Hi there!
This is Irene from Beijing, China.
I am a senior student from Department of Law, Beijing Foreign Studies University,
I have received several conditional offers from UCL, Durham, Warwick, Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham university for LLM study starting in late September 2006.
I guess I will accept Durham (LLM in International Trade and Commercial Law), but I'm not sure whether it is the right decision.
Some of my friends recommend UCL because London is a big city with more job opportunities, and UCL enjoys a larger worldwide reputation. But some lawyers from the law office where I interned for several months recommend Durham.
I'm not sure which to choose yet. Probably, I'll go to Durham.
I wonder is there anyone else who's planning to study in Durham, or who's studying in Durham right now? I hope we could exchange information with each other.
It would be a great pleasure to make new friends from afar.
Thanks a million.

Hi Irene!
I am from beijing,too, a senior at the Unversity of International Business and Economics~~~and I also applied to the two law schools you have mentioned above,but have not yet received any news from them,cos I guess,I applied too late. Actually I will go to the US instead. yet it seems good for us to make friends cos we are both LLM candidates,do you think so?BTW, my name is Melody~hoho~~~

Anyway,back to your question, I will vote for UCL. London is a great city, and quite obviously UCL enjoys better reputation and higher ranking than Duham. Last, from the begining of the application, I found Durham is lack of sufficient introduction to its LLM program, compared to UCL,LSE, etc., at least on the website.
Just some of my view for your reference, and probably with bias,after all I am not so familiar with these two schools~~hoho~~~*-*

hi, i am from China University of Political Science and Law.
I have received offers from Durham and UCL too and i don't know which one is better for me as well.

Hello!

I did my undergraduate degree in London and then did a LLM in Lancaster Uni and I generally had a much better time in Lancaster thanks to the campus life.

Durham has an excellent reputation in the UK. It's in a beautiful area of England and if I remember well it's collegiate (like Oxford, Cambridge etc.). I would recommend it as it is smaller than UCL you might get a better experience (more attention from tutors/lecturers etc) than at UCL where there will be a lot more students competing for attention :-).

The trouble with London, especially for a year, is that everything is always far. Even if you can stay in halls of residence travelling to class takes a long time. London is also an outrageously expensive city.

As for working in Britain afterwards, don't hold your breath. I had some friends at university from China and Singapore and they had enormous trouble finding someone who would sponsor them for a work permit even though they were brilliant students with distinctions all round. It can happen, but it's very rare.

I hope this helps,

Jessica

I'd certainly agree that London is regarded by many as the expensive place in the UK to study (and work).

Kings College suggest students should allow for just under £10,000 for living expenses per year in London (kcl.ac.uk/pg/funding/living.html)

British Council (http://www.educationuk.org/pls/hot_bc/page_pls_user_advice?b=advice&d=costs) say that average living costs (covering accommodation, food, clothing, books, entertainment and travel) for an international student on a postgrad degree course are £768 per month in London and £600 per month elsewhere. Which leave a student outside of London with over 25% more cash in their pocket!