Hi everyone,

I am currently doing my postgraduate degree at Stanford (and also got admitted at others schools).

If any applicant has any question, in particular regarding Stanford (but also some other schools), I'll be glad to do my best to answer and give some help if I can.

HI Bitsou,by the way thx for advice .regards.

Hey Bitsou,

I just found out about this site -- quite interesting! I graduated from Stanford (LLM in CGP) this year. I hope you are enjoying the Stanford experience! Please let me know if I can be of any help. Now that we -- last year's students -- settled down, we can assist you guys on anything you may need. Best, Pablo

hey all

thanks for offering to help.. am still studying law from india... am interested in possibly the science and technology llm from stanford. are they really strict about the 2 yr work requirement? n do u think it is better that i should work? also if u could plz.. realistically give me an overview of the job scenario...after an llm...

i would definetly need a scholorship n i have heard stanford doesn loosen the purse strings easily?

Hello,

Yes, it's absolutely necessary to have some years of experience before applying to Stanford, or you'll never get in. The youngest is 26, with an average of 29, i.e. older than in most graduate programs. They really want people who have experience.

You should not expect any scholarship from Stanford and try to get one on your own. Stanford does not give any scholarship to foreign students (at least none got one this year).

As far as job perspective are concerned, it's the same for any law school. If you want to find a permanent position as an associate in an elite law school after your llm, it will be extremely difficult. You will compete with all the JD students from all the top law schools in the whole country. As you can imagine, there are far more brilliant students than spots available. This makes things extremely difficult. The best is to have some contacts and a good network...

Just let me know if I can help

Thank you very much for the advise. How is the career prospect if I want to take the bar exam and be a lawyer in California?

Is getting in Stanford more difficult thad do it in other elite schools like HLS, CLS or NYU? Have you guys been admitted in some of these other schools and finally decide to enroll Stanford?

Thanks!

Thanks Bitsou and Psorj. It's very comforting to hear from people who have actually been accepted to Stanford "paying it forward" by offering to help those of us who are still applying.

I'm personally very interested in SPILS and I actually applied two years ago, albeit unsuccessfully. I was hoping you guys could help us with a few questions:

1. Do you think grades are non-negotiable? Can work experience, a good publication and an interesting project proposal make up for deficiencies?

2. Regarding the SPILS project, are we specificaly limited to the "Areas of Concentration" mentioned on the website? Are we supposed to specify under which Area of Concentration our project falls?

3. Is being a part of the private sector a strike against me in applying for the SPILS? When I first applied to the SPILS, I was still a government employee, but I've since moved on to the private sector.

Thanks again for your generosity and congratulations on your admission to Stanford.

I also wanted to thanks Bitsou and Psorj. I am from Italy and I would like to apply to the LST LLM to get a specialization in IP. I only have 2 years of experience but after reading Bitsou's post I got depressed, as I am afraid I would be underqualified. Do you guys thing that getting into the LLM program woud be easier than SPILS? What are your plans after the LLM?
Thanks!
Paolo

Hello,

To try and answer all your questions:

1) Yes, the rate of acceptance of Stanford is very low, actually around 7% for 11% for HLS for instance. Only Yale is lower with 6%. I had the chance and privilege to got admitted to them and chose Stanford both for the SPILS Program and location (sunny California is better than dull Connecticut, especially if you have a gf...)

2) Good grades are surely necessary, but you don't need to be THE best of your law school (I was "only" among top 5% for instance). Publications, a good working experience in a specialized area (2-3 years) and very good recommendation letters and personal statements can be sufficient. Of course, the problem is that you have a lot of excellent people and only ten slots per program...Psorj might have another opinion though, I don't know.

3) For the SPILS Program, you don't need to stick to their areas of concentration. However, your research proposal should allow you to conduct empirical research. They really focus (too much in my opinion) about survey, statistics, interviews. It's very different from you probably have done so far and from usual legal and doctrinal articles. It's important to know it before even applying. I also used to work in the private sector (though with a very strong academic background as to publications) and it did not prevent me from being accepted. What is important is to show that your research is interdisciplinary and that you're able to design a well-structured and clear research proposal.

Hope it helps a bit :)

One other thing. I guess there is a tendency to have better chances for the SPILS Program if you have a strong academic background, and to one of the LLM's if you have a strong practical experience in one of these fields.

I'd ideally would like to become a Professor, but have been working as an attorney so far before coming to Stanford.

thank you bitsou. I will send my application and cross my fingers. Do you know of any other Italian that was or is at Stanford that I can talk to?
Paolo

Hello,

Actually, there are very few europeans this year (three german, two belgium, one czech, one romanian and one swiss), but no Italian.

I don't know if there's been one, probably. Have a look at this link and then "google" if you find an Italian name to try and locate that person and send him/her an e-mail.

http://www.law.stanford.edu/publications/dissertations_theses/

Thanks, I will do that. Congratulations on your admission, you are really priviledged.
Paolo

If I may add something, I got hold of the profiles of previous LLM students. I can confirm what Bitsou said, that they are on average very qualified. They all have several years of law firm experience and on top of that other degrees (some even Phds in law). Having said that, I will give it a shot regardless.

Could anyone from SPILS programme at Stanford willing to let me know his/her email id so that i can personally get in touch via email for help?

For those successful at Stanford, do you think there was anything that tipped the scales in your favour? For eg, what, if anything, did you emphasize in your personal statements? Did your referees emphasize any particular quality? What sort of background did you have prior to the LLM? I'm interested inStanford's IP LLM programs.

Thanks for the very informative replies, everyone. Wish us luck!

Phillipe
Re California vs. Connecticut

But New Haven is much closer to New York than Stanford is to San Fransciso. :). Hope all is well.

Is that true??? As far as I know Stanford is 35/45 min from San Francisco by car. I heard that many SLS students live in San Francisco. Can anyone confirm the distance b/w New Haven and New York? Thanks.