Hello everyone. I really need your advice on making a decision - Columbia or Stanford (Corporate Governance & Practice).

Any tips, experience or thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

since i'm waitlisted at standord, i'd strongly suggest you to pick columbia:-P

joking, nothing serious, no worry, those waitlisted at columbia...

Well, I'm a bit biased there since I am in Stanford (SPILS though, not LLM), but I would go to Stanford.

Three law schools are considered to be above the others generally speaking (whether right or wrong, probably wrong...): Yale, Harvard and Stanford whether in this ranking or another depending upon your own valuation.

Columbia only comes after, no real doubt about it. I won't say that each class at Stanford is amazing. They are not, and probably not at other places either. But Stanford is a great place to be. Classes are small, JD are actually quite nice (even if it's hard to make friends of them like everywhere else), there's no real competition and the atmosphere is really relaxing. The campus is like a vacation camp, except that in the same time it gives you a diploma which opens wide doors. If you like sports, you also have amazing opportunities.

Here's a link: http://www.top-law-schools.com/stanford-law-school.html.

It might be true that you can get more easily a job in NY if you attend Columbia though. And Columbia also offers an excellent LLM Program, no doubt about it. But Stanford remains Stanford...

Hi Bitsou,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with me.
Great to know that the atmosphere at Stanford is really relaxing and there is no real competition. I do not like competitive and stressful atmosphere.

I have some questions about Stanford and I will be very much grateful if you could provide your thoughts on these questions.

I also like small classes. However, Stanford's alumni must be much less than Columbia's alumni since the classes at Stanford are small. For instance, the LLM class of Corporate Governance and Practice only consists of around 10 students. After graduation, those 10 students will probably return to their own home countries. It would be quite difficult to meet Stanford alumni in my own country. What is your view on this?

As for ranking, I heard that law firms prefer Columbia graduates (when recruiting solicitors), is this true?

And, I do not plan to work in NY but I actually want to take the NY Bar exam. I do not mind moving, but if I study at Stanford, do you think it will cause any problems?

No doubt that the life at Stanford must be very enjoyable. I heard that a student must have a car at Stanford otherwise the daily work will be quite inconvenient - is this true?

Sorry to have so many questions. Thank you very much in anticipation.

Hello,

So let's take your questions the one after the other:

1) Alumni network: yes, true, the alumni network of Stanford is small, because the size of the classes are small and the law school as an "elite" law school rather recent. It can't be compared with the network of Columbia or Harvard. But the same can be said of Yale, and you can't have both small classes and a good network of alumni.

2) I am not sure about the recruiting process. It might be true that being in NY helped (as I said I think in my previous mail), but lots of people who attended Stanford also work in NY, so it's not a hindrance either.

3) There's no problem at all to take the NY bar exam, and there are special classes for people who intend to take the NY bar exam rather than the Californian one during summer time.

4) The "daily" work is not really inconvenient without a car. It's true that the campus is huge (quite surprising for someone coming from a small university like me), but everybody has a bike on campus. However, it's true that, if you want to go out of campus and enjoy California, it's much easier if you have a car. This being said, lots of people don't and they just take the train thanks to the free shuttle bus at Stanford. Of course, as anywhere, to depend upon the train is less fun than having your car, but that's a question of financial resources. Anyway, you can live without a car and lots if not most do.

Many thanks Bitsou.

Stanford, no doubt about it. See you there.