Hi All,

I am planning to apply for the LLM programmes at Columbia and NYU for 2008/09. I would appreciate your advice on what I can do to maximise my chances of admission and financial aid.

So far I have a first class honours law degree from an Irish university (not Trinity - graduated 2nd in my class), an MA in medical law & ethics with merit from KCL and I am a recently qualified barrister. I received funding for all 3 of these degrees from a single scholarship. I took part in a good range of extra-curricular activities during my undergrad, have published a number of articles (some peer-reviewed) and conference papers and am publishing a student textbook. I currently have a permanent lecturing position at a UK (post 92) university and all my work experience is in teaching. I have never practised law.

Is there anything else I should be doing between now and December to beef up my application? Also, are Columbia and NYU the places I should be looking at given that my main research interests are in law and religion, law and culture and feminism?

Is there anything else I should be doing between now and December to beef up my application? Also, are Columbia and NYU the places I should be looking at given that my main research interests are in law and religion, law and culture and feminism?

Hey - thanks for the reply!

What I'm aiming to do with this LLM is warm myself up for coming back to the UK or home for a PhD. Things are moving on in the UK in terms of critical analysis of the law but they're still not at the same level as the US (and Ireland is still at the pre-Oliver Wendell Holmes stage) and I wanted to broaden my horizons a bit to avoid being shoe-horned into a blackletter thesis. I've already got a topic in mind which brings those areas together. Columbia has a centre dedicated to gender, culture and the law (and, of course, Patricia Williams and Kimberle Crenshaw) so I thought it might be a place to start.

I was planning on chosing seminars with writing requirements rather than big classes and maybe doing an LLM essay if the right supervisor was available.

I had thought of Chicago but I hadn't thought of the sociology dept - just a stuck-in-my-ways old lawyer! I will have a look immediately though. Yale isn't really an option for me - I was too busy having a good time in the first two years of my law degree so I don't have a picture perfect transcript.

Well, you still have plenty of time to make a decision. But with your profile and goals, it would probably pay off to really get enough information about the possibilities at each university.

I would suggest you try to get in touch with some of the faculty at the universities of your choice, and try to figure which is the best fit for you.

From what I understand, you might not want to automatically choose the most prestigious university you get into, but really focus on the course offerings, faculty, possible JSD programs,... I think that would help you the most if you are planning to write a PhD later on.