Hello.

I am 29 and am intending on applying to Harvard for 2008. I am 28 and have worked in a top UK city firm now for a couple of years. I went to a top university in Australia, but my grades are not great - they are average. I have very good letters of recommendation and outside interests, but am wondering how much weight is given to grade - whether I should bother applying ?

Any feedback would be reallly appreciated. Thanks!

I think you should apply anyway. It's impossible to know what criteria the admissions committee will emphasize in any specific year. You are basically competing with unknown people with different backgrounds, so I think you should give it a shot.

Thanks. think I will. are you a graduate tmalmine?

I'm an LL.M. candidate at Yale Law School. I was accepted to HLS, too. And I believe both programs have both students with great grades and some with not-so-great grades.

Hello Toni,

My name is Jacques and I come from France. Im 73 and will quit my job in May 2007. So, Im looking for a US LL.M program in 2007-2008. I already got stellar letters of recommendation of professionals I used to work with (Colin P. is a good one), even though some people refused to write a LOR down for me (grrrr, George W., Ill got ya!)

Well, more seriously now, I would like first to warmly congratulate you for your admission to the YLS LLM, and for all the relevant information youve delivered on this site through your numerous interesting posts. I think everyone benefits of it.

Second, and basically, Id be quite interested in knowing a little about your classmates general profiles and credentials. Are they currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in their home country, or not at all? Or do they already hold one? Are they part of top 5% of their graduated class? Is an experience as a TA, lecturer, professor etc mandatory? And finally, did a little Frenchy make it up there?

I wish you the best,

Jacques

Hi Jacques! Many LL.M. students at YLS either already have doctorates or are rolled in a program in their home country, but we have some recent graduates, too. Many have teaching experience, but one again, not all do. There are at least 4-7 students, who have graduated last spring, and consequently have no teaching credentials. As regards the top 5 % -requirement, I'm sure some have been, but probably not all. I believe it depends a lot on who you are competing with, i.e. if there are three Frenchmen, who have graduated first in their class etc., it's hard to beat them if you're in top 15 %, say. But if you're the only French person applying next year (and with a good standing as a law student), I believe they will be interested in you. There is no French student at Yale LL.M. program this year, but there was at least one last year, who is nowadays doing her doctorate here. In other words, despite your country's mediocre political elite, you guys are looked down here:)

The last sentence should obviously be "are not looked down here". I mean, everybody loves France, despite its recent decline.

Cheers,

Toni

Interesting. I am from Germany and Im not sure to understand what you mean by French "decline". I spent some time in France in the past years (I married a French girl) and didnt notice any particular "decline". Do you think this "decline" is specific to France (I dont think so) or, more generally, concerns all western European countries (as I think)?

If I may interject, I believe tmalmine was speaking in jest. Simply joking about the disintegration of relations between France and the US in recent years. Not that France itself had declined or that you hadn't married a beautiful woman, simply because she's French. I do not think he was saying that at all...

Thx Toni, as Tina would say, you're simply the best!
Regards,
-JC-

Hello.

I am 29 and am intending on applying to Harvard for 2008. I am 28 and have worked in a top UK city firm now for a couple of years. I went to a top university in Australia, but my grades are not great - they are average. I have very good letters of recommendation and outside interests, but am wondering how much weight is given to grade - whether I should bother applying ?

Hi everyone. Happy to get so much info which is very helpful. Thank you all! I still got a little confusion here and hope you can give me some advice. I am a law student from China and the university I attend ranks top5 in my country though it is a local university. I get top2% rank and have much intern experiences during summer vacation. As the student president I do have some leadership experience and with a high TOEFL score I am not sure what law schools may be interested in a very recent graduate like me. Could you tell me how competitive I am considering I am a 21 student? I do really appreciate that.

I think basically every law school in the US will be interested in you. There are some, like Stanford, that emphasize work experience, but they are few and far between. I suggest you apply to Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Michigan, Cornell etc., depending on what you want to study.

Tmalmine,

Can you please l shed some light on this for me:

I am 25yrs of African origin, I was raised in the Carribean but lived in the UK for the past 17 yrs. I am UK law graduate, I have done my LPC (law school) and I am taking the NY Bar in February 2007 and I am presently working as a paralegal in the 3rd top US firm in London and I have about 3 yrs legal work experience too. I really want to apply to do an LLM 2008 but only applying to Harvard, Yale and Columbia. Bad idea? or not?

I wish all the best of luck. Some once told me your imagination is the only limitation to your success. Good luck!

hello, I am a 28 year old lawyer from saouth america planning to apply to an LLM program in the States for next year (2007-08). I have a high school diploma from a United States accredited school and had taken the TOEFL in february 2004 scoring 273 on the computer based test. I have also taken a advanced writng course ad goergetown continuing studies program and a negotiation seminar at HLS. Universities require a less than 2 year old TOEFL test score, do you think I need to take the test again?? Also I would like to know if you know anything about LSAC service and if it helps or has any kind of leverage in the application process. Thanks

I didn't use LSAC (and saved a bundle) and I got into my preferred school.

I didn´t use it either, despite NYU "strongly recommended" its use. I´ve heard some friends of mine had problems using it because of the criteria LSAC applies to determine the equivalence of foreign grades to the US grading system.

Hi!

I'm still studying the career, but right now i'm begining to think what to do when i finish the career. My main idea is going to Harvard for an LL.M. I would really like chatting with people who are currently coursing it, or even who want to course it.

If there's someone interested in chatting about it ask me for my msn address. Thanks.