Hello!

I am a 24 year old norwegian law school student and am now attending my fourth year of the Master degree (total 5 years) at the University of Oslo.

Instead of doing my fifth year in Oslo, or maybe the year after that, I am looking to do an LLM abroad. At this point I am not quite sure what I would prefer to specialize in, but I am leaning towards either EU law, competition law and/or some international law. Depending on what I ultimately decide on (or maybe a more general LLM? Any thoughts?) I wish to try my luck at the top law schools in the US or UK. My question to everyone is: Do I have a chance? Which law schools will be out of my league ? And which should I seek to apply to, given my interests stated above?

As for grades I have five out of six A’s (scale A-F) after my first three years at UiO Law and one B. (About 5-10 % recieve an A on each exam, and between 20-25 recieves a B). Unfortunately, we have no official ranking.

Regarding recommendations this is usually very difficult to achieve in Norway, as students do not have close relationship with our professors. However, do I choose to take the fifth year in Norway, before I take my LLM, I believe I would be able to get theese recommendations in connection with a possible position as a scientifical assitance at the faculty.

By now I 've had three internships/trainee-positions at some of the biggest law firms in Norway in addition to an internship at the legislation department of the Ministry of Justice. From all these employers I have good recommendations.

I very much appreciate every advice you could give me on this matter.

Best regards,

JohnDoe4

Anyone? I would be very thankful..

To me your profile sounds really good. Think you have good chances at any University you want. Ok, some might be more competitive, but I think all of them are worth a try and you should have good chances. Apart from that consider that the Skandinavien countries have a good reputation when it comes to education. Every University is happy to have some students from there. So, I think you won't have big problems. Just choose a Uni!

Your educational background sounds outstanding, so I wish you the best of luck for your LL.M abroad. I would suggest a general LL.M, and then you could one of the concentrations that many universities use to offer. any previous experience abroad to boost your application, like an erasmus program? could be an asset to push you trough the admissions selection successfully. However, no it's almost time to prepare your application form and submit it asap. best of luck

Thank you very much for your advice!

If you think you need any further advice, feel free to contact me anytime. I'm in your same position, so I'm now sending my first application to some of the top law school. cornell, duke, northwestern and some others already accept applications for 2009 llm class. other schools wont open their own admissions before september 1st

Thank you again Stagista. I am sure I could use your help;) Right now I am considering HLS, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge and LSE. I know however that the competition here is hard, but due to the inputs by you guys I will take a shot at it. Best of luck!

Someone else has a different opinion or someone else to make some inputs that will raise my chanses?