Here it is, I applied for some of the usual suspects and would very much appreciate your thoughts on what to choose if accepted to them all (theoretically speaking to occupy myself while waiting for the decisions lol).

The options are:
1. Columbia
2. NYU
3. Harvard
4. Northwestern

Thanks for your thoughts and looking forward to chat with other applicants as well.

ps. I don't mind cold weather so I wouldn't discard Northwestern based on it.

what do you want to focus on in your LLM? if you want to learn the criminal law of 13th century china, i would say, none of the above.

It all depends on what area of law you are interested in.

Harvard.. regardless of what kind of law you want to specialise in.. it's all about the brand

on brand name I think it's fairly obvious:
1. Harvard
2= Columbia
2= NYU (let the choice of courses decide between these two)
3. Northwestern

Ok then, my interest is to focus my LLM in business and/or tax law.

In fact, I have applied to the LLM/Kellogg program at Northwestern and to the International Taxation program at NYU.

Most certainly criminal law in XIII century china was not my top choice.

i suppose you can't really go wrong with any of your choices, but if tax is your top choice, you should go to nyu. it tops even harvard in terms of tax and americans who go for tax LLMs go to nyu, i don't know any (american) who went to harvard for a tax LLM. for business, you can't go wrong with any of your four choices. if you were admitted to all of them, and you're not really after a tax specialization, you would most likely go to harvard for the brand name. it's hard to say no to harvard!

I myself have applied to several of those Universities. I applied to Columbia, NYU, Georgetown and Northwestern. My top choices are obviosly the first two. I think I´d be facing a much greater paradox of choice if I´m admitted to both..LOL

Doubtlessly, regardless of the field of law you´re interested in, I would choose Harvard. The issue, obviously, is getting admitted there. If your credentials are good enough to make it to HLS, don´t hesitate for a second going there.

Since you seem to be interested in business (corporate) and tax law, I think you´re facing a very tough choice with respect to the others.

CLS is regarded as the top university when it comes to corporate law, while NYU is the best for tax law. That seems to be conventional wisdom, or at least, the opinion within these forums. Check them out....

Bottomline, for you it´s probably going to be pretty much about whether you want to live in Morningside Heights or Greenwich Village. LOL

Good luck

I agree with most of the posts above, HLS is by far the best brand. And in my case I'll probably go there if admitted (still in doubt with one other option).
But the personal choice should be based on many factors, such as the area of interest, the future career plans (academic work, legal practice, International Organisation, NGO, etc.), the personal life off campus, the kind of colleagues, networking possibilities, the intended performance and grades, etc.
So there is no such thing as the perfect choice. It all depends on the specific situation of the applicant.

Thank you dierome and VERT for your thoughts.

I have to say I generally agree with you both on your appreciations.

As I said in the first post, this is to keep my mind occupied while waiting Lol...

I to with the best of lucks to you all in your own processes.

ps. Just to share it with you, I received last week my letter of acceptance from Georgetown, so I guess I have got my backup convered so far.

Regards,

Sebastian.

That´s wonderful! Congratulations!
When did you submit your Georgetown application?
I submitted mine last monday, so I guess it´ll be a while before I get any news on that.
It looks as though it´ll be a long, long winter....