Hi

I am presently studying in the fourth year of NALSAR i.e. an Indian Law School in the five year programme of B.A. LLb Hons. which is an undergradate degree. I am keen on an LLM from UK or USA. I kno its a bit early since I would be applying in 2010 November in my Fifth year.

Although, I am very confused about the requirments to secure a position in the better law schools. I was reading the discussion on this site and thought that some experienced chaps could help me.

I wanted to apply to Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, NYU, Stanford, Harvard. NALSAR the place im studying from is arguably the best law school of the country, due to which it becomes very difficult to mainatain a good rank within the class. With a CGPA of 6.6 / 8 I have managed to be in the top 20% of the class. I have won two All India moot court competitions and worked with professors, judges, lawyers and ngo`s by the end of the third year. I have 1 and half year to go before I apply for my LLM. I have also been to some international conferences and two or three publications.

I am very keen on getting into one of the abovementioned institutions. This year some 4 people got thru oxford and 4 at nyu from nalsar out of a class of 80 which is the batch size.

I wanted to kno, that what should i do in the next one and half yrs to improve my chances of getting through a desired LLM. Considering moving up the rank ladder for grades has become very difficult as the class has the most competitive and intelligent students of the country. Which institutions could be gud for internships. Does conferences help or publications? Does specialisation in one particular area help and should i concentrate my domain of activities only on one path or should the CV be very diverse and involved in multidisciplinary fields.

For refrees, only academic refrees are eligible, and cant i take a recommendation from one of the judges i have interned with? Would the fact that im in the top 20% of the class spoil my chances of getting through? Would the fact that my graduation colege is one of the best in the country help?

Kindly answer to my queries as I am confused on these issues. it could be of great help if someone acquainted in these areas could help.

I think being 20% of the class is going to be aginst you if you plan to go to those Unis but I guess it would also depend on how may other experiences you have and you add to your current curriculum. However you still have more time left so try to improve your grades as much as you can because they usually accept people who are ranked among 10 or 5% in their class. So yes ranking and grades its extremely important. You should be aware that if you do not meet their requirements your application will not be considered so you have to think about unis that will let you in with your grades. UCL, kings etc, which are very good universities.
Per example I applied to LSE and got rejected and i was 10% of my class, had lots of work and volunteering experience and spoke many languages. However i was not considered so i do think your grades are extremely extremely important. So its ok to dream high yes but also apply to uni you can be certain you will be accepted otherwise if none of them accepts you will be stock for one more year until the following year! just have an open mind and looks for several options.

I do think you should choose a field of specialization and then focus most of your extracurricular activites towards this topic. I think if they see you are focused on some particular subject and you are working to obtain several experiences to improve your knowledge in this field will help you.

Regarding references, I do think you can use one academic reference and one work reference, like from one of the judges you have interned with. Check this requirement on the websites of the unis you want to apply because some many ask only for academic references.

I think coming from a prestigious university helps but like I said before its nothing compared to your grades. A friend of mine went to a pretty small university in my home country (Latin America) but she was 5% of the class and only had A's and got accepted into Harvard.

Internships you can find in many places it would depend on which will be your field of specialization and you would like to focus in.

Right now im an internship at the UN so I can recommend the website I used to decide to which UN agency apply. There are other agencies and places you can apply too. Anyways here is the website in case you are interested in checking the internships they offer and the requirements.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/internships.htm

Good luck and I hope this post helps you a little bit :)

thx a lot

it will really help
although i must inform u tht 4 students have got thru oxford this year from my college, out of which 2 are in top 15% and one in 30% of the class. But, they do have excellent extra curricular. ur studyin in an american law skool?

No, I studied law in my home country Panama and now Im going to so my LLM in University College London this September 2009.

I think you should then give it a try! the last thing u have to let go its hope!!