I need some major help in shortlisting the universities. The whole procedure is already making me jittery. Could someone please tell me what would be some of the great universities to apply. To be very honest my grades are just about average. I know that they count for a lot but i m hoping to make it up with my SOP and LORs. Could someone please help me. Any suggestions made would be appreciated.

First, it really depends on where you want to apply. In the UK, grades are almost everything. You need a 2nd Upper or its equivalent (I think the GPA is 3.4 on the american scale) to get into most LLM programs there. I don't think any good UK LLM program will make an exception to this requirement.

If you're counting on other factors to make up a grade shortfall, I think the US is a better option. I really don't think the statement of purpose or even letters of recommendations matter much in the grand scheme of things. Work Experience is likely the most important factor for overcoming any grade deficiencies you might have. Maybe try Northwestern, I heard that they might be slightly more liberal in considering non-academic achievements. However, to caveat my recommendation, I must declare that I have never applied to northwestern myself and the information i have about it comes from third party sources.

thanks interalia.. my grades are higher than an upper second class in india and i come from one of the top ten universities for law here.. in fact i still have two semesters to make up for my not so outstanding grades.. so hopefully i'll have a better chance of getting in.. so whr all did u apply to? n how good were ur overall grades? m really confused as to how to go about this..

Good luck. Even more important than your grades is your class rank. For example if you're 1st out of 500 with only a 3.0/4 then the university you come from has a harsh curve and doesn't inflate grades like US universities do, and admission committees will take this into account.

If your professional experience is low, Stanford and Columbia are probably out.

For the rest, even if you feel your credentials are weak, $80 is relatively cheap to find out. There's nothing worse than choosing not to apply only to end up tormented with the dreaded "what if I did, would I have been accepted" question.

Below top 30% and without any relevant professional experience, top 14 law schools are probably out though.

Questions you should ask yourself:
- why do you want to pursue an LL.M,
- why now (ie. have you considered practicing 2 or 3 years in a US law firm in your home country before applying: it vastly improves chances at all law schools),
- which area(s) of law do you want to specialize in?

3rd question in particular will help shorten your list.
The breakdown (non exhaustive) is more or less like this:
Anything: Harvard, Yale, Stanford
Corporate, business: Columbia, UChicago, NYU, UPenn, Northwestern, Duke, Cornell
Tax: NYU, Georgetown
International law: Columbia, NYU, Georgetown
IP: Berkeley, George Washington
Environmental law: Berkeley, Georgetown

Hope it helps.

thanks interalia.. my grades are higher than an upper second class in india and i come from one of the top ten universities for law here.. in fact i still have two semesters to make up for my not so outstanding grades.. so hopefully i'll have a better chance of getting in.. so whr all did u apply to? n how good were ur overall grades? m really confused as to how to go about this..