Any new activity in last couple of weeks on domestic tax decisions- rejections or acceptances?

-still have not heard.

I haven't seen ANY signs of activity, so I would not worry yet if I were you. It appears at least a few people on these boards declined NYU's offer this past Friday/early this week, so perhaps another round of acceptances will start to go out next week.

Anyone have any idea on employment stats for the 2010 (or 11) class?

5 hours after my $900 check went in the post box to GULC I got my email from NYU for Domestic Tax....

waitlisted!

Wow! Are you going to stick with GULC then?

Wow! Are you going to stick with GULC then?

I changed my mind since this last post!

DaddyLLM - Did you make a final decision?

I think I am going to NYU. I actually went full circle and started to think UF again. NYU seems to be more universal, a skeleton if you will, and I don't know where I will end up, although hopefully Kentucky.

My responses to various comments in this thread:

I graduated from NYU Tax in 2010. My application was complete in November and I didn't get accepted to NYU until May after I had sent 2 nonrefundable deposits to GULC. Very few people get accepted before May.

NYU is the best tax program in the country and it's not close. If you have the opportunity to go to NYU, do it. It gives you the best chance to get a job and then you can worry about specializing later.

NYU considers everyone automatically for merit scholarships, but there are maybe 4 or 5 scholarships available, which are the student editor positions with the Tax Law Review.

If you are choosing between D'Ag and Mercer - go with Mercer. The rooms are bigger. But either way, the mattresses are horrendous and you are going to need to buy a foam matttress topper.

TriGuy - Since you commented on housing. Do you have any tips for those looking for off-campus housing? Especially from out of state? Is mid-July too late to make an apartment hunting trip to NYC?

I don't know about off campus housing, but mid July does seem late.

If it is at all possible, I would recommend leaving your dog with someone for the year. Living off campus will isolate you and you will miss out on a lot of bonding with your classmates. It is going to be a real pain to lug your books to and from campus (you will use most of the 2 volume code and 6 volume regs every day). And studying for finals is going to be more difficult. Half of the benefit to this program is making friends with people who will influence your career. You lose out on some of that by living off campus.

Hi Triguy,

Would you mind providing any insights regarding job placement for your class ie, did your classmates generally land jobs upon graduation, if so, where - law firm, govt, accounting firm? For those that did not, what are they doing now (employed, tax-related)?

I noticed in another of your posts that the NYU students got a majority of the interviews at TIP. How did TIP pan out for you/your classmates? Did many people land jobs through TIP? Were you satisfied, overall, with the LLM program? Are you glad you went?

I realize the legal market has changed and it must have been different for the class of 2010 than for other classes (like 2006/2007), so am interested to hear what a recent grad like you has to say.
Thanks!

The general feeling was that my class had the worst job prospects of any class at NYU ever. At least half the class was made up of people who had been deferred at law firms. We were told that we had more deferred students in our class than any prior year. The number of firms that came to OCI was also lower than in the previous 10 years or so.

I would take the current career services numbers with a grain of salt. I think they included stats for people who had been deferred. Here's my breakdown of the people I personally know:
6 people took jobs with Big Law
3 people took internships at the tax court
4 people took jobs with smaller regional law firms outside NY(less than 50 people)
11 people took jobs at accounting firms
1 person was doing non-tax contract work for a law firm
2 people are doing non-legal jobs
4 people are still unemployed

I think half of the accounting people got jobs through TIP, but I don't know for sure. Otherwise, I have no idea how successful TIP was. I think there only 5 big law firms at TIP, but the accounting firms were hiring multiple people. OCI was better, but not much. It was either White & Case or Mayer Brown that told interviewees up front that they weren't hiring unless they met Jesus Christ himself. Also, career services wasn't very good because the director, Clara Solomon, was on maternity leave.

