I have breifly mentioned my dilemma in another thread, but REALLY need to make a decision soon so thought I would ask for all of your advise on a new thread just to get some attention ;-)

I am going to puruse my LLM in International Law and have narrowed my choices down to Georgetown and NYU. I have been accepted as an Institute of International Economic Law Fellow at Georgetown (which has no associated funding, but has a lot of other benefits), and have simply been accepted into the NYU International Legal Studies LLM at NYU (without any scholarships/fellowships).

Any advice on where I should go would be very much appreciated. I am currently leaning towards NYU, but I am wondering if the fellowship is enough to make Georgetown a better choice.

I think that I have already decided that I would prefer to be at NYU over the London School of Economics, University College London and Duke, but any thoughts to the contrary are welcome.

I have to let most of the above schools know my decision this week so please help!

Thanks in advance!

Hi Rah23,

I just read your post and I was intrigued with your question, for the reason, that I'm on the same situation. I'm going to pursue my LLM in international law, as well. Got the IIEL fellowship... but I don't know, if this enough to choose Georgetown.

I suppose that you already made a decision. I have one week to decide. What was the outcome that you reached at the end? What were the reasons? I'm sure that your decision was good either way.

By the way, where are you from? I'm from Mexico.

Well, thanks in advance. And hope I can meet you in the next months over there.

Saludos

Hi,

I don't know how much help I can be to you both - but I am in a similar situation. I have a place at NYU without funding, but with a place on the Transitional Justice program, and a partial scholarship for George Washington.

It's an impossible choice - the funding matters of course, but I think I am leading towards NYU for reasons that might be helpful to you. Friends attending US law schools at the moment point out that NYU is the best for int'l law, and that this isn't just because of past glories. Moreover, it has been suggested to me that studying int'l law in Washington can have a very US-centric feel to it, whereas New York has a more international perspective... Take this with a grain of salt, and make up yours own minds of course.

One more thing that might he helpful to you - I didn't apply to Georgetown as it seemed they offer no financial aid to international students... This to me suggests something in the school's attitude towards foreign lawyers... perhaps that they are looking to train people who will work in US foreign policy? I could be wrong; this is just an intuitive feeling.

The best of luck to you both - and to everyone making agonising decisions at the moment! If anyone has some advice for me, it will be gratefully accepted!

Aurora

P.S. I also decided against LSE, so I agree with you there. There is no guarantee of being able to fill your course selection with int'l law at LSE.

Erniec and Aurora,

After much consideration, I have decided to attend NYU next year.

After looking at NYU's ILS program, and the various professors affiliated with it (such as Weiler, Kingsbury, Franck etc.), it seems too good to pass up. Georgetown's alumni list of IIEL fellows was impressive, but I get the sense that the fellowship application process isn't that competative given that there is no funding attached to it, and given that there were approximately 20 IIEL student fellows last year.

I know rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, but I also noted that Georgetown slpped to the number 4 spot in the International Law rankings this year, while NYU has had a lock on the number 1 spot for quite some time.

I know that some people have been concerned with the large size of the LLM class at NYU, but it should be noted that there are only 50-75 students in the International Legal Studies LLM program. I would think that it is this subset of the LLM class that one would get to know quite well, and spend most of their time with.

In terms of job prospects, I remember noting that NYU ILS LLM grads have an impressive record of finding international law related jobs/internships. It is my impression that NYU has quite a good reputation with international institutions seeking international lawyers. Having said this, although there are many individuals on this board who are quick to warn others of the bleek job prospects for LLM grauates, I think that anyone with good grades and interesting life experiences (whether they be professional or otherwise) will be able to find a job/internship that they will be happy with - so this alone was not a determining factor for me.

I know for many money is also a factor. Although NYU will be slightly more expensive, this has not deterred me in making my decision. There are other lawyers at my firm (in Calgary, Canada) that have pursued their LLM degrees and they have all told me not to be worried about the expense I will incur given that the money can be made back pretty quickly upon returning to work. After all, even an extra $10 000 or $20 000 today, will be relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of your life. I would choose NYU if it meant looking back without having a lifetime of regret for not having chosen a better LLM program for financial reasons.

Of course, Georgetown, GW, LSE and NYU are all great schools, all of which have great programs. Although I was tempted by both Georgetown and LSE (I didn't apply to GW) from both and academic and "experience" perspective, I think that NYU and New York generally are the best choice for me.

I hope that some of the above has helped, and I hope to see you both in NY this August!

Good luck with your decisions!

Rah23 and Erniec,

I thought I would let you both know of the outcome of my decision. After much agonising, I chose NYU, and I'm so happy with the decision. I don't think there will be any regrets! So I will see you in New York in August, Rah, and hopefully you to Erniec.

Your posts were really hepful, so thank-you. On another level, it's also comforting to know that there are others out there being tormented by this process! Having weighed up everything from rankings to faculty to costs to location, it came down to reverting to initial instinct - which is probably the only way to do it in the end.

Good luck to everyone,

aurora

Hi rah23 and Aurora,

Thank you for the response, it was very helpfull. Ive decided that I would accept Georgetowns offer, as well as the fellowship.

As you already know, international law is a very broad area and at some point in my life I had to focus on some of its topics. I found very appealing the study of international trade law and, while international public law remains my true pasion, I think that its a very good oportunity to depth into the study of trade law, in specific WTO law. Having been at the WTO in Geneva helped me realized that Georgetowns LLM program and the IIEL is higly regarded as one of the most important programs related to WTO law, if not the best.

I agree with you Rah23 that the number of IIEL fellows might seem large. However, taking into account and considering that the LLM size at Georgetown is around 320, I think 20 is not a considerable number.

Altough NYU is probably one of the best for international law, I think Georgetown for international trade law might be better.

Im decided to go to Georgetown, if Columbia does not come with other offer.

Thank you for the comments and hope to meet you in the US

Good luck at NY!!!!