Greetings to my fellow posters, lurker's, oldtimers and wise-people of this forum. It is that time of the year again where we need to make certain crucial decisions. I, therefore, seek your thoughts on something extremely important to me.

I have been admitted to NYU's LL.M. Program as a Vanderbilt Scholar (full-tuition) as well as to Harvard, Columbia and Michigan. I am awaiting news on my FinAid application to Harvard who said they are likely to offer something! My interests are primarily public international law and arbitration and I am now in a dilemma about which school to attend.

Harvard is of course a huge, huge brand in my country as is Columbia to a slightly lesser extent. But Harvard's course offerings on international law and arbitration are not as good as NYU which has an amazing Program (the ILS) on international law and arbitration. It also has outstanding faculty (Prof (s) Jose Alvarez, Philip Alston, Benedict Kingsbury, Grainne de Burca, Oscar Chase, Andreas Lowenfeld, Franco Ferrari et al.) unmatched anywhere else in the world. NYU's impressive career services facilities for LL.M. students and location means that it will probably offer me the best chance to get some practical experience (i know it is very difficult!) before I go back to my home country in a couple of years. Money is very important to me and NYU's financial offer is very exciting! I am now terribly confused.

What do you think? Is there someone who is facing a similar situation or knows anyone who has in the past? If I chose NYU (which I am increasingly inclined to do), will I regret not going to Harvard looking back at my life? Please do share your thoughts and opinions as it would be extremely important to me in making a decision.

Thank you ever so much for your time and I wish you the very best with your remaining applications!

Cheers,
weatherman26

If you really like arbitration then definitely go to NYU. I personally think you should look more at the ranking of the program you are interested in than the absolute ranking of the school especially when you are looking at schools of similar caliber. I also believe in "taking the money" when it is very significant such as a full tuition (especially when at a top ranked school).

One thing to note, just because the faculty is famous in their specialties doesn't mean they are great teachers and can impart their experience and knowledge effectively. I have had "famous" teachers before many of them were not effective teachers whereas I've had less known teachers where the entire class felt they learned far more. This is just a general comment and not directed at NYU. Schools also realize that have someone "famous" can help draw students.

NYU is one of the few schools left for me that I am interested in. I am torn between Tax or Arbitration there and a higher ranked school for another program.

Keep in mind that the New York market is fairly easy for foreign trained lawyers to pass the bar but there is an incredible amount of competition there. Over 4000 foreign trained LLMs took the NY bar and you'll be competing with all the JDs that come there as well from top ranked schools in the area. I am not saying it is impossible but definitely network as much as you can.

I would go to NYU preffering substance over brand name, since your interests are PIL and Arbitration.

Hey, I am facing a similar question. Which country are you from? I am inclined to NYU as well for the reasons Wavshrdr and SergioAD have mentioned. Please PM me if you would like to discuss this privately. Thank you!

(1) Harvard, (2) Columbia, and (3) NYU. This is a very status-conscious profession. The prestige of a Harvard degree is recognized worldwide.

Harvard, NYU, Columbia
Columbia has the better reputation but NYU is the less risky option with the scholarship... Harvard, well its Harvard

Hi all, I have a similar situation. I received the admission from both Columbia and NYU with Vanderbilt and am wondering which one to enroll in. My focus is on business law. Appreciate if you have any thoughts to share, thank you!

Hi there,

Was did you finally chose for corporate law, Columbia or NYU? I am wondering the same thing here and cannot decide...

Hi there,

Was did you finally chose for corporate law, Columbia or NYU? I am wondering the same thing here and cannot decide...

Thank you for your response... I did the opposite and I feel that I made a mistake. Unfortunately I don't think we can withdraw an enrollment from NYU after having paid the deposit...

Just FYI - I withdrew from NYU and am enrolling in Columbia. :-)

You can usually withdraw your admission but you typically lose your deposit. If you do plan to withdraw, do it sooner rather than later so others may still have a chance to take your spot.

You can usually withdraw your admission but you typically lose your deposit. If you do plan to withdraw, do it sooner rather than later so others may still have a chance to take your spot.