Guys, thank you for all your advice.

I now feel like going to Chicago, but my concern for Chicago is security. I heard that the security is not very good in south Chicago (around University of Chicago) .

Do all guys who will going to (or went to )Chicago find it OK ?

I'm heading to Chicago as well. Redfox, we should definitely all meet up in Zurich!

Hey folks, I´m so glad I found this discussion! The question weather Chicago or NYU is bothering me for more than two weeks! I felt more sypathies for Chicago, and it seems a bit more "edgy" to me. No contest, students are quite dedicated there, but I ask myself if UoChicago had a look on personal backgrounds (interesting travels, special hobbies..) when it came to their admission or if it was a selection purely based on academic achievements; here comes my question:

Do you think LL.M. students at Chicago have time to go out to the Loop every now and then (say, once or twice a week until 23h30) or would I miss the great opportunity to make friends from all over the world because everyone has to absorbe his books all night long?

Concerning the reputation, I would consider it a randsom - action to select a totally different academic atmosphere just because of a slightly better ranking of NYU; still, we all might have experienced that "first sight legitimation" sometimes counts ("la sable aux yeux") so that I spoke to some internatioanlly experienced attorneys-at-law in central Europe. They told me unanimously that the degrees of NYU and UoC are considered to be equal. Therefore, I have decided to look which atmosphere I prefer personally.

Oh, there´s a second question that comes into my mind:

Do you have any experiences with the teaching style at Chicago? Personally, I think that it´s sometimes nice to be challenged, but I ask myself if the basic attitude in Chicago is to "make students feel stupid and humble". For somebody like me whose motivation to study law is already self - driven, such an environment would not be too fruitful...

Thanks for your answers! Goring

About your security question: both Chicago and NY are world cities, so neither of them is completely safe. But with some common sense, you will not get into trouble.

I´ve got another question in mind: I´ve heard that at the University of Chicago, there are 3/4 male students; do you know weather this would be the same within the Law School?

Does it matter? What I am concerned is the security issue. And the chance of landing an internship in US. Last year, LLM from Chicago found position in Baker Chicago. This year's situation is still unknown.

Wildreamer, assuming that your entering question is not purely rhetorical, it´s quite difficult to find out what really "matters"; I guess it´s a rather personal choice and it´s good to see people that found their answer. I could talk to a recent alumnus on the security issue. He told me that the situation used to be very bad, but that the security in Hyde Park has definitely increased over the last couple of years. He was absolutely certain that there is no danger on the campus itself. I´ve also heard of the so-called "white phones" that allow engangered students to call the next police station just by touching the receiver. What is your information about the security issue so far? Cheers, Goring

I was admitted to both and will quite probably choose Chicago (unless I get an offer from Columbia - still waiting).

Chicago supposedly has better law firm "employability" rate for LL.M. students than NYU (judging from the opinions of my friends who are current LL.M students and according to various rankings), which seems to be important in such a tough labor market as today's... Of course, "employability" is affected by many other factors and I don't even want to reopen discussion on that point :-)

So quite possibly I'll see you guys at Chicago ;-) Have a nice day.

NYU has the advantage of employability in NYC since it's in NYC. Btw, Chicago went down from #6 to #7 in the recent rankings, NYU from #4 to #5. Because of prestige and atmoshpere and experience, I'd choose NYU anytime over Chicago.

Chicage LLM's Program is not as small as people say. The last information is that they are admitting 150 per year. Moreover, they are accepting more and more students, since most of their admitted students prefer to study in another school. Just look and see that almost everybody who applied for NYU and Chicago got addmited on both. I do not see this argument (smaller class) as a valuable one anymore. It was three years ago, not anymore.

Actualy, students addmitted to U o C this year received a file with the number of addmitted applicants in the last 4 years (if I am not mistaken). Throught this file you can se that they've only addmited a number around 50 students in these last years.
Also, I spoke today with the partner of a big lawfirm in NY who told me that Chicago LLM Program is much better than Columbia and NYU especially because os its size...

Hi EveB,
I agree with you that the size of the class does matter, but, nonetheless, I would find hard to believe someone giving up Columbia for Chicago.
Chicago was a very well respected school but in the last 10 years it had lost a lot of its prestige (and some very good professors) and, as of today, it is falling behind other universities.

Lawyers working in NYC actually told me that NYU is better than both Columbia and Chicago. In fact, they like NYU better than any other school. Any school outside of NYC is at a disadvantage and they prefer NYU and Columbia, sometimes in this order. The size shouldn't matter because the SIZE of CLASSES is exactly the same, sometimes NYU classes are tiny.

I gues the only conclusion we can make then is that everyone has its own (therefore personnal) view about which school is better... =)

Guys, what´s up with the US - News R a n k i n g of University of Chicago? I´m disappointed about it. Does somebody have any details concerning the factors that have let to this result? Increase in crime, teaching quality... If the loss in the ranking is only due to "living quality" I would not really care.

I also had the choice between Chicago en NYU. Went for Chicago...
Don't get hung up on rankings. And by the way it's still placed 7th.