Hi guys,
As the title suggests, does HLS make its decisions arbtrarily?
A person accpeted to SLS is rejected in HLS..haha..!!!
A Hauser from NYU is rejected and one without a scholarship from NYU is accpeted?

Does HLS have regard to some one's credentials or sometimes they just......................?

Remember, they have the country quota!! Eg, according to my information -- there have never been more than 2 Russians (a boy & a girl) in HLS LL.M class at a time...

Personally, I was accepted to CLS, given a partial waiver by NYU (although did not request a single penny) and rejected by HLS. Going to Columbia now... and being happy about that because I would have had hard times rejecting Harvard... That's it...))

It's not arbitrary, but it's not wholly predictable either. That goes for other law schools, too. Law schools have distinctive profiles. Stanford has a strong bent on technology, IPR, and the like, while Harvard is strong on ConLaw, critical legal studies, legal history, and the like. I can come up with good reasons why someone who has been accepted at Stanford is rejected at Harvard or vice versa. Quotas make it even more unpredictable.

Law school admissions is not calculus. If a Colombian girl has an outstanding diploma and two years of work experiece, is she better qualified than a Swiss dude with an outstanding diploma, but only one year of work experience? And if the Swiss guy has a letter of recommendation stating that he is a "superb" student (while the girl is deemed only "excellent" by her professors). Who can give a definite answer? Admission officers at HLS have to weigh 1500 applications. How could the process be completely objective, predictable, and fair? It's a bit like legal decision-making: there is no single right answer.

Top law schools do have some quite distinctive requirements. HLS, for example, asks you for a writing sample and three reference letters, whereas CLS only wants two reference letters and does not ask for a writing sample; at NYU those applying for the scholarships need to submit several additional little essays which (who knows!) might impress the admissions officers enough to give them a full scholarship.

That being said, the application process at HLS does appear to be the most competitive of all, even more competitive than for the Hauser at NYU, as there quite a few people out there who only apply to HLS/YLS/SLS, without even giving a shot at NYU. Which is why it might as well happen that somebody who got a Hauser was rejected by HLS.

I dont think the HLS admission process is arbitrary. Two years ago, one of my friends was admitted to Yale and denied admission to Harvard and Stanford.

He called HLS Admissions Office and they just told him that all these law schools have different needs, different requirements and different admission criteria and I think its completely understandable.

By the way, he had a wonderful time in New Haven!

I agree with everything.

Admission is not an exact science. The application forms for every school are different the philosophy also.

For example at Stanford you are competing "only" with people that have a 2 year working experience and interested in a specific field. A guy from your country that is a top constitutional law specialist might take your "slot" at Harvard but not be admitted at Stanford.

Regarding the Hauser: Firstly many people admitted to HLS or YLS or Stanford do not even apply to NYU.
Second I believe that only a minority of applicants to NYU fill out the necessary forms. Personnally i did not because NYU was my last choice and just a "security" application and I know several people who reasoned the same way. Moreover NYU gives Hausers to many people (as far as this board is representative) and sincerely I believe that getting into HLS is far more difficult than getting a Hauser

I don't know about that... I got into Harvard (last week) and also NYU but didn't receive any scholarship offers from NYU - go figure!

Well I would still not diminish the value of being a Hauser scholar. As to myself, having been accepted by Harvard, as well as CLS with a merit-based partial tuition waiver, I got the offer for the dean's merit award at NYU, but not more. In retrospect I think one of my essays might have rubbed admissions people the wrong way, but who knows; deep down at heart, when I was applying, I knew I would take HLS over NYU should I receive the offer from both, so perhaps it showed :)

And yes, I have heard the story of a guy (from India) who, two years ago, was rejected by all the top schools (HLS, NYU, CLS, Oxford etc.), but who only got accepted by YLS! I guess YLS detected a great potential for the teaching of law in him :)

you are an exception then I believe according to my theory
as we said: the admission process is not a science :)
cheers

Yeah. Actually, a more appropriate title for this thread would be "Hauser/NYU scholarships decisions arbitrary" rather than "Harvard decisions arbitrary", as a good deal of people seem to have been admitted to Harvard/SLS/YLS, but not offered the major NYU scholarships, which, since NYU gives offers for more scholarships then there actually are, must be almost as many as half the HLS LLM class.

Here is my admission (quasi) haiku-

Two great academic institutions,
Oxford accepted, Harvard rejected,
fate chooses dreamy spires over a New England fall.

Here is my admission (quasi) haiku-

Two great academic institutions,
Oxford accepted, Harvard rejected,
fate chooses dreamy spires over a New England fall.

Just to correct on Stanford admitted students' fields of interest: some do specialized in IP, but many others focus on M&A/Securities, Human Rights/Public International Law or Civil Procedure/Criminal Law/Litigation.
It is true however that SLS focuses on people with significant work experience (some are partners in their countries, but a PhD instead of firm work experience can do it too).

Men make plans, but only God and fate decide over those plans... YLS, SLS, HLS, NYU, CLS, UOC, etc... are all great law schools. It is up to each of us to make the best in each legal institution!
Good luck to you all!!!

Men make plans, but only God and fate decide over those plans... YLS, SLS, HLS, NYU, CLS, UOC, etc... are all great law schools. It is up to each of us to make the best in each legal institution!
Good luck to you all!!!

Fully agree... Instead of looking down on other schools or making resentful comments, I think you guys should congratulate each other for your impressive achievements. Any of the top universities in the US has tons of prestige, will give you great education and will open you lots of doors in the future. You may not have gotten what you wanted, but some people would kill to get the foot in the door of universities like CLS, NYU, UChicago, UPenn, Northwestern, UCLA, Georgetown, Berkeley, Michigan, etc... Your American journey is just beginning... live it intensely.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thanks for your responses. I just wanted to tickle the brilliant brains on this board. I personally got Hauser and did not make it to HLS but I am not complaining.

I wish every one the very best, and lets keep in touch.
Cheers!!