Hello everyone!

I got admitted to UC Berkeley Professional Track LL.M and Penn Law (full year).

I have several years of experience in international law firms in Corporate / M&A and plan to specialize in the area of cross-border international M&A, so I seek a career in law firms, investment and PE funds also considered, potentially maybe getting an MBA or degree in finance or management and moving from law to business/investment decision influencing.
Which would you advise to pick of these two, given my background and plans?

P.S. Financing is also not the least issue as I come from Russia and the current financial crisis has practically doubled the costs of education in the U.S. for me. Berkeley has offered a small scholarship (like, 10% of tuition costs), and I am yet waiting for scholarship decisions from Penn. However, Berkeley would allow me to pay about half of the tuition now and the other half in a year and earn some money in September-May, while Penn is a financial commitment.

Thanks and regards!

<blockquote>Hello everyone!

I got admitted to UC Berkeley Professional Track LL.M and Penn Law (full year).

I have several years of experience in international law firms in Corporate / M&A and plan to specialize in the area of cross-border international M&A, so I seek a career in law firms, investment and PE funds also considered, potentially maybe getting an MBA or degree in finance or management and moving from law to business/investment decision influencing.
Which would you advise to pick of these two, given my background and plans?

P.S. Financing is also not the least issue as I come from Russia and the current financial crisis has practically doubled the costs of education in the U.S. for me. Berkeley has offered a small scholarship (like, 10% of tuition costs), and I am yet waiting for scholarship decisions from Penn. However, Berkeley would allow me to pay about half of the tuition now and the other half in a year and earn some money in September-May, while Penn is a financial commitment.

Thanks and regards!</blockquote>

Hi, your situation and circumstances pretty much match mine - area of interests, financial aspects (even the shift in the exchange rate, though probably not as extreme scenario here). The only thing that is different are the schools - I have been accepted to PennLaw and University of Michigan and, like you,cannot make up my mind.

Financial decisions at Umich will not be made until the second half of March so I have to wait for the crucial decisions (financial aid) from both of the schools.

Given our interests it might seem that we should be leaning towards UPenn, but (at least in my situation with UMich) the other school is really strong in corporate law and finance as well -whats more the course offer seems even richer at UMich and I can take up to 6 credit hours at the Ross School of Business which in the rankings comes pretty close after Wharton where I can only take one course (if I do not participate in the WBLC which would be yet another heavy load of financial commitment itself and I am very unsure of its benefits - here I would like to invite anyone with the WBLC experience to share their thoughts).

So back to you - I would say that you look into the course offer at Berkley and see how it looks. Also look into the Berkley Business School and find out how many credit hours you are allowed to take there as an LLM - I did not apply to Berkley so I personally cant really tell you the arrangements you get out of there).

P.S. anyone with some insights on my situation or anything connected to it please share your ideas.

further insights from previous years

http://www.llm-guide.com/board/138952

<blockquote>further insights from previous years

http://www.llm-guide.com/board/138952
</blockquote>

and more

http://www.llm-guide.com/board/138289
http://www.llm-guide.com/board/137401
http://www.llm-guide.com/board/125234
http://www.llm-guide.com/board/116200