After you submit how soon are apps likely to be reviewed? Do judges get emails as they come in or do they have to log in to review? I’m curious about how things work behind the scenes. Thank you!
They won’t release the app until the stated plan date. But they may be changing it soon to deal with all the off plan judges.
I thought Oscar only holds applications for current students. What about graduates?
You are right. They only hold apps for rising 3Ls for now. Sorry, stuck in my student mode.
The system sends notifications when new apps are available if the option is turned on. They then log in to view the apps. Your app should be available to view as soon as you submit it if you are a 3L or alum.
Thank you!
How long is the average turn around for grads?
Impossible to say. It totally depends on the judge. Some judges review applications as soon as they come in, interview right away, and hire the first person they like; some wait to get some kind of critical mass of applicants and then interview/decide.
Say a judge has multiple application postings on Oscar. What is the protocol? Do you only apply for one? What about when they have 2 years (say 2014 and 2015). Is is proper to simply state on the 2014 cover letter that you are interested in both or should you submit applications to each? Thanks!
Is Oscar down for judges too? I thought originally it was supposed to be open to them, but now it looks like it is closed to everyone.
I think it’s closed to everyone, although they can go back in a couple of days earlier.
Update: Oscar posted a new blog. Applicants will be limited to 100 applications on a rolling basis.
Well, that’s just another stroke in the death knell of OSCAR/the plan - everyone will just go back to applying outside of OSCAR.
OSCAR is such a joke. Here’s how to do it: Have OSCAR (but have the website not be so buggy and difficult) and then (1) let anyone apply at anytime, no limitations (2) upload your transcript instead of manually entering all your grades.
I know judges like OSCAR, because it’s easier for them to weed candidates out and reject them with a touch of a button. Which sort of sucks for applicants. 
And yeah, the transcript function is really weird - I don’t know why anyone thought that was a good idea.
I do see that OSCAR now indicates whether a judge identifies as following the plan or not, though (I still get alerts for new clerkships in certain locations because I’ve been too lazy to cancel it), and that seems potentially pretty helpful. Of course, judges have to hire through OSCAR in the first place for it to really help.
Can you log onto OSCAR? Mine says down until the 12th.
Wow,at https://oscar.uscourts.gov/online_by_circuit you can see statistics by circuit. It shows number of positions and number of applications.
For example, for 13 D.C. Cir. positions, there were 9,433 applications.
For 35 2d. Cir. positions, there were 10,022 applications.
For 56 9th Cir. positions, there were 19,101 applications.
And this is just on OSCAR.
OSCAR is now available to judges…it will be reopened to everyone on the 12th.
No, but the clerkship alerts come via e-mail and I got one today (or yesterday) despite OSCAR being down.
ETA: The map with the number of applications is horrifying. (There’s one for district courts, too.) Holy CRAP.
Using thee Oscar stats,
DC Cir is most competitive, with 725 applicants per judge, 1st Cir is next with 410 per judge.
In a statistical oddity (or the data is corrupt) 9th and 8th cir are next have excatly the same number of applicants/judge with 341
6th cir is least competitive.
I would assume that feeder judges get the disproportionate number of applications in each circuit.
#J Cir #app #app/judge
9 1 3695 410.000000000
35 2 10022 286.000000000
25 3 6726 269.000000000
7 4 1983 283.000000000
32 5 6418 200.000000000
18 6 2789 154.000000000
11 7 2450 222.000000000
14 8 4774 341.000000000
56 9 19101 341.000000000
12 10 2483 206.000000000
14 11 3540 252.000000000
17 FED 4047 238.000000000
13 DC 9433 725.000000000
Yes waaay too much time on my hands
That’s pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!