Hi.
I am a lawyer from South India, graduated at the top of my class from the best school in the country.
I have nearly ten internships in various corporate firms. Unfortunately no publications.
I have always been inclined to pursue an LLM from a prestigious US law school. I started working as a paralegal for an immigration firm since qualifying this year.
What do you guys think my chances are of making it to a good school ?
Profile Assess
Posted Nov 21, 2014 14:28
I am a lawyer from South India, graduated at the top of my class from the best school in the country.
I have nearly ten internships in various corporate firms. Unfortunately no publications.
I have always been inclined to pursue an LLM from a prestigious US law school. I started working as a paralegal for an immigration firm since qualifying this year.
What do you guys think my chances are of making it to a good school ?
Posted Nov 22, 2014 13:32
Hi,
These are always hard posts to respond to because who knows what admissions officers really value in an application. I'd say you have a good profile and you definitely have a chance, if your language skills are up to par. One thing that might work against you is that there are probably a great number of people from India applying to top US law schools and most schools want to have some diversity in their incoming classes.
Good luck!
These are always hard posts to respond to because who knows what admissions officers really value in an application. I'd say you have a good profile and you definitely have a chance, if your language skills are up to par. One thing that might work against you is that there are probably a great number of people from India applying to top US law schools and most schools want to have some diversity in their incoming classes.
Good luck!
Posted Nov 22, 2014 13:47
Hi,
These are always hard posts to respond to because who knows what admissions officers really value in an application. I'd say you have a good profile and you definitely have a chance, if your language skills are up to par. One thing that might work against you is that there are probably a great number of people from India applying to top US law schools and most schools want to have some diversity in their incoming classes.
Good luck!
1) I agree on the diversity part BUT you need to have in mind one thing, highly populated countries like India, China etc will have a greater representation percentage than other countries.
eg. They might accept one applicant from Croatia, but accept 10 from China, and so on....
2) you give too much weight on language....you need to have adequate knowledge of the english language i.e be able to read and write to an acceptable level; but as long as you can speak/write in english you will not be prejudiced by not being at a top linguistic level for two reasons: (a) if they want diversity they know that many people from non-english speaking countries will not have exceptional english language skills, and (b) top universities want top students, so if a brilliant/genius student from India applies but his/her english is not that good, he will not be prejudiced compared to a mediocre english student
These are always hard posts to respond to because who knows what admissions officers really value in an application. I'd say you have a good profile and you definitely have a chance, if your language skills are up to par. One thing that might work against you is that there are probably a great number of people from India applying to top US law schools and most schools want to have some diversity in their incoming classes.
Good luck!</blockquote>
1) I agree on the diversity part BUT you need to have in mind one thing, highly populated countries like India, China etc will have a greater representation percentage than other countries.
eg. They might accept one applicant from Croatia, but accept 10 from China, and so on....
2) you give too much weight on language....you need to have adequate knowledge of the english language i.e be able to read and write to an acceptable level; but as long as you can speak/write in english you will not be prejudiced by not being at a top linguistic level for two reasons: (a) if they want diversity they know that many people from non-english speaking countries will not have exceptional english language skills, and (b) top universities want top students, so if a brilliant/genius student from India applies but his/her english is not that good, he will not be prejudiced compared to a mediocre english student
Posted Nov 24, 2014 09:53
Hi.
I am a lawyer from South India, graduated at the top of my class from the best school in the country.
I have nearly ten internships in various corporate firms. Unfortunately no publications.
I have always been inclined to pursue an LLM from a prestigious US law school. I started working as a paralegal for an immigration firm since qualifying this year.
What do you guys think my chances are of making it to a good school ?
Your chances are slim. Ten internships will go against you as it asks the obvious question why you interned so frequently in similar places and in different orgs. I have couple of friends from India and like most others they had 3, maybe 5 internships. So don't bank on that number much.
US law schools are egalitarian and pro-diversity. They will not lend much to the 'best law school' tag regardless how true you might consider it to be. For all purposes the differences mean little and they would rather have people from distinct law schools than not. The Indians and Chinese in my class were all from very different backgrounds. AFAIK no two people were from the same law school so you will be lumped with others from your law school for making a decision.
And lastly, your reasons for wanting to pursue an LLM are lazy. 'inclined to' is as lazy and meaningless as it gets and that will stand out in your SOP as clear as daylight. Id suggest you work a few years and collect your thoughts. Sorry if all this sounds harsh.
I am a lawyer from South India, graduated at the top of my class from the best school in the country.
I have nearly ten internships in various corporate firms. Unfortunately no publications.
I have always been inclined to pursue an LLM from a prestigious US law school. I started working as a paralegal for an immigration firm since qualifying this year.
What do you guys think my chances are of making it to a good school ?
</blockquote>
Your chances are slim. Ten internships will go against you as it asks the obvious question why you interned so frequently in similar places and in different orgs. I have couple of friends from India and like most others they had 3, maybe 5 internships. So don't bank on that number much.
US law schools are egalitarian and pro-diversity. They will not lend much to the 'best law school' tag regardless how true you might consider it to be. For all purposes the differences mean little and they would rather have people from distinct law schools than not. The Indians and Chinese in my class were all from very different backgrounds. AFAIK no two people were from the same law school so you will be lumped with others from your law school for making a decision.
And lastly, your reasons for wanting to pursue an LLM are lazy. 'inclined to' is as lazy and meaningless as it gets and that will stand out in your SOP as clear as daylight. Id suggest you work a few years and collect your thoughts. Sorry if all this sounds harsh.
Posted Nov 25, 2014 09:10
Thanks guys.
Immense help it has been.
@Anna and law, I dont think I should have any problem on the language front. I have completed all my education in english medium schools. Rest, wrt to diversity, I guess we can never assume how many people apply. Better to just send the damn application in :)
@ jsd
I appreciate your thoughts. In India, firms have a trend of not keeping interns for more than a month, hence we have no choice but to intern at several places.
I am working on my SOP. I have better things up my sleeve than an inclination.
Immense help it has been.
@Anna and law, I dont think I should have any problem on the language front. I have completed all my education in english medium schools. Rest, wrt to diversity, I guess we can never assume how many people apply. Better to just send the damn application in :)
@ jsd
I appreciate your thoughts. In India, firms have a trend of not keeping interns for more than a month, hence we have no choice but to intern at several places.
I am working on my SOP. I have better things up my sleeve than an inclination.
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