So far, I got a conditional offer from KCL (presessional course for 8 weeks) and an unconditional offer from USC. Frankly, it is very difficult to make decision coz KCL has very good reputation but it is still risky if I could not pass that presessional course (I dont want to take any more IELTS test).

Someone told me that living expense in London is too expensive and it is very crowded city. However, I think it is not too much different from Los Angeles as a big city. Further, Socratic Method applied in US study is a strong point that can help quickly improve English language skills. Do you think so?

I have no specific area that I want to focus. However, I plan to attend antitrust law, securities law, insurance law and criminal procedure law classes. After my LLM study, I will come back to work in my country (with my current employer). I want to make sure that my money and time invested in LLM degree shall result in the best return.

Please help me make the right decision.

Hi, I hope my response is not too late in helping you make a decision. I studied law both in the UK (QMUL) and and the US (USC), so I'll share my experience and thoughts.

1. Living expenses: London is a notoriously expensive city. They say living expenses in LA are high, but from my experience, it costs 1.5-1.8 times more to live in London than in LA.

2. Socratic method: Socratic method is typically adopted in first year classes in US law schools. As an LLM, you'll mostly be taking upper division classes, where socratic method is not used very much. But there's ample classroom discussion in every class, and you're always encourage to speak up in class. In the UK, they usually have lectures and seminars for each class. In lectures professors teach you general principles about the subject, and there's hardly any classroom discussion. Seminars, on the other hand, are in a small group setting, typically 10-15 students each group, so you get to have more in-depth discussions in class. It's fair to say that some form of socratic method is used in these seminars.

3. Weather: This may sound like a minor point, but you'll be surprised how much weather affects your lifestyle, mood, and wellbeing in general. Southern California, including LA, has the best weather in the world. Seeing the blue sky and sunshine every morning almost all year around is a great blessing. In London, you'll have gray sky and no sunshine every morning 9 months out of the year. As you must know, it rains a lot there, or more correctly it "drizzles", and it gets so windy that carrying an umbrella makes no sense, as you get wet anyway from all the rain coming to you diagonally or horizontally as the case may be.

4. Campus life: You'll find that there's no much concept of campus life in UK schools, especially if you go to schools in a big city like London. People pretty much go to classes and head straight back home. (This may be because of the weather, since you can't really "hang out" in the rain.) It's really difficult to make friends, unless you live in student housing or you're an incredibly outgoing person. I'm a very outgoing person by any standard, and I found it quite hard to make friends in school, simply because you never get to talk to your classmates after class. In contrast, my experience in USC has been the polar opposite. I made friends with almost everyone in my LLM class (more than 90 students), and I also made friends with a good number of JD students, too. USC has a great program, called the JD/LLM Partnership Program, where each LLM student is paired up with a JD student, so that both student bodies can learn from each other's culture, background, and career, and form lasting friendships. There're also many other student organizations and activities both in law school and in USC as a whole, where you can expand your network and make your campus life more fulfilling and well-rounded, as opposed to having a year long relationship with law books and library.

5. School staff: In the UK, I found that the school staff were not very friendly to students. It seemed they're just there to do their job and they don't want to interact with students. From the 4 years I was in QMUL, hardly anyone in the office knew my name. In contrast, within less than a year of being at USC, I got to know all of the staff in the G&IP office very well. And everyone else in my class had the same experience, too. The staff at USC work so hard to make our experience in USC the best one it can be, and all their efforts paid off.

6. Class curriculum: I know that USC has great professors for all the classes you mentioned you'd like to take. I'm sure KCL offers those classes, too.

USC and KCL are both great schools. I think academically you'll not be disappointed attending either of the schools. My advice is, however, you should base your decision on what lifestyle you'd have during that one year abroad. Of course your studies are a priority, but you'd want to have a great time during your LLM studies. However subjective my view may be, I had a great time at USC, and all my classmates did, too. I believe your experience will be the same, if you decide to come here.

Let me know if you any other questions, and wish you all the best!

Yumi

Though I am too old to go back to school now, I must thank yahn for this highly helpful description of student life in London and LA. I spent nearly seven years doing my postgraduate study in the UK. I love both the country and London, where I spent most of my time there doing the research for my thesis (I registered with another university in North West England). I visited LA only once and during the visit I had an opportunity to meet with some people at USC's Department of Political Science. If were STNTOLLM, I would definitely go to USC!

Hi friends,
Finally, I make my decision to go to USC in this August. Good to hear that I make a right decision. Yumi - thank you very much for your informative advice. Also, thanks to tnuchpiam.
Cheers!