hello all,

I am a 1L starting to look into clerking, and I was wondering how heavily judges weigh UG transcripts in their hiring processes. For the highly competitive judges, can things like UG grades be dealbreakers? I'm at a T14 (in the P/V/D range) and did very well my first semester, but I am a bit worried that a slightly subpar grade I got in a law-related class during UG might come back to haunt me. I still managed to graduate summa cum laude from my UG institution. Is it nuts to nitpick like this? Someone tell me I'm nuts.

You’re nuts. Mostly because there’s nothing you can do about an UG grade now, so spending any energy on it at all is pointless.

Anyway, not all judges even ask for UG transcripts, and the vast majority of those that do are unlikely to care about whatever “subpar” grade didn’t prevent you from graduating summa cum laude. The ones that do care, see paragraph above.

I didn't submit undergrad grades unless they were asked for. I was a 3.2 student in undergrad who placed that in context during law school apps and ended up top 5% at a mid-T14. I was much happier to just present myself as a top 5% law school transcript and let them assume I must have also had awesome UG grades than to have to put the UG grades in context again.

But yes, if you were summa in undergrad, I'd probably say include the UG grades every time. Your transcript probably has more grades/classes that will impress a judge than give them pause.

Undergrad can matter. One class in undergrad does not matter.