UChicago v Columbia

20 19

Posted Feb 15, 2019 19:01

Hey

So I have received admits from both University of Chicago and Columbia for the LLM program, and am having a tough time picking between the two! Both law schools have amazing course offerings for my areas of interest (law and economics, finance, financial regulation). My short term goals are to do a fellowship/pursue research stints in these areas of interests, and in the long term pursue the SJD/JSD and go into research and academia.

Thoughts?

[Edited by mj14 on Feb 15, 2019]

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LawLawLand

34 17

Posted Feb 15, 2019 19:34

I'm in the exact same boat. Do you want to maybe have a chat about this offline and try and figure out some pros and cons?

Hey

So I have received admits from both University of Chicago and Columbia for the LLM program, and am having a tough time picking between the two! Both law schools have amazing course offerings for my areas of interest (law and economics, finance, financial regulation). My short term goals are to do a fellowship/pursue research stints in these areas of interests, and in the long term pursue the SJD/JSD and go into research and academia.

Thoughts?

I'm in the exact same boat. Do you want to maybe have a chat about this offline and try and figure out some pros and cons?

[quote]Hey

So I have received admits from both University of Chicago and Columbia for the LLM program, and am having a tough time picking between the two! Both law schools have amazing course offerings for my areas of interest (law and economics, finance, financial regulation). My short term goals are to do a fellowship/pursue research stints in these areas of interests, and in the long term pursue the SJD/JSD and go into research and academia.

Thoughts?[/quote]

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Louis Litt

140 19

Posted Feb 15, 2019 19:35

I think that it all depends on your career goals. Chicago is the best for law and economics (but as methodology only [if you are interested in economic analysis of constitutional law or national security law, etc.]), but their corporate/capmarkets faculty is quite poor. Columbia, on the other hand, is weaker in general law and economics, but has a great faculty and courses in corporate law, capmarkets, finlaw.
Chicago may be a good choice if you consider an academic career (outside areas highlighted above), as it will provide you with a methodology, but from a practical perspective (on the above mentioned areas), i think that Columbia may be better.

[Edited by Louis Litt on Feb 15, 2019]

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mj14

20 19

Posted Feb 15, 2019 20:29

I think that it all depends on your career goals. Chicago is the best for law and economics (but as methodology only [if you are interested in economic analysis of constitutional law or national security law, etc.]), but their corporate/capmarkets faculty is quite poor. Columbia, on the other hand, is weaker in general law and economics, but has a great faculty and courses in corporate law, capmarkets, finlaw.
Chicago may be a good choice if you consider an academic career (outside areas highlighted above), as it will provide you with a methodology, but from a practical perspective (on the above mentioned areas), i think that Columbia may be better.

This is helpful! Yes- I did see their focus on national security law and housing law on their website.

As such, courses in law and economics are generic in nature. If the quality of L&E courses are the same between Columbia and Chicago, then perhaps Columbia is better from an LLM perspective, given my focus on financial regulation. Any idea where UChicago lists the entire course curriculum?

From an SJD/JSD perspective, I know UChicago prefers LLMs from their own law school. From a cost perspective, UChicago seems more cost friendly given that it provides scholarships to ALL its JSD students and provides fellowships upto USD20k, and its annual tuition and living cost (for a JSD student) is half of that of Columbia. That being said, UChicago also accepts SJD applicants who hold LLM from other law schools (even though a strong preference is given to UChicago LLM holders)

[quote]I think that it all depends on your career goals. Chicago is the best for law and economics (but as methodology only [if you are interested in economic analysis of constitutional law or national security law, etc.]), but their corporate/capmarkets faculty is quite poor. Columbia, on the other hand, is weaker in general law and economics, but has a great faculty and courses in corporate law, capmarkets, finlaw.
Chicago may be a good choice if you consider an academic career (outside areas highlighted above), as it will provide you with a methodology, but from a practical perspective (on the above mentioned areas), i think that Columbia may be better. [/quote]

This is helpful! Yes- I did see their focus on national security law and housing law on their website.

As such, courses in law and economics are generic in nature. If the quality of L&E courses are the same between Columbia and Chicago, then perhaps Columbia is better from an LLM perspective, given my focus on financial regulation. Any idea where UChicago lists the entire course curriculum?

From an SJD/JSD perspective, I know UChicago prefers LLMs from their own law school. From a cost perspective, UChicago seems more cost friendly given that it provides scholarships to ALL its JSD students and provides fellowships upto USD20k, and its annual tuition and living cost (for a JSD student) is half of that of Columbia. That being said, UChicago also accepts SJD applicants who hold LLM from other law schools (even though a strong preference is given to UChicago LLM holders)

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ArAr

3 5

Posted Feb 16, 2019 00:43

@ mj14 you can see the full list of courses there: https://coursesearch.uchicago.edu/psc/prdguest/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UC_STUDENT_RECORDS_FL.UC_CLASS_SEARCH_FL.GBL?&;

I completely disagree with @morgentrone. Chicago is the top law school in America, and enjoys 4 place in the USNWR. It is impossible that JD program is ranked inferior only to HYS and has "poor" corporate or financial classes. They are obviously great or, at least, not "poorer" that of than in Columbia, or may be even better.

