Would really appreciate your opinion guys!
I was admitted to NYU, which has always been something i wanted, study there and living in nyc for a while.
But recently i was also admitted to Penn, and unlike NYU, they are also able to offer financial aid that is really difficult to dismiss.

How different my LLM experience would be at Penn as opposed to NYU? And what about prospects for getting a job/continuing to an SJD later? Is NYU considered to be better than Penn due to the ranking?

Need to decide ASAP...

Thanks!!!!

Go to Penn. Penn is as good as NYU. Taking account of the aid, you should choose Penn.

not an easy decision to make. love nyc and always wanted to live there. also heard that nyu has a better rep and better ranking, and may help with job opportunities later.

Well, to just add one comment (although I could start rambling about Ivy League, LLM class size, reputation in the US) you should give more weight to the reputation of your university in your field not in the general rankings. However, even in the general rankings, Penn is just two spots behind NYU.

ramble away, please! would really appreciate the opinion and info,

honestly, financial aid is probably the strongest appeal of penn to me personally, but maybe its also because i was kind of fixed on nyu and do not know enough re penn. lately i have been hearing a lot of criticism re nyu and other choices that people made, which is kind of getting to me.

I was *so* fixed on NYU. It was the only option I was really considering...all that changed however when I got in UPenn with aid. I accepted it and withdrew my applications elsewhere. And it wasn't only the aid. It was the way the administration treated us in the process, it was the fact that I am into corporate law and Penn has Wharton, it was the fact that Penn accepts less people than NYU and in the end it was the fact that NYC, although my life long dream, could actually be a distraction while studying. All the good stuff I have heard about Penn in the past years just..accumulated and I was thrilled about it.

I also need to disclose that I have friends at Penn, but I would also have friends at NYU and other NYC schools, so that, ultimately, did not matter.

thats exactly how it was for me- only nyu and nyc. and now all of a sudden things start to shift.

are you attending now or will be attending next year?

I'll be in the 2011/12!

Did anyone mention that the LLMs at Penn are also planning an awesome wine tasting party?

I know, I'm still not over the fact that I won't be living in NYC. HOWEVER, actually in the US, Penn's reputation is amazing all-around. Who knows, if we work extremely hard and be *very, very lucky*, we might end up working in NYC, some day.

But, for a year or so, campus life is not that bad either.

I have to say that Penn also attracted me a lot. Columbia has only been my first option, but if I didn't get a spot there, I really think that I would choose Penn over NYU (if I had the chance to decide).

As I received an answer from Penn two months before receiving an answer from Columbia I have read a lot about the university and the course. I was really excited with the idea of studying there and attending the Wharton Certificate. And I had no aid at all!

So I would go for Penn.

Cheers!

My bias is self-evident, I also received a Dean's Scholarship from Penn and rejected Berkeley's offer as well as withdrew my app from Harvard and Yale. I think it comes down to how much you need the money. For me, whatever the initial contemplations, I knew I would probably not be able to attend an LLM without financial aid or going broke.

I didn't apply to any NYC Schools because of the high living cost. I do however have plenty of friends who are NYU Law Alumns and undoubtly it is a great school. On the other hand, Penn is an equally great school. In my understanding of things the two schools have a more or less equal leverage and if I may stretch it Penn's ivy status might give it a higher appeal (look at the Penn clubs around the US and world). Eventually, which school's alumni you are going to be also matters.

I personally love NYC as well but would probably not choose a school over the location unless the choice was extreme (i.e. NYU v. Duke or UVA since it comes down to big city v. small town). In the present case it's bigger city v. big city and at the end of the day a city is what the people you are with make it to be. I am sure both options will have equally great people.

I'll tell you what I did when it was Berkeley v. Penn. I opened up the curricula of both schools and actually started looking into which classes I would take if I were to attend. Then I looked into the profs teaching them, the descriptions etc. That got me hooked towards Penn (my drift is legal philosophy and Penn is very philosophically oriented; strangely enough for a school equally great in corporate law ;) )

I could go on and tell you more and more about what mattered in my decision but you have to find your own hook. Drop the NYU website for a day or two and log onto the Penn admitted students page. Go through it extensively, get the feel of the school. In my short experience thus far Penn is extremely student friendly which is something that I hear NYU is not so much. (seriously, Matt Parker answers all my emails within 10 minutes, it's amazing!) I would personally choose Penn over NYU but let's see where your heart lays!

P.S. And the Penn Class of '12 seems pretty awesome thus far if we may praise our own :P

I agree 100%.

Plus, a big shout-out goes to Matt Parker, who is also pleasant on the phone! ;)

Oh so you went so far as a phone convo! You did not tell me that! I will expect you to spill the gossip asap ;) Matt Parker is my new idol, it's official.

Actually, it was just my OCD. I needed a phone confirmation he got my fax! :) I think fax machines are useless contraptions from another era. I don't trust them.

I sent it via email scanned (I preemptively assumed my work fax would be broken which it ended up being) so I asked if I could send it scanned via email. He replied (within 10 minutes) that absolutely it would be fine. I emailed it and received confirmation within literally 3 minutes that he had received it. I am telling you, the man is God. His statute should be at the new Golkin Hall (which also adds to Penn's appeal by the way as (since we have hijacked this thread - so sorry for that -) I hear it is going to make the law campus amazing)

Apparently, whichever campus I go to it will end up being a construction site for at least part of my attendance...it must be some sort of Murphy's law. But I'm sure the end result will look amazing!

I think that was a good plan. I went slightly overboard: fax at the post office, scan the form, scan the confirmation of the fax machine, send both by email and THEN call Matt. :)

:))))))

no doubt the Penn 2012 class seems to be awesome

thanks a lot guys- if you are penn then thats a real point in their favor ;)

im looking through the course descriptions, trying to figure out what i connect to, whats my hook there

oh and Matt Parker is so nice that its not even real, such a great move by penn to have someone like that be in contact with the students

I sent it via email scanned (I preemptively assumed my work fax would be broken which it ended up being) so I asked if I could send it scanned via email. He replied (within 10 minutes) that absolutely it would be fine. I emailed it and received confirmation within literally 3 minutes that he had received it. I am telling you, the man is God. His statute should be at the new Golkin Hall (which also adds to Penn's appeal by the way as (since we have hijacked this thread - so sorry for that -) I hear it is going to make the law campus amazing)

Hi guys!!

I totally back up all my "almost to be" great UPenn fellows!!
Between NYU and UPenn, I would choose the latter.. as mentioned by Freckles, that has to do with your profile.. mine is corporate so it is easier to decide among those two options.

I am now waiting for Columbia, but also really loving Penn.. these decisions are way more difficult than I though!!

Just wanted to add, that wine event (and maybe with some pisco too) will definitely rock!

Best for all!

PS: Way to go Borderline! You got aid too! None for me, but happy for you :)