Hey everyone.

I'm trying to do a survey of perceptions of the LLM programme at the College of Europe in Bruges. What are your honest perceptions of the quality of this programme? Do you think that it is overhyped, or do you think that it is a worthwhile endeavour? Has anyone done the programme and would you recommend it? Do you know any graduates of the programme, and how would you rate their intellectual abilities? How would you compare this programme to others? I'm very interested in your responses, and I hope this will spark off a debate.

Regards
ciunas

I didn't apply to Bruges as I was only interested in American LL.M. programs. However, in Italy there is a huge number of lawyers in top law firms who were graduated from the College of Europe. To be sure, many of them went on to attend other schools (Oxbridge, LSE, Top 10 in USA) soon after graduating. Perhaps some of them viewed the school as an intermediate step towards more prestigious institutions; others might have felt they had to refine their education further. However, the great success of College's graduates in my country remains a fact, perhaps due to our inferiority complex towards european union institutions.

I'm afraid that my previous posts show I am a devotee of the Bruges program. I attended the College and I remain in close contact with it. I teach EU competition law at a French university, and I have contacts in academia all over Europe. Honestly, Briges is the best program on EU law around, by far. And it is an exciting social experience. A previous poster says that some people view it as a stepping stone to "more prestigious" institutions, but I really don't think any of them can compare as far as teaching *in EU law* is concerned. Careful: this doe nos mean that a degree from Harvard is not more valuable in the marketplace. It is. But not because you will learn more EU law. Bruges has the advantage of specialisation: no other school anywhere offers twenty or thirty courses on EU law of such a high quality. But of course you will not study anything else there. At a top US school you can study US constitutional law, racial discrimination law, learn with a different method...it is also a wonderful experience. This, (and perhaps the "inferiority complex"?) explains why people having attended the College still think it worth doing another LL.M. at a top US law school or Oxbridge. Some people think that a degree from Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Stanford, Michigan or Berkeley sounds better than one from Bruges in many places in the world, so these are very valuable diplomas. I am guilty myself of that complex: I attended a top-10 US law school after the College. It was worth it in its own right (in particular because I wanted to learn US antitrust law). But what I know of European law I learned at Bruges, and I sincerely can't think of any other place where the standard of excellence in EU law is so high. So if you are seriously interested *in EU law*, dont hesitate and apply. If, instead, you want a wonderful academic experience and a "big name" diploma but not necessarily centered on EU law, then look for something else, perhaps in the US.