I can confirm Columbia is already communicating early application admissions, 3 of my friends that applied there were contacted by the Dean of Admissions Office.

I can confirm that what I've been telling you so long it's just the every-day rule...if you have some friend studying somewhere in the US, you can ask him/her about this. It's not a gamble as you're not going to give up your admission. the worst-case scenario? they reply you no scholarship...you've absolutely nothing to lose. tell them you really wanna go to Duke, but that you're looking for some money...

Due to all the discussions here I have atleast figured out that I wont get through CLS... atleast through the early review application... so that means waiting for an email stating either rejection or may be deferral to the regular cycle... but this month and the next few months are going to be horrible...aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!

And of course I am not Barazilian or South American .. but I guess all that is mere conjecture.. I am from India and I know 4-5 persons (from India) who got through CLS last year but none of them had gotten through the early review process..

Due to all the discussions here I have atleast figured out that I wont get through CLS... atleast through the early review application... so that means waiting for an email stating either rejection or may be deferral to the regular cycle... but this month and the next few months are going to be horrible...aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!

And of course I am not Barazilian or South American .. but I guess all that is mere conjecture.. I am from India and I know 4-5 persons (from India) who got through CLS last year but none of them had gotten through the early review process..

Yes, don't lose hope! i believe most people still haven't heard from CLS, and inferred from last year posts, people who got in thru early review received acceptance notices until late December! (that's my way to deal with the waiting and stress i.e. reading and reading again all past years threads :)
the waiting is harsh, i keep speculating and wondering about my chances of admission or rejection, i guess everyone does the same, but at the end we can never really know what any law school looks for, so even if your friends from India got in thru regular cycle, you can always be admitted during early review!! you may have a very pleasant surprise!!
let's keep our fingers crossed and our hopes high! :))

Thanks laodeshu and oakland... Hope that we can all hear something positive by end of the month.. am trying not to lose hope but I dont have great credentials so... but whatever... the good thing though is this site and the posts which are really helping me to get through knowing that there are fellow candidates out there who can understand and are able to share their thoughts.... So cheers!!!!

Best

Yes, don't lose hope! i believe most people still haven't heard from CLS, and inferred from last year posts, people who got in thru early review received acceptance notices until late December! (that's my way to deal with the waiting and stress i.e. reading and reading again all past years threads :)
the waiting is harsh, i keep speculating and wondering about my chances of admission or rejection, i guess everyone does the same, but at the end we can never really know what any law school looks for, so even if your friends from India got in thru regular cycle, you can always be admitted during early review!! you may have a very pleasant surprise!!
let's keep our fingers crossed and our hopes high! :))

I have talked to a guy from USC admissions (on the LLM day in Frankfurt in late October), and he was so nice and made a great impression on me! To bad it was after I got all my transcripts and LoRs already, so I couldn't really apply to USC anymore. I have also some information materials, and I would definitily pick USC over UCLA...it seems to be a better school. Why do you wanna go to UCLA?

In fact USC and UCLA is equally good and some of the posts here did recommend USC for those taking CA bar exam.

Not sure at the moment as the decision would be complicated as i need to take into account of scholarship / funding etc.

But how does USC better than UCLA, in what way, after your conversation with the USC admissions? Can you share?

Where else did you apply?

It was just an impression I had... nothing that I could validate with facts or statistics :) And as I didn't apply to those schools I have no idea if the impression I had is correct or not. I was interested in media law, information law etc. and they seemed to have good courses in those fields of law.

I am applying to HLS, CLS, NYU, UC Berkley and UofMinnesota (1st. choice, next to HLS). But as I don't really have a lot of work experience (just a part time job in a law firm, traineeships) and I did not graduate in the top 1 % of my class, I don't really think I have any chances to get into HLS. So I am hoping for UofM and praying they might grant me a scholarship.

@mushroom77....i'm from india too....dnt loose hope.......have you applied to NYU n NYU@NUS???????.....i know many indians who got admission in NYU@NUS last year.......

and @all......even i dnt have much of experience....just 1 yr work ex......my academic record though was good......top 1%.........but still i think HLS asks for more than dat........do they really consider publication of articles and involvement in co-curricular activities????????

It was just an impression I had... nothing that I could validate with facts or statistics :) And as I didn't apply to those schools I have no idea if the impression I had is correct or not. I was interested in media law, information law etc. and they seemed to have good courses in those fields of law.

I am applying to HLS, CLS, NYU, UC Berkley and UofMinnesota (1st. choice, next to HLS). But as I don't really have a lot of work experience (just a part time job in a law firm, traineeships) and I did not graduate in the top 1 % of my class, I don't really think I have any chances to get into HLS. So I am hoping for UofM and praying they might grant me a scholarship.

:) no I won't take the bar exam. I don't think I will be able to stay in the US to work there, and in Poland (where I am actually from, but currently living and studying in Germany) they don't really care if you have or don't have the bar exam. I am doing the LLM mainly to bridge the time between my studies and my practical traineeship. And I don't really wanna sit for 3 months and learn after I am done with the LLM to just take another exam ;) I wanna spend those 3 months traveling around the States :D thats my plan.

Fair enough - thanks for letting me know the Polish system. And traveing around US after graduation would be one of the most fantastic experience in your life.

just curious, why UofM is your top choice?

I was in Minnesota as a foreign exchange student in 2000/2001 and just loved it there. The people, the state... its just amazing! Thats why I wanna go back there so much :)

Discounting CLS, do you think that we could hear from others Top 10 Law School by the end of the year? I am specially interested in: UPenn, NYU and Chicago.
Thanks!

Hi Brightest... with regard to HLS I know of really strange admissions also... so i dont really know what HLS expects... I have applied to NYU though not the NYU/NUS program...

I have just one question though generally... Is the Dean of Admissions going to call in case we are admitted to CLS... this whole CLS thing is driving me crazy!!!! I somehow know that I wont make it through the early review but i wish to god i get some email or call or whatever from them and get confirmation as to what is happening instead of thinking of checking my email every minute!!!!!!!!

Maybe the acceptance process has changed for CLS BUT I work at a law firm in NY where I have met about 8 Columbia LLM graduates and none of them received a phone call from the Dean or received an answer befor Dec. 15.

Well Joker1 got admitted a couple of days ago... (see CLS thread)...

personally I think that Joker1 and YHC are one and the same person... but its just my subjective opinion