Chicago is a great law school and you can not go wrong with it.

@ mj14 you can see the full list of courses there: https://coursesearch.uchicago.edu/psc/prdguest/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UC_STUDENT_RECORDS_FL.UC_CLASS_SEARCH_FL.GBL?&

I completely disagree with @morgentrone. Chicago is the top law school in America, and enjoys 4 place in the USNWR. It is impossible that JD program is ranked inferior only to HYS and has "poor" corporate or financial classes. They are obviously great or, at least, not "poorer" that of than in Columbia, or may be even better.

Chicago is a great law school and you can not go wrong with it.

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Louis Litt

140 19

Posted Feb 16, 2019 08:29

There must have been some misunderstanding. I did not claim that Chicago has a focus on national security (you should definitely go to Georgetown for it) or housing.
Chicago is the law and economics heaven. If you take a look on their courses discription you will find that it permeates all of them. So it you want to study Law and economics Chicago will be th best choice in this field. Columbia is certainly inferior.

But, regarding corporate and capital markets, their courses is not so stellar. Columbia has Gilson for corporate and Coffee for capital markets. Although in absolute terms Chicago is the great school with strong faculty, in relative terms it is inferior to Columbia in fields of corporate/capital markets (as well as in PIL).

[Edited by Louis Litt on Feb 16, 2019]

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mj14

20 19

Posted Feb 18, 2019 04:45

There must have been some misunderstanding. I did not claim that Chicago has a focus on national security (you should definitely go to Georgetown for it) or housing.
Chicago is the law and economics heaven. If you take a look on their courses discription you will find that it permeates all of them. So it you want to study Law and economics Chicago will be th best choice in this field. Columbia is certainly inferior.

But, regarding corporate and capital markets, their courses is not so stellar. Columbia has Gilson for corporate and Coffee for capital markets. Although in absolute terms Chicago is the great school with strong faculty, in relative terms it is inferior to Columbia in fields of corporate/capital markets (as well as in PIL).

Oh right! I'm not planning to take any capital markets courses. But I do plan to take courses in financial law and financial regulation.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Really appreciate it. :)

[quote]There must have been some misunderstanding. I did not claim that Chicago has a focus on national security (you should definitely go to Georgetown for it) or housing.
Chicago is the law and economics heaven. If you take a look on their courses discription you will find that it permeates all of them. So it you want to study Law and economics Chicago will be th best choice in this field. Columbia is certainly inferior.

But, regarding corporate and capital markets, their courses is not so stellar. Columbia has Gilson for corporate and Coffee for capital markets. Although in absolute terms Chicago is the great school with strong faculty, in relative terms it is inferior to Columbia in fields of corporate/capital markets (as well as in PIL). [/quote]

Oh right! I'm not planning to take any capital markets courses. But I do plan to take courses in financial law and financial regulation.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Really appreciate it. :)

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mj14

20 19

Posted Feb 21, 2019 05:06

@ mj14 you can see the full list of courses there: https://coursesearch.uchicago.edu/psc/prdguest/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UC_STUDENT_RECORDS_FL.UC_CLASS_SEARCH_FL.GBL?&;

I completely disagree with @morgentrone. Chicago is the top law school in America, and enjoys 4 place in the USNWR. It is impossible that JD program is ranked inferior only to HYS and has "poor" corporate or financial classes. They are obviously great or, at least, not "poorer" that of than in Columbia, or may be even better.

Chicago is a great law school and you can not go wrong with it.

Apologies for replying so late! Thank you so much for sharing the course catalog. I found the 2017-18 commencement, and I really love the L&E courses.

[quote]@ mj14 you can see the full list of courses there: https://coursesearch.uchicago.edu/psc/prdguest/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UC_STUDENT_RECORDS_FL.UC_CLASS_SEARCH_FL.GBL?&

I completely disagree with @morgentrone. Chicago is the top law school in America, and enjoys 4 place in the USNWR. It is impossible that JD program is ranked inferior only to HYS and has "poor" corporate or financial classes. They are obviously great or, at least, not "poorer" that of than in Columbia, or may be even better.

Chicago is a great law school and you can not go wrong with it. [/quote]

Apologies for replying so late! Thank you so much for sharing the course catalog. I found the 2017-18 commencement, and I really love the L&E courses.

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