Hi,
I recently graduated from a third-tier American law school. I graduated magna cum laude (top 5), have four articles published (or forthcoming) in law reviews, and am a term law clerk for a federal bankruptcy judge.

Do any of you esteemed individuals believe that I have a chance of attending Harvard (or Chicago, Columbia, or Yale for that matter), or should I not waste my time?

Yes, waste your time! Seriously, you can't win if you don't even play the game. Your school's reputation may hurt you but you will never know if you don't try. I'm sure the profs writing your letters went to top schools so they can vouch for your ability to complete an LLM at a T14. Your grades are good and you should be able to create a compelling application. If you can afford it, apply broadly and take your chances. Personally, I would prefer a bunch of rejections over lingering doubt.

Thanks for the encouraging response!

In my humble opinion, you do not stand the slightest chance of making it into the likes of Harvard or Yale.

Buxton, Alabama, might work for you, though.

Keep pushing.

Eppendorf what qualifies you to make such a general statement?

Since the LL.M programs youve mentioned mainly receive applications from individuals w/o a JD, ironically yours might be received as somewhat "exotic".

I got my JD also from a third tier Law school and got into the NYU tax LLM program. as far as i know thats the only kind (tax) of LLM where people with a JD degree study.

Forget about Eppendorf, given a strong a strong application you def. stand a chance!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Guys,

Of course your grades matter but I believe it also depends on your application and well.. luck as well! my bestie got a THIRD from UOL (BSC Economics) and she got into NYU once, she couldn't go. Three months later she applied for Columbia for her masters and she has now graduated from there :)

do apply! what's the worst that could happen? you don't get in? pfftt you apply else where! good luck!

Just apply! If you don't get in, you don't get in.

Did you just see what one of the top three law schools did this year with admissions? Find out how many people were admitted into the (2015) LLM program from the country with the second largest population in the world.

Looks like they rejected the really hopeless, accepted all the rest in toto. Some other very so called selective schools did that too last year ...

Just to place things in context five to six years ago, they let in one or two from that country. The seats were so hotly contested and proportionally represented, they admitted very few. There are very very very few takers for LLM degrees in the past two years. LLM in US - Fools gold.

So, to the OP, you have more than a fair chance of getting into [Snipe] school. Not that your qualifications are bad, just that none of the so called top schools filter anyone or filter very very few for LLM admissions. So, please please apply. You have a very fair chance of calling yourself a [snipe] school graduate.

In fact, this is true not just of [snipe] school, but of other schools too. The top law schools have a fire sale. LLM degrees are on sale, get then when you can, they will lose value even outside of the US soon. Everyone gets one, from the top universities, provided they pay!

The funny thing is with a dozen graduates with the "top" school tag, the market in the home country will quickly catch on. Money spent on something which will lose value that very year.

I am just stumped at what that law school admissions team was thinking ..... ! We will take your money, and let your valuations sink right after you graduate ? Absolute shocker. ABA won't care either. It's a private university selling degrees.