HI Corpusiuris,

I wrote you a big post but then deleted all as it was repetition of old posts of wise people about CLS. So, here are simple explanations (why CLS is better)

What do you prefer to play (and win) UEFA Cup or UEFA Champions League?

or if you don't like football

... prefer Lexus IS F or BMW M3 (ok, ok for fans of MB, AMG C63)??????

Many possible reasons:
Rankings won't make your LL.M. experience any better;
Probably the lower ranked university has better specializations or more interesting courses;
Tuition waiver;
Some people (as me) prefer California for the good weather and the beautiful nature ...;
Rankings won't be that important when looking for a job (go to the website of law firms you are interested in - you will see that they have attorneys from many different law schools - and generally they all get the same salary);
New York is extremely expensive (I prefer to pay around USD 700 for a room in a beautiful apartment probably with garden and barbecue than USD 1.800 for a tiny room);
Probably people might prefer to study with people that are less ranking-orientated but rather try to do what they are interested in.

Hi folks,

thank you so much for your valuable comments. I have made up my mind and chose Columbia.

I considered Hanna.Vienna's arguments (independent of her last post) which I think are all viable and I might/would have decided differently if I had applied to Berkeley (missed the deadline) or if UCLA had granted a higher tuition waiver.

I want to have an intellectually stimulating, yet practical experience. I reckon that Columbia's no. 4 ranking will attract an even higher number of extremely interesting fellow students than UCLA.

Additionally, CLS offers a number of highly interesting courses for a corporate lawyer and the location in NY obivously encourages biglaw attorneys to contribute to the curriculum.

Lastly, I recognise that the US News ranking of the attended university will not influence my job prospects in my home country. Still, the aura of Ivy League/Top five universities is respected as a certain distinction.

So this is it, for me. Hope this post helps other people in similar positions to make up their mind, too.

corpusiuris

Hi folks,

thank you so much for your valuable comments. I have made up my mind and chose Columbia.

I considered Hanna.Vienna's arguments (independent of her last post) which I think are all viable and I might/would have decided differently if I had applied to Berkeley (missed the deadline) or if UCLA had granted a higher tuition waiver.

I want to have an intellectually stimulating, yet practical experience. I reckon that Columbia's no. 4 ranking will attract an even higher number of extremely interesting fellow students than UCLA.

Additionally, CLS offers a number of highly interesting courses for a corporate lawyer and the location in NY obivously encourages biglaw attorneys to contribute to the curriculum.

Lastly, I recognise that the US News ranking of the attended university will not influence my job prospects in my home country. Still, the aura of Ivy League/Top five universities is respected as a certain distinction.

So this is it, for me. Hope this post helps other people in similar positions to make up their mind, too.

corpusiuris

Many possible reasons:
Probably the lower ranked university has better specializations or more interesting courses;

Probably people might prefer to study with people that are less ranking-orientated but rather try to do what they are interested in.

Corpus,
Congratulation!!!!

molodetz!

Many possible reasons:
Probably the lower ranked university has better specializations or more interesting courses;

Please explain how that is the case?

Probably people might prefer to study with people that are less ranking-orientated but rather try to do what they are interested in.

So people who attend a T5 school (or T14 school for that matter) are not "doing" what they are interested in!?

Hey Corpusiuris
So finally columbia got the crown...where're you from? Have fun in nyc in fall.