got into both(and michigan, but i think it's not as good as these two though it's got smaller class). now i prefer upenn because it's got better reputation in my country(i'm from mainland china) and it's in a nicer city. still many think it's weird that i did not choose chicago. can anybody give me some good advices on this matter? thanks!

Congrats!

I don't know if I can give you much help. I got in Michigan, Chicago, Virgina and UCLA. I am currently living in NYC and have talk to many people here about how to pick the best school for me.
The overall impression I have is that in US, at least for those people I have asked, each of these schools are great and REALLY well regarded! Everybody here knows these schools are the best among others...CLS, SLS, HLS...
So,if you are concern about the education, don't be! you can't go wrong with neither of these!
If you are concern about brand name, what I heard from these schools is:

Chicago: the best brand name nowadays, even better than harvard.
Michigan: GREAT
CLS: GREAT
VIRGINIA: GREAT
UPENN: GOOD (I don't know why, but it is what I have heard)
NYU: GREAT BUT NEW
CORNELL: GREAT
UCLA: really good but not among the bests regarded

You have also to check the reputation of these schools in your country,maybe it is more important for you, thus I would choose upenn if it has a better brand name in China, otherwise, I would choose Chicago.

Well, this is the information I got from my personal research. Hope it helps you. I am not sure it is 100% accurate but I will make my decision based on these information I got. I am choosing Michigan. I will just give up on michigan just if i get in CLS!

Good luck and don't be so worried about it! be happy you can choose it!

gab2009:
Thank you very much for the information. However I do not understand your choosing michigan over chicago according to your reserach. Can you tell me why?

Well, maybe chicago has a better name, but this wasn't the only criteria I used! Umich's program makes more sense to me than Chigaco's (it depends on what you want to study during your llm). In adittion, I have never lived in a small city before and I think It would be the only chance I will have (taking the risk of hating small cities,I am willing to try it). Moreover, Umich is MUCH cheaper than Chicago and since both have great programs and in brazil none of them are well known, I decided that umich is a better choice for me. (i am really in love with Umich =]). The only possibility I will give up on it is if I get in CLS which is my heart's choice.

your deadline is april 1 (umich) and april 15 (chicago)? I think you still have time to think a lot about it!

Thanks a lot. Hope you enjoy your time in mich!

Personally I would go to Chicago over Penn, but that's mostly because it's a higher ranked school and very well respected in the fields I'm interested in - law and economics and corporate law....

Sorry I don't understand.. people keep telling me chicago got a higher rank, but arn't penn and chicago the same(7th)?

What I have have come to know on the basis of my individual research, I will rank the schools as follow:
1. YLS/HLS/SLS
2. Chicago/CLS/Upenn
3. Michigan/Cornell/Duke
Chicago may be better than Upenn but it will be erroneous to say that Michigan is better than Upenn. Corporate Law program of the Upenn is really excellent. Though the Class of U.Michigan is quite small but It can be said that it is better than Upenn. Upenn is an Ivy league school.

I guess you're right that they're tied this year - sorry about that, I was thinking of the older rankings. Despite the tie for this year, I would say that Chicago is considered "better" in the US legal community. Many Chicago professors are quite well known, but I couldn't name that many from Penn law.

This post confused me with regard to the ranking of UofChicago. Gab2009, are you sure its reputation in the US is even better than Harvard, especially in light of some replies to your post that place it at a lower level (along with UPenn and CLS)? And if your answer is positive, why do you think it would be better?Perhaