Hello all,

I'm a UK student who is considering the possibility of pursuing a second LLM in the States following completion of my first in the UK (probably academic year 10/11 but possibly 11/12). As fees are notoriously high in the States, and I have the cost of my first to consider, I would probably set myself a threshold of a full tuition waiver before I would consider any offer 'an opportunity not to be missed', but I recognise that such offers may be few and far between, or non existant in some schools, so I wouldn't necessarily throw away a 75% or 50% waiver, if circumstances were such that I could find suitable funding elsewhere. Therefore, I'd really like to know about which schools are quite generous in their scholarship packages, which ones are notoriously stringent, and I guess anything else I should look out for as I really am in the preliminary stages of considering this idea. Or, indeed, if I should scrap the idea completely and get back on the UK PhD track!

As a rough guide, I'd probably aim primarily at the upper echelons of the league tables, but I'm not completely set on anywhere and my knowledge of institutions in the US doesn't really extend passed the often quoted names so feel free to throw other ideas at me, if you consider them more suitable!

Qualifications wise, I graduated at the top of my undergraduate class (UK First Class honours, about 74%), won a few awards, gained mooting and other voluntary law school experience and thus far have about a years worth of experience as a research assistant, which thus far includes 1 acknowledged publication. I have been accepted onto both the Cambridge LLM and the Oxford BCL in the UK, which, as I say, I will study for first (not completely decided as to which one yet) and I should also add 1 or 2 book review publications and 1 more substantial publication to my list within the next 12 months or so. Notably, I don't have any practical experience as a lawyer (as my ultimate aim is academia), which I know will limit where I can apply, just my related university work.

My 'main' interests are fairly divergent. Legal history is one, IP is another, obligations law/private international law is another (I suffer from pursuing the impossibility of wanting to know everything about everything- which is, no doubt, very unhelpful).

I think I've rambled for long enough. Any questions, feel free to ask and thanks for any help!

It seems very difficult to predict this kind of thing. The chances of you getting a full tuition scholarship in the top schools for your accomplishments is rather high, but you lack working experience so that might hinder a bit.

I would apply to all top schools you would consider attending, and you will probably receive a very generous offer from some of the schools. Whether you'll get a free pass from absolute top schools (HYSLS) is rather unpredictable.

You certainly have great chances for tuition cuts and will probably receive 50+% scholarships from multiple schools. Might be that those schools are those ranked top 6-12 though, and you'll have to consider if you wish to attend those after your Oxbridge experience.

Conclusion: Very difficult, near impossible to predict your chances to receive a full tuition waiver. If you are interested, just apply and weigh off pro's/contra's :)

Sorry, yes. I should have included that I recognise it's impossible to predict these things and that I was just looking for a general indication so I knew whether to continue my research etc. Thanks very much, your answer helps a great deal.