If I have the option of taking a general LLM between Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard, would it be crazy to choose Cambridge over the two US schools? I come from an Asian country where studying in the US is perceived as the pinnacle of quality education, with Harvard being the most famous brand name. I don't care much for reputation alone, but I just wanted to give you a background of where I'm coming from, as I am not very familiar with the relative quality of Oxbridge's postgrad law programs. I have done my research and believe Cambridge's LLM suits me better than Oxford's MJur. And the reason why I'm considering Cambridge over the US schools is that its LLM courses are for LLM students, unlike in the US where LLM students attend the same class as JD students.

As I mentioned, I'll be basing my decision not on reputation but on the quality of professors and students. The way I view it now is that the difference in terms of quality is hairline, and you can't go wrong either way. But I read somewhere that Oxbridge's graduate admissions standards are lower than the US big 3 (Yale, Harvard, Stanford). Not sure if there's any truth to this, but I wanted to hear the insights in this community, particularly those who have attended Oxbridge or the US big 3.

[Edited by robot6 on Apr 03, 2017]

1. It is not true that Oxbridge's admission standards are lower than Harvard. If anything, I know many of my friends whom Cambridge rejected but Harvard took them and vice versa. Admission teams looks at more than just your grades.

2. Your decision on where you want to go should be more than just names. Yale for example expressly makes it clear that it is grooming people for the academia and requires that sort of commitment in your application so if you are into academia, by all means choose Yale. For Cambridge and Harvard, it comes down to personal preferences. While Harvard offers over hundreds of courses to choose from in its catalogue (some of which are clearly duplicated, some of which include clinics etc), Cambridge will give you max 40 subjects with no duplication in any of them. If you are looking at international law specialism, by all means, you cannot get better than Cambridge if you were to choose. There is also the fact that only Oxbridge have a collegiate system whose importance I cannot emphasize enough.
But then there is Harvard and the mere prestige of going to Harvard. That prestige did not sway me at the time and I headed off to Cambridge. It probably wouldnt sway me even today. I was looking for more than just prestige; I was looking for support, for a common law education, for diversity, for acceptance of my skin color, for openness, for a good corporate law specialism etc and that is why i took Cambridge.

But regardless of what you choose, remember that these are the top 2 law schools in the world so you cannot go wrong with either of them.

Congratulations on being accepted in those great universities.

In your case I woul select Harvard or Yale... I do not know exactly where do you live, but I think that in the law industry the prestige of US Universities is bigger than UK in the majority of countries.

Also you are not talking about any school of US, you are talkning of Yale and Harvard! the top law schools in US... I think Yale is better but the brand of Harvard is unbeatable.

But as the previous comment said, you cannot be wrong selecting any of those schools.

I assume you plan to go to academia. In my personal opinion, Cambirdge's PhD is recognized wordwidely. PhD is in a better position than SJD when entering into academia.
If you are choosing between Harvard and Yale, I would suggest Harvard both in legal practice and academic area. One should definitely choose Harvard if he or she would like to go into practice afterwards. In addition, Harvard's SJD program is the best one in U.S., and their graduates seek jobs much better than Yale.
Last, you can't go wrong either way.