Hello,
I'm an American with a JD from a top 10 US law school, but not Harvard or Yale. I placed in the top 2-3% of my class. I'm thinking of applying for an Oxford BCL or a Cambridge LLM, and I wanted to know (a) about how likely am I to get admitted?, (b) are there a lot of Americans at either place?, and (c) how rigorous is either program compared with an American JD?

Thanks!

Hi, first off I agree - summer is better.

Second, I have done the BCL and am currently completing the LLM at Harvard. My thoughts, which are drawn from my experience on the BCL - but which I think apply more generally to other programs - are:

(a) quite likely - there were a two ex-JD's on the BCL when I took it. But it is not a common route for JD's. My impression is that they would be happy to have high ranking graduates from high ranking American law schools.

(b) already answered in relation to the BCL. There are a few at Cambridge too I believe, but they have gone through the Harvard-Cambridge joint degree program (a JD and LLM in 4 years). I'm not sure how many come from other law schools, but my guess would be not many at all. Its worth bearing in mind that you will likely - because of the structure of Ox/Cam colleges - be mixing with graduates from lots of other departments, many of whom will be American.

(c) My experience is that the BCL is more rigorous than Harvard, if by rigorous one means requiring more theoretical sophistication/analytical ability. But if by rigorous ones means more demanding in terms of time, then I would say a JD is more rigorous. At Harvard I'm always having to hand essays/reflection papers in and prepare for classes, on the BCL (certainly for the first half of the year, before one-on-one tutorials began) it was much more do-it-yourself. If I was asked to choose which program was the bigger intellectual challenge I would without doubt say Ox/Cam.

Hope that was clear!?

Thanks! One thing I'm concerned about is funding; I gather there's lots available, but it does it normally go to UK (or at least EU) students?

How'd you end up doing both the BCL and the LLM by the way?

I'm not sure, but I think you can get US federal student aid (FAFSA and all that) if you go to Oxford or Cambridge. At least that is the impression that I got. Let me know if you believe otherwise.