Hey Guys,

After a lot of day dreaming, I got admission from BC in General LLM. I applied there for my residential home is 1/30 driving from the school and I wanted to save some money. Last week I got the pre-registration forms, the course selection freaked me out, -There are many courses one need to take in order to sit for the bar exam but it is impossible due to the 24 courses limit- , anyway , first I figured out that I should take classes 5 days a week due to the schedule , that means I should rent a studio and much more expenses that I had expected are coming on the way, that also means I should leave my husband to whom I am married less than a year!!( Quite Sad) and since it is a general LLM and I am going to take some courses with JDs such as Torts, Corporation, Contract, Seminar and clinical courses... I am soooooo freaked out that I could not handle the workload, English is not my first language and I do not command it unlike many of you
( I scored TOFLE 110) but I suppose it was out of luck, I really do not see it in me to write long essay and do many writing assignment or conference in the class, geese my English sucks for that .... I have lost my confidence and if I was not so embarrassed of that, I would have right away chosen to go to a college instead. Moreover, I am more afraid that despite all the difficulties once I get the degree I will be a failure with 50k loan and no decent Job offer!!! Is it something really wrong with me or did you gyus have the same feelings?

Dear Antoinett,

Probably I won't be able to allay much of your fears, however, here is what I'm thinking...

First, don't take courses based on preparation for a bar exam! In order to sit for the bar just take a bar review course which would serve as an excellent preparation tool...

Second, which is following from the above, choose something as your specialty and take a lots of courses in that, don't try to embrace something that you won't be able to handle, and moreover, it doesn't possible - you can't take all courses as JD students take for you have only 24 credits!!! That's why in order to raise your chances as per job market afterwards - SPECIALTY is the name of the game!

And finally, take all in proportions and everything's going to be OK :)

Dear MMend

It was so kind of you to reply to my post. Thank you so much for the advice. I really needed to hear that from some one , as I had been totally confused the last couple of days weather to take primary courses or to focus on the field of my interest ( immigration law).

to focus, otherwise you will be like JDs only with much less courses taken and lesser English langauge skills...

I second that - do not take basic courses b/c you think they will prepare you for the bar exam. these law school courses and the bar exam are two completely different creatures - you'll learn what you need to know in bar review. however, i would also say that b/c english isn't your first language, you may want to take at least one critical class each semester to become familiar with usage and US legal language. I always think constitutional law is a good place to start for a basic understanding of a country's system. good luck!

Hi Antoinette,
I would simply add that it may be necessary however that you do take some basic US law subjects tested on the bar exam if your first degree is not in common law (like a civil law degree from Europe). See NY Bar regulations.
Cheer up and best of luck.