Has anyone started applying to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU and Stanford for LLM?

I am applying for LLM in Commercial law and Environmental law for that I have started application for Harvard and NYU. The remaining are still not open. The Harvard application is quite tiresome. I dont know how they will evaluate applicants after they have accumulated so much data. Most of it I think so is useless and quite excessive. On the other hand the NYU application is quite easier requiring only one letter of recommendation. I haven't found any recommender but soon I will.

One thing I dont understand is the Yale law school applications. They have made it nearly impossible to apply without using the LSAC service.

PS I have also started the Oxford and Cambridge applications. The Oxford looks quite easier except for the 2000 word research proposal. I have also checked the LSE website it states that LLM applications will not open till 15th of October. Quite late I think so.

Hi Tallal,

I have the same question in mind, do we really need to use LSAC to apply to those universities? Yale and Stanford seems to require it but the others offer an option to send the documents directly to the graduate offices.

I could use some advice on that as well! Good luck with your applications.

My personal rank:

1.Harvard, 2. Yale, 3. Columbia, 4. Stanford, 5. Princeton

Princeton ≠ law

My personal rank:

1.Harvard, 2. Yale, 3. Columbia, 4. Stanford, 5. Princeton

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Columbia
4. Stanford
5. Chicago

These rankings are precise. At a master's level it also depends what you would like to study: Chicago and Harvard are probably equal for law and economics/antitrust/finance etc. whereas Columbia might be better at international law etc.

I would even say that Chicago is better and beside that it is tougher to get in because Harvard has like 190 LL.Ms at the moment while in Chicago only 60 are in the program. Harvard might have the better brand in general but Chicago is more selective and better in L&E

Agreed

Finally applied to all these five plus to Oxbridge and LSE also. I also used the LSAC service, it makes the evaluation job a lot easier but still I have to get its report. I think it gives more weight to the application than just costing a great deal as the cost is higher than law school application fees.
I was surprised when the yale law school correspondent said that the TOEFL was compulsory for people outside the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and UK. Contrary to this the Harvard Law School did not require it because my external law degree is from the University of London. Lets see what happens I am hoping that the Yale's evaluaters aren't that much strict.

My personal ranking is:
Harvard (for its research library and campus)
Stanford (for its weather and small size of class)
Yale
Columbia
NYU/Chicago