But I Want My Grades NOW! NOW NOW NOW!
It is June, and as such all of you anonymous commentors now may have a place in which to complain about grades (or the lack thereof). As a benchmark, the deadline for exams to be scored is June 7th, and the deadline for final grades to be submitted is June 15th. Of course, it is common for professors not to comply with these deadlines, so take those dates with a grain of salt. I hope everyone is having an excellent summer thus far, and that preoccupation with grades is not preventing anyone from enjoying not needing to be preoccupied with school!
posted by McTwo at 12:10 PM
15 Comments:
I have no preoccupation with grades but I have lost out on multiple job application opportunities because grades were not submitted on time. Hope my grades are submitted soon or once again I'm looking at missing out on opportunities.
It definitely hurts some clerkship applicants. If you choose to apply to off-plan judges, many of them won't accept applications until 2nd semester grades are in for 2Ls. By the time our professors get around to submitting grades, many of these positions are filled by students at our peer schools.
Why do you think the registrar removed the order of the coif grade range from the website? Do you think the average range for coif went up?
anyone know what it takes to get a distinction 2L year (either high or normal)
The requirements are the same as they were 1L year; it is impossible to give grade cutoffs since percentile breakdowns depend on the performance of each student in the class.
I know students from other schools who are mailing off-plan clerkship apps over the weekend, so it would be nice if our grades were available. On the other hand, can someone provide insight about the impact of WHEN judges receive the apps? Does it matter if we send them tomorrow or two weeks from now? Do they wait until all are received, or does it just depend on the judge?
2:46,
It depends upon the judge. If you mail a paper application to chambers, several things could happen:
1) The judge may have instructed his staff to hold applications until the OSCAR deadline, which means your app goes into a pile in a corner somewhere. (This is what my judge does, subject to #4, below)
2) The judge may look over your application and screen it according to his or her needs.
3) The judge may have his or her personal deadline for looking at them (e.g., three weeks before the hiring plan deadline, or something).
4) Your application could be processed by the judge's current clerks, who will make cutoffs based on that particular chambers' criteria.
In other words, there isn't any precise way to answer the question "when will a judge look at my paper?" If you are burning to know, you could always call chambers, explain that your grades will not be out until late June or July, and ask for advice on how to proceed.
(. . . if you want, tell them you are from Stanford. Their grades come even later than ours.)
Speaking to the broader issue of grades and clerkships: I have strong doubts that, even if your grades come in July, you will be at a substantial disadvantage. Many schools are on the quarter system – their classes don’t even END until late June. Too, most judges aren’t all that thrilled to start the hiring process early. It’s a real pain. The reason you hear so much about “off plan” judges who complete their hiring in early summer is that they are outliers; they are notable for being exceptions and not the trend. So, hang in there, and spend the next few weeks buffing out your cover letters while you wait for your grades to come. That will probably serve you better than rushing to get everything out the door now.
Good luck!
are most off plan judges circuit, or state, or whats usually the deal with that (sorry for the noob question)
3:10,
The "plan" people refer to is the "Federal Judges Law Clerk Hiring Plan." It is a non-binding guidelines that applies only to federal judges. So, state court judges are all "off-plan" be definition, and federal judges can chose to be on- or off-plan.
Based entirely on anecdote and speculation, my impression is that federal district court judges are a tad more likely to be "off the plan" on the late side (i.e., hire in October or later) and federal circuit judges are a tad more likely to be "off-plan" on the early side (i.e., hire in July and August). Note that with some exceptions those circuit judges who do hire early tend to hire clerks from district courts. Note, too, that for whatever reason the judges of the 10th Circuit almost all reject the hiring plan and hire in late summer.
Clear as mud, I know. But to reemphasize: most federal judges hire on the hiring plan. Of those who don't, few hire in June.
Thanks for the helpful info! While I have your attention if I could ask another question based on your anecdotal information:
1. What kind of grades from your experience make people competitive for
a. Fed Dist (assume geographically flexible, not gunning for NDCAL)
b. Magistrate
c. State Sup or App
2. Is it true that the employment options out of b and c are so significantly worse than A? I understand they are not as prestigious but to me it seems like just as good experience to rack up.
Thanks in advance to the alumns
1. Talk with Eric in the CDO about this. It's time well spent. He'll go through your resume and tell you how competitive your transcript is for each of those courts. For many judges it isn’t just the GPA that counts –- an HH in feminist jurisprudence and a semester of internships means a whole lot less to most federal judges than a mix of P’s and H’s in doctrinally difficult, and grade-curved, courses like Federal Courts, Con Law, Civ Pro 2, Tax, or IP.
2. I have no idea what employment prospects are like for various types of clerks, but I do know that there are great reasons to think that clerking for a magistrate or state judge will make you a better litigator than clerking for a federal district or appellate court. Magistrates are up to their elbows in discovery disputes, all day long, and state judges are often over-worked, which means busy clerks. In terms of experience, it's hard to beat that.
Anyone have any idea why Bearfacts has not updated today?
Normally updates on Saturdays...
I think only the current term grades tab updates over the weekend; the prior term grades one doesn't. No idea why.
Does anyone have any idea as to where 16/22 Hs (3 HHs, rest Hs) would put a graduating 3L in terms of class rank percentile? My guess is top 20-33% but that's not based on anything other than hearsay and rumors.
Worst post ever.
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