Hello! I would appreciate your comments on my situation, if possible.

I am a principal candidate for the Foreign Fulbright scholarship, which would cover all the fees + COL, and I have been accepted in a couple of T-20 US law schools (non T-14 though).

As a backup I also applied for the LLM program at the University of Cambridge and got a conditional offer, which states I have to retake TOEFL/IELTS (my score was 103/7.0) as well as I have to pay full tuition + COL in the amount of 20,200 GBP (no scholarship).

Do you think it is worth considering Cambridge if I plan to work in continental Europe (not the UK)? Or is it better to take a relatively unknown T-20 US university + Fulbright with no debt?

Thanks!

Are you still watiting the results from a T-14 school?

Fulbright , by far. There is a strong networks among Fulbright recipients

Are you still watiting the results from a T-14 school?

Being a Fulbright recipient gives you at least as much prestige as studying at Cambridge. You're likely to study at GW, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, etc., all of which are great schools with solid reputation

Being a Fulbright recipient gives you at least as much prestige as studying at Cambridge. You're likely to study at GW, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, etc., all of which are great schools with solid reputation

Are you sure Fulbright will cover everything?

I am current Fulbright student and they did not cover even a 50% of total costs.

More possibilities for the future? I will say Cambridge.

If I were you I would take the Fulbright and defeer cambridge for next year. If this is not possible, I will take Cambridge first. It is not just the name, it is better professors, better classmates, better jobs after graduation to pay your debt.

H.

Are you sure Fulbright will cover everything?

I am current Fulbright student and they did not cover even a 50% of total costs.

More possibilities for the future? I will say Cambridge.

If I were you I would take the Fulbright and defeer cambridge for next year. If this is not possible, I will take Cambridge first. It is not just the name, it is better professors, better classmates, better jobs after graduation to pay your debt.

H.

I know 2-3 people that have been offered Cambridge and not Oxford. I think Oxford is a little tougher to get in.

It is a tough case, but at least you have to decide between 2 good things.

Best of luck!

H.

Thanks! As for short-term reasons, I am definitely leaning towards Fulbright because, first of all, it was my initial choice and it would be hard to say no after all those interviews and negotiations, secondly, it is for free, and, lastly, I think one year in the US would be more fun than one year in Cambridge.

But by thinking in long-term I am still not so sure, whether Fulbright is more prestigious than Cambridge, and, if not, is the debt worth the prestige.

hi,
i honestly think fulbright is only as good as the uni you are attending with it.- especially in continental europe Cambridge has an amazing reputation. .. i obviously can only speak from my personal impression, but from my central european perspective fulbright is impressive, yes, but cambridge is much better!

as you said, you can go do everything afterwards and you will have an amazing network. - you might lack those possibilities with a t20 school

just my two cents,

best of luck

I heard that (at least in my country) the reputation of the Uni you go to would speak louder than the scholarship you get into... I would choose Cambridge if I were you. Good luck!

Thank you very much for advice! If someone has any other opinions, go ahead. There is still time for considering and choosing the best possible option.

I guess this does depend heavily on the school in the US. You should look into whether it would provide you with a quality legal education despite its rankings. Here's an article I recommend to people about the rankings, by the way: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all.

It also depends on how fast you may be able to pay back the debt and under what terms you will receiving the debt in the first place. That amount may or may not be a lot depending on your (predictable) income.

Fulbright, being free, seems to be the safer option, it gets you access to the network of Fulbright scholars, and, especially if you do well there, you can probably reapply to another university later if you still need more brand recognition.

Apart from the whole conversation about ranking and reputation you should ask yourself how you feel about debt. Is 20,000 GBP a lot of money for you? How do you intend to service the debt? What do you intend to do after your masters? Is it going to affected by how you need to deal with debt?

The decision is purely subjective, but I would jump at the possibility of studying debt free.