That said, I loved my time at NYU. It was hard work, but I can't imagine practicing tax law without having an LLM. My professors were brilliant and I still keep in touch with a lot of them. You just can't find a collection of tax professors the caliber of Len Schmolka, Deborah Schenk, John Steines, Dan Shaviro, Lily Batchelder, Noel Cunningham, or the late Jim Eustice anywhere else in the country. After you practice tax for a while, you realize what a big deal these people are. And I also made some great friendships and lived in the Village for a year. I feel like NYU changed my life for the better. But I was one of the lucky ones because I got a job with a big firm that I truly enjoy. I wouldn't feel as great about the experience if I were unemployed.

Triguy,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. Im glad to hear your insights on the program and that you were happy with your experience there. I see a lot of posters (usually on other message boards) knocking the tax LLM programs generally, as well as the top 3. Of course, its not always clear whether they are reliable sources or flames. My choice was between Georgetown and NYU. It was a tough decision, but Im confident that NYU is the right choice for me. And I'm definitely looking forward to living in Greenwich Village heard it rocks!

Anyway, congrats on landing a good job that you enjoy!

Triguy,

Thanks for all the great insight. I applied to Georgetown (admitted) and NYU (waitlisted). I did not send in a deposit to Gtown as I was banking on NYU and tentatively had a potential job lined-up. Thing is, I live on the NJ transit line and would save a good $20-25k commuting from home. Finally, I would love to work in the NYC, NJ, Phlly tri-state/city area so it just made sense for me. Gtown did not make sense, absent some $.

While I do all that is possible to get off the waitlist, I was wondering if you could answer a few more questions. You talked about housing and the professors/curriculum, so I guess I will start there.

1. I know what commuting is like from a traffic/rail standpoint, but is it THAT impractical from an academic standpoint? (i.e Do you have an on campus locker for books? Can a M-Th schedule be achieved? Can LL.M. "bonding" be done from a remote location?)

2. As far as curriculum, in your experience is there one-focus (e.g. business tax, intentional tax) that seems more appealing to employers? Is the required tax policy class a writing seminar? Are there any, must take classes (not speaking it terms of requirements, but more in terms of value/professor? Finally, is it possible to take the fed inc tax (presumably a JD class) as the 4 (elective/non LLM) credits that do not count toward the 20 credit grad requirement?

3. Finally, how does big-firm assimilation work? I know that you have your general 2L summers that get offers seemingly in litigation, corporate practice groups, etc. but as far as the tax dept at these big firms, it doesn't seem like they are looking for your run of the mill JDs/2Ls. Is this the beauty of having an LLM?

Please do not feel obligated to respond to every question (or any). The insight you've given thus far is very informative and appreciated, and has really helped me grasp what I'd be getting myself into.

1) There is a locker for off-campus people. Still, it's just not that convenient. You have to lug your code and regs for multiple classes to and from campus, which will take up a backpack AND a canvas bag/second backpack. It will not all fit in a giant backpack. If it will save you 20K, then stay home. Also, there are no Friday classes (with rare exceptions) so you are fine with the M-Th schedule. I know people who did T-Th schedules.

2) There is no one focus that is more appealing to employers, but it depends on where you are applying. If you apply for an employment tax job, you better be enrolled in ERISA and executive comp. If you apply for a trusts and estates job, you need to take those classes. Most jobs will be a general tax practice and you should take corp 1&2, partnership, and international. Schmolka is the best Corp teacher and M&A with Heitner/Schmolka is a great class. I owuld highly recommend taking both. Also, Schenk, Shaviro, and Cunningham are really well-known, well-connected professors. If you make an impression on them and do well in their classes, that could really help you down the road. That said, the most important thing for employers is getting good grades, being able to interview well, and being able to write. Don't over think course selection.

Wow. Thank you for the informative and quick response.

1. Nice to know about the lockers. I have several condensed version of the IRC from J.D., and although not ideal, worst case scenario is that I can reference those to avoid excessive lugging (obviously provided that the relevant material is not cut out).

2. As I assumed, although I've heard rumors that international tax/multi-state tax are the fields in highest demand. Good to know there are other avenues.

3. RE: the profs. Also as I heard, although you failed to mention one that I thought was particularly noteworthy.

Thanks again for the response.

Who did I forget?