Hi everyone,

Have you received any email from Chicago regarding the receipt/processing of your application? I submitted it in late November and am still waiting.

Best to all,
OfficerDawg

I recieved an email notification on November 25 stating that my application was complete. I submitted by application in mid November.

Thanks! I got mine too.

Hi !
Richard said some will have a response in February and others in April is that right ?
Where are you guys from ?

I think he said everyone would have their answer within the same hour in the beginning of Feb but I have to admit I read the email quite quickly so I may be wrong on this one.

I'm from France, btw.

Well, for those who completed their application before January the answer will be given in February and for the ones completing them during January and February it will be in April I guess. Anyway, you should be expecting an answer in February if you completed your application pretty soon.
Im completing my application... Some transcripts did not reach LSAC yet, and a recommendation too...
Im French too, are you from Paris or Province ? Did you apply also to the UK ?
Im worried because Im not from prestigious Paris nor Lyon Universities... Do you think they care about the ranking of Universities or they just look at your credentials ?

Right, you're probably right, like I said, I read it quickly.

I got my Licence from Assas and I'm pursuing my M1 at the Sorbonne at the moment but I don't really think they care where you're from to be honest. Universities may just take it into account with regard to how they evaluate your grades, ie they would probably give more weight to a 13/20 from Assas rather than a 13/20 from Aix, for instance. I think your personal statement counts, as well as your recommendations, professional experience and international experience. You know, everyone's worried about something. You're worried because you're not from Paris, I'm worried because I only have one internship as professional experience and I'm still pursuing my M1... What they give importance to is kind of a mystery to me.

No, I did not apply to the UK. Did you?

I guess youre right. For two quite similar candidates with equal credentials, if they have to choose, they will choose the one that is in a top ranked university, of course.
Im doing my M1 too but as I said not in Paris, not in a prestigious university but in English, I hope this may help me, because that was the only reason I did not go to Paris...
I also have had only one internship for 6 months, but not in France...
But like, I dont know if they realize how hard it is to get an internship along with your law studies in France, its almost impossible since youre having class all day and have to get TDs done; I could only get an internship for so long because during my exchange we had all afternoons free and no TDs to prepare. So basically, where I studied for my third year, all students had already one to two years of working experience in law firm, as assistant of prosecutors... !
Im gonna apply in the UK to Oxford and Kings but Id rather tend to think that UK cares less about professional experience and out-of-class activities and more about outstanding grades than the US schools do...
I personally have pretty good grades but never was major de promo or got Prizes for whatever, nor published officially anything although I have large extra curricular activities like sport competition and volunteering which could weight for US schools but I doubt would make me a good candidate for Oxford, which I think is more into real nerdish persons... Correct me if Im wrong...

Right. What are you doing your M1 in? I'm doing EU Law, I think I want to go into practicing competition law, hence why I'm applying to Chicago.

Where did you go on your third year? Lucky you to have such a long internship, I think it's super important. I only interned for a month and a half last summer :/. It's not only the fact that it's super hard to work during the year though, it's also the fact that unless you an M2 student, no one will hire you. That and the fact that you're never going to work for more than two months because god forbid they have to pay you.

I volunteered quite a lot too, I hope it counts for something.

LSAC took into account my Erasmus grades when they calculated my average, meaning that I went from having an Assas 11.6 (we are regularly told Assas grades like two point below other universities but when you are in Assas, you learn to doubt EVERYTHING Assas says because you never know what is true and what they just tell you for the sake of fame and glory) to an 12.85, which, even if it makes me VERY happy, is such a ridiculously high bump I still can't quite believe it.

I've never had tremendous grades either, but it's kind of annoying because I know I got best 10% or best grades in certain subjects but we don't really have anything to prove it because we don't have student rankings, it's just things you know learn through the grapevine. I decided to write it in my résumé anyways but I'm not really sure.

I really don't know about the UK. All I know is that Oxford hosts fifteen Assas students every year as part of their Common Law program. I would also say they give more weight to grades but honestly I wouldn't know.

Im in international and EU law M1. For my part, I wanna specialize in international financial transactions.
I went to Brazil in a top university and it helped me a lot to get the internship; I would not have anything if I hadnt been there.
The French system is very different because concentrated in academic results and thorough thinking rather than applied science, which is more the case in the US and UK.
For the pay, god forbid, yes, but ~ 400 is really ridiculous !
I got a big surprise when I got the AACRAO evaluation. Are they aware that Licence is about ONLY your third year and how youre going to get the diploma... Well, I got Assez bien for my two first years and Bien for my exchange but they averaged it wrong and Im so pissed because Ive got Bien for my third year which is supposed to be my Licence Grade anyway.
We also do not rank students in my University, I tried to put it on my résumé top 7% which I randomly calculated with some figures I found here and there... ! But I deleted it then as I would have to explain it if they were to call me or send me an email, I dont know...

Yeah it's definitely one of the main differences in our system and what I feel may make us less likely to get into an LLM program. I try to tell myself I'm probably not the only French person in this situation.

In Assas the licence isn't only your third year grade though, it's L1, L2 and L3 averaged out. Is this different where you are?

I left the best grades and top whatever percent in there because I wasn't really lying about them, I know they're real, I just don't have proof. And I mean, everyone's presenting the "optimal version of the truth" on their résumés anyway. :)

You're probably way above many other French students for sure, some of my friends do not even have an internship related to law at all... So dont worry I think youll be just fine.
In my university the L3 is your Licence grade, yes, they dont average L1+L2+L3, which would make more sense, but I cant blame them for that, as it is to my benefit after all. So if you were on Erasmus this year well, it does not matter.
Just for info, did you get +110 for the toefl?
Let me know when youll get your answer. I still have one report and LOR left... :(

Haha yeah I don't know we'll see.

I didn't take the TOEFL, I took the IELTS last year when I was in Ireland and scored 8.5. But I didn't give my scores to Chicago anyways cause I qualified for the exemption of having studied an academic year in Ireland (ie. an English speaking country).

I'll definitely let you know, but I'm not hoping for anyway until Feb at the earliest.

I'm preparing other applications at the moment, reviewing my personal statement and all.

Which other U are you applying to ? Did you manage to apply for scholarships ??
I couldnt thats why I also applied to NYU and Berkeley but I dont think Im going to apply to other schools. Besides, the deadlines are almost all « over ». Im also applying in the UK & HK... Which are better ranked than UCLA or Duke and dont cost 50 000 $.
Did you have your exams yet ? Im having my exams next week, I really dont have time to work out my applications !

I'm applying to NYU, Berkeley, umich, uvirginia, Georgetown and upenn. I didn't apply for scholarships, there's honestly so much time and energy I can put in this.

Most of my deadlines are actually in jan and feb, Berkeley is the next one but I'm trying to finish with Georgetown before because I really want to *try* to get into Georgetown and they've been accepting a lot of people who applied early so I kind of want to take advantage of their rolling basis. Berkeley does not have a rolling basis so I can leave it to last minute, kind of.

Yeah my exams start on Monday until the fifteenth, so I've been kind of concentrating on that lately but I really need to figure a way to do both. It's such a hassle

Im not sure about Berkeley, it says on LSAC it was on 10 January, but they actually emailed me saying it was 15 Dec.
Here is the email
'Thank you for applying for the 2014-2015 traditional track LL.M. Program at Berkeley Law! The deadline to postmark all supplementary materials is December 15.
I even think my application wont be taken into account as my exchange transcripts are still missing. I suggest you email them to know exactly. I phoned LSAC and they told me that Universities sometimes change their deadlines, that theyre not responsible for that.

The things is, Berkeley says on their own website that the deadline is on Jan 10.

Oh, so thats fine ! They probably were wrong when they emailed me! I feel relieved :) !

At Berkeley Law we have extended our deadline to Jan 10; this decision was made about a month ago to accommodate a number of applicants in a similar situation, with long wait times for obtaining their academic documents for submission.

If you received any communications from us prior to December, they would have referenced the original deadline, but you may disregard that. We will accept application materials postmarked through Jan. 10 for both tracks of our LL.M. program.

Sounds perfect for everyone! Thank you !