Hi everyone,

Fellows, please read it thorough, I really need you advises.

I intend to apply for an LLM for 2008-09 and my area of interest is real estate (RE) and related matters. I have several years of exp in this field and before preparing my Ph.D. thesis I decided to go for some additional training.

I started to search for a specific program, read several posts at this forum and discovered that there are only two programs in USA - in Univ. of Miami and in John Marshall Univ. directly related to RE. Well, I supposed RE to be much more popular...
I planned to apply to top schools (HLS, CLS, NYU) and believe that I'm able to succeed with it. But they don't have specific courses. NYU and CLS are really good in their corporate law programs and SLS - IT law and so on. However, there exist small number of courses in each school that represent the subject I need.

Im going to apply to all schools, and here are the TWO questions I have:

1. The application Im going to send to the UofM will contain my statement of interest in RE law. What to send to the top schools? RE is, definitely, not the main subject in their curriculum at all. Should I rely on the general programs, which allow to choose relevant courses? Will it be sufficient to get to the bottom of RE law of USA?
Moreover, and thats the most important thing, RE appears to be the rigorous and rare course and at Berkley it is unambiguously said that "we're unlikely to admit students pursuing rigorous programs". I'm not insured with the same to happen at the other top schools. I mean it looks like they can reject a candidate just for the specialty of the course he intends to study.

2. What about separate RE LLM in UofM and JM?
For me its indisputable that the name of the school really makes sense. But UofM is ranked 70 and JM is not among top 100 at all. Yes, their program brochures are attractive, UofM admission is very competitive, but I'm worried of the job prospects and the general level of the education.

In fact it all results in two topics:
1. Is it worth applying to a top school with a specific subject of interest, which is not represented in its curriculum well enough? What are the chances to be rejected on this basis?
2. Is it profitable to study specific LLM programs in low ranked universities in favor of general and less detailed programs of top-tier schools?

I would highly appreciate any of your replies and thoughts. May be personal experience.
Thanks to all.

Hi, I cant beleive i found your thread,
Im having the exact same doubts right now, I just got my title in december 2016 Im a mexican lawyer my title is the equivalent o a first law degree or LLB, the family bussines has always been on comercial real estate and, without wanting to, I ended up getting an internship on the real estate/ property management department for an international retail company, since they where looking specifically for a law student for such internship. Having the family business and being 14 months as an intern and almost a year as an outsourcing analyst for the same company on the same department has made me want to prepare more on this area but ended up founding not so many options as you said " I supposed RE to be much more popular... "
Ive been researching schools and founding not specific programs and wondering if its worth a try.
and i ended up having the same two questions you asked

"1. Is it worth applying to a top school with a specific subject of interest, which is not represented in its curriculum well enough? What are the chances to be rejected on this basis?
2. Is it profitable to study specific LLM programs in low ranked universities in favor of general and less detailed programs of top-tier schools?"

since i see your post is from 2007 i guess i might have a couple more options in what university specializacion and certificates have come up on the past 10 years.

Would you mind telling me your experience and what you ended up doing? this will help me a lot to decide and narrow down to which universities i will be applyioing since i would like to start on the fall 2018 programs.

i really hope you read this and give me a little bit of light into what i should do.