Hi guys here i want to discuss with u about georgetown and cornell. I asked many american students about these univesities and they said these are v good universities but these are ranked 13 and 14th i dont know y and what are the importance of this ranking but they are offering high class study if any one has any suggestion about these plz let me know

Hafiz

I know its the wrong reason to go for a University; but in my opinion go for Cornell because it is an Ivy League University.

I had from my friend very positive feedback re Cornell (LLM 2005). She managed to find a job in NYU top-20 law firm.

V

I think Ivy League is simply stupid criterion to use in choosing a law school. It refers to colleges, mostly, not to law schools. Or would you prefer Cornell over Stanford, because C. is an Ivy? From my point of view the main differences between Cornell and GULC are location (Washington vs. Ithaca), size of the LL.M. program (small vs. large), and different emphases (for instance, Georgetown is much stronger in international law). These are issues you should think about.

I agree with that. I would add one additional difference between Georgetown and Cornell: course offerings. I would say Georgetown offers many more courses than Cornell in a variety of subjects. If you are applying for a specialized program, Georgetown could be a good call. In any case, I would strongly recommend you to ask the admissions office of both universities to put you in touch with some alumnus/ alumna of your same specialization field/ country so you can have an insider´s view on their LL.M programs.

I think Ivy League is simply stupid criterion to use in choosing a law school. It refers to colleges, mostly, not to law schools. Or would you prefer Cornell over Stanford, because C. is an Ivy? From my point of view the main differences between Cornell and GULC are location (Washington vs. Ithaca), size of the LL.M. program (small vs. large), and different emphases (for instance, Georgetown is much stronger in international law). These are issues you should think about.

Actually, I didn't mean that your reasoning was stupid. Quite the contrary. If the term Ivy League gathers respect in some countries, it's quite rational to choose such school. What I simply meant is that in my view speaking about ivies is weird when speaking about law schools, because it's an old-fashioned tradition and refers to colleges. But as things are nowadays, you can use it as criterion.

So no hard feelings, right?

I agree with you Tmalmine.

If some people think that Brown University (Ivy League, founded in 1764) is better than Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Chicago, its their problem!

Not mine.

Actually, I didn't mean that your reasoning was stupid. Quite the contrary. If the term Ivy League gathers respect in some countries, it's quite rational to choose such school. What I simply meant is that in my view speaking about ivies is weird when speaking about law schools, because it's an old-fashioned tradition and refers to colleges. But as things are nowadays, you can use it as criterion.

So no hard feelings, right?

I agree with you Tmalmine.

If some people think that Brown University (Ivy League, founded in 1764) is better than Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Chicago, its their problem!

Not mine.

I'm with you Senator. The bottom line goes back to what the prospective employer or the outside world perceives to be a good school or not and the prestige that goes with it. Now, if one considers that Cornell is an Ivy League institution and is still well-ranked, then purely for prestige purposes, one would be more inclined to choose that over Georgetown.

However, where I think Toni is correct, is that perhaps your criterion for choosing a Law School should not be based purely on perception, which might after all, be misconceptions. Having said that, I do not doubt it for a second that decades after Ivy Leagues were created, that notion still holds a lot of prestige, and I therefore disagree with you Toni on that score.

So just go to Cornell (just joking, it is simply not that easy, it all depends on what is more important to you from what Toni says, to what I outlined above on prestige, it's a weighing up).

Ask yourself what you want from this LL.M. degree. And Toni made a very important point that Ivy League reputation generally refers to the undergrad programs. (Even for undergrad, some Ivies are actually sinking, and fall way behind Stanford, MIT and Duke) Ivy League is created as a sports league rather than academic reason.

Considerations for choosing professional schools are quite different from undergrad. In this case, I would say If you are interested in DC market, GULC's location might be an edge. If you plan to go back to your home country, and Cornell is a huge name there while the majority of people have never heard the GULC. Then maybe Cornell.

To me personally I will go to GULC cuz of location (really dont want to spend my year in cold Ithaca). But I am sure you will make a wise decision for yourself!

Senator: Im sorry but I really dont understand your post ("go for Cornell because it is an Ivy League University").

Cornell is an Ivy League University. Georgetown is not. So what?

Do you think that Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz LLP refuse to hire people from Stanford, NYU or Chicago because these universities are not Ivy League?

Do you believe that Cornell is better overall than Stanford (ranked 2nd), NYU (ranked 4th) or Chicago (Ranked 6th) because Cornell is an Ivy League?

Ivy League is just a fancy name for a bunch of colleges who wanted to make an athletic conference for all their sports teams to play together. Sorry, but it has nothing to do with law schools, and even less to do with the quality of the programs.

In some fields like Engineering, it is even impossible to find an Ivy League University ranked in the top ten!

Top Engineering Schools, USNews 2007:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Stanford University
3. University of CaliforniaBerkeley
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign
6. Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette
6. University of MichiganAnn Arbor
8. Carnegie Mellon University
9. University of Southern California
10. California Institute of Technology

11. Cornell University (Ivy League)
18. Princeton University (Ivy League)
20. Columbia University (Ivy League)
21. Harvard University (Ivy League)
32. University of Pennsylvania (Ivy League)
39. Yale University (Ivy League)
42. Dartmouth College (Ivy League)


Are you going to advise people on this forum to go to Dartmouth instead of MIT or Stanford because Dartmouth is an Ivy League?

I have been working for an American law firm for more than two years and I have never heard that US law firms make a distinction between Ivy and non-Ivy when it comes to hire LLM students. Never.

By the way, I very much hope there is good reason to go to Cornell other than the fact that Cornell is a member of an athletic conference

Come on guys... Senator explicitly stated that choosing a law school based on whether it is "Ivy League" or not is actually "wrong". However, you should not neglect that in some countries (such as France) Cornell is considered an "elite" institution, which is partly due to the fact that it is a member of the Ivy League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League).

Senator: Im sorry but I really dont understand your post ("go for Cornell because it is an Ivy League University").

Cornell is an Ivy League University. Georgetown is not. So what?

Do you think that Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz LLP refuse to hire people from Stanford, NYU or Chicago because these universities are not Ivy League?

Do you believe that Cornell is better overall than Stanford (ranked 2nd), NYU (ranked 4th) or Chicago (Ranked 6th) because Cornell is an Ivy League?

Ivy League is just a fancy name for a bunch of colleges who wanted to make an athletic conference for all their sports teams to play together. Sorry, but it has nothing to do with law schools, and even less to do with the quality of the programs.

In some fields like Engineering, it is even impossible to find an Ivy League University ranked in the top ten!

Top Engineering Schools, USNews 2007:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Stanford University
3. University of CaliforniaBerkeley
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign
6. Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette
6. University of MichiganAnn Arbor
8. Carnegie Mellon University
9. University of Southern California
10. California Institute of Technology

11. Cornell University (Ivy League)
18. Princeton University (Ivy League)
20. Columbia University (Ivy League)
21. Harvard University (Ivy League)
32. University of Pennsylvania (Ivy League)
39. Yale University (Ivy League)
42. Dartmouth College (Ivy League)


Are you going to advise people on this forum to go to Dartmouth instead of MIT or Stanford because Dartmouth is an Ivy League?

I have been working for an American law firm for more than two years and I have never heard that US law firms make a distinction between Ivy and non-Ivy when it comes to hire LLM students. Never.

By the way, I very much hope there is good reason to go to Cornell other than the fact that Cornell is a member of an athletic conference

Both are good choice. Georgetown is very strong in tax and international law, nevertheless, I'd choose Cornell.
Ok the location is not very exciting (even if the campus is nice) but I have friends graduated from Cornell and they found very good job in the USA or in Europe (they all pass the NY bar exam). Class are not very big, it's also important.
Concerning LLM, Cornell is one of the best.
At least, I believe (but I'm not sure), Cornell is a better choice than Georgetown to pass the NY Bar Exam ( a question of credits or studied subjects, I don't know). Can you confirm it?

I have heard this about Georgetown a couple of times before and I think it is not correct. The point is: in GULC´s web site they say the LL.M. program is not intended to prepare students for the Bar Exam (and that applies to every LLM program, unless you take only courses on subjects covered by the Bar Exam). In addition to that, I guess this disclaimer is also due to the fact that LL.M students cannot sit for the bar exam in the District of Columbia. Although you may argue that you can study some NY State Law in the NY universities (honestly, I did not study any state law so far), I would say that GULC´s program is as good to pass the Bar Exam as any other LL.M. program. As a matter of fact, no matter which LL.M you do, you will have to do the BAR-BRI or other prep course in order to pass the bar exam...

Hi Guys Thanks u alot for ur help, to choose a university depends on the location and the type of program GT has good location but lots of students Cornell has good campus but far from city and u cant make enough connections so i should wait and c who gives me better offer

As a parallel comment to tmalmine's, why would Wachtell's hiring patterns figure heavily in an LLM discussion?

Ok guys. Im sorry. My comments were stupid. "Go for Cornell because it is an Ivy League University".