*xposted in the USA forum*

my academic interest is in public law/public international law - specifically, the management of ethnic and religious minorities. i have an undergraduate llb, recently acquired an oxon bcl (but didn't do any international law at oxford for various reasons) and am working outside of my academic interests at the moment. but my intention is, and has always been, to teach the subjects i love at my local university. i want to go back to school and eventually work towards a phd in this area. as a first step, i'd like to get a topical llm, but i won't be able to do this without funding (pref merit-based, since i fall in that excluded middle - i wouldn't qualify for a needs-based award, but i am not swimming in funds either). i am considering either the cantab llm (with the gates scholarship) or the nyu llm (with the hauser). having spent a year in england, i don't know if i want to go back there so soon - but what is the sense of those of you in the know? would my second llm year be better spent at cambridge, or at nyu? i know both institutions are very strong indeed, but i have never known anyone to do a lateral comparison. would be very grateful for insights!

Cambridge have an excellent reputation for International law as do NYU. But if you look at the choice of courses at Cambridge it really does show how much expertise they have in this area. If it were my choice I would go for reputation, therefore Cambridge. But there really is not a great deal between the two. Good luck with your decision!

Although I'm going to Cambridge next year, I would recommend NYU (or Columbia, but I'm biased). The classes may have slightly different focuses, but it sounds like you need a new angle. However, I continually hear that the courses are more demanding than at Cambridge and so you may not have as much time for independent research.

NYU.

I kew someone who had a choice between Scholarship to NYU (Hauser) and scholarship to Cambridge and wanted to specialise in public international law. He chose Cambridge. However, he had just graduated, and wanted to go to Harvard at some stage (and did). Very different circumstances. Having done the Oxford BCL I really dont think you should do the Cambridge LLM. You've been through that system, Oxford is more demanding from what I understand, and I think a change would be good. There are also a number of other reasons for choosing NYU over Cambridge:

1: They have phenomenal links with international organisations all over the world and in New York. If you are a Hauser Scholar you would have incredible opportunities for internships. I know someone from Ireland who went there specialising in international law and won a scholarship, exclusive to NYU graduates, which funded him for a year to clerk for the International Criminal Court. You just wont get those kinds of opportunities in Cambridge.

2: If your intention is to lecture at University, then you need a doctorate. NYU is the only law school in the US that doesnt charge fees to their doctoral candidates as of this year! That's an SJD, from the1st ranked law school in international law in the US, without being charged for it. They also have a specialised internationl LLM/SJD course for people who want to specialise in international law.

3: The administration in NYU are fantastic. I had my acceptance fed exed to me. They e-mailed the day they said they would to tell me I was admitted. Sent on loads of supposrting material, kept in constant contact with me, and couldnt have been nicer. They can accomodate ALL incoming LLM's, in beautiful buildings, state of the art facilities, located at the centre of the New York social scene. Cambridge administration on the other hand were absolutely atrocious. At one stage they thought I was Swedish and asked me to prove I could speak English, but I wont go into that again.

I chose Cambridge, but I have very different reasons for wanting an LLM, and England made more sense than US. Anyway, I hope you find this useful. Good luck with applications, but I have a feeling you wont have any bother.

thanks all, esp irishguy23. that was incredibly useful.

it'll be some while yet before i need to start putting in applications (i'd like to go in '08), so time to start getting into PIL high gear again!