I have to decide where I want to be for the LLM. I know that Cornell is an Ivy League university, but at the same time, I know that Duke has a better ranking (US news).

Which llm program is better and WHY.

Help me here.

Thanks for the thread.
I'd like to know people's opinion too.
These two schools both have small program and I think their both prestigious.Personally, I'd take Duke.
It's probably easier to live and I think there's more outside of the classroom like the basketball game.

I've got the same conundrum.

hi jc,
i'm going to join duke this august. i think there are more things to see than in cornell. duke is a great place for sports, etc and the weather's nice a good part of the year.
but in the end it depends on the program your applying for: e.g. cornell is a very good place for an llm in corporate law.
best wishes!

AUAP ranked cornell's llm program as follows. it's a special ranking of american llm programs. however i still would chose duke... :-)
hope to see you in august!
florian

2008 Rankings of American LL.M/Master of Law
1) Cornell University (NY)
2) University of Pennsylvania
3) NYU (NY)
4) Columbia University (NY)
5) Harvard University (MA)
6) Fordham (NY)
7) Boston U. (MA)
8) Duke University (NC)
9) Geroge Washington University (DC)
10) Cardozo Law School Yeshiva University (NY)
11) University of Chicago (IL)
12) Yale (CT)
13) American University (DC)
14) Pennsylvania State University (PA)
15) LSU (LA)
16) UCLA (CA)
17) University of Southern California (CA)
18) Washington University (MO)
19) University of San Diego (CA)
20) Georgetown Universtity* (DC).

What is AUAP? This ranking doesn't look right - Yale as no. 12??? below fordham and Boston?

i have no idea... i also don't understand why yale is on 12 and berkeley and michigan are missing completely.
just found it in the web. check it out under: http://www.auap.com/

I have seen other posts that the auap ranking is not valid/methodologically sound. I think they help prepare student applications and have relationships with some schools over others... or something like that.

I don't really know about them myself, but the order doesn't seem right to me either.

i know i have posted this ranking, but i don't think anymore that it should be taken as a point of reference. it's probably bad work...

There have been a couple of critical posts about this "ranking", e.g. http://www.llm-guide.com/board/1676 ("AUAP ranking is total quackery")

I had the same dilemma, but I'm gonna go with Duke and I hope I've made the right choice.

1. There's more to life in Duke than academics stuff...one of the main reasons for me is the fact that Duke has a very good reputation especially in sports activities..(apparently the Basketball team is a must see!)

2. Depending on your respective interests, Duke has very well organised and well structured programs - especially International and Comparative Law and Corporate Law. I've also read somewhere that it has the best professionalism program (according to the American Bar Association.

3. Duke ranks higher than Cornell and most definitely comparable to the Ivy League schools up north.

4. Costs are lower than Cornell.

5. The faculty and staff have been the most helpful ones in assisting me throughout the applications and decision-making stages

Hope these help!

Di

I have the same two offers. I spoke with several practising US attorneys (in LA, NY and DC) and they all said that between Duke and Cornell, take Duke. None were graduates of either university so no bias.
That's good enough for me.