Judge Patricia Millett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Tuesday that if she were applying for a clerkship at her court now, she would not get the job because competition has become so intense.

“It is an overwhelming process in many ways,” Millett said in describing the annual task of hiring four clerks for her chambers from “hundreds” of applications. “Virtually all of them have better qualifications than I do. I could not get hired for a D.C. Circuit clerkship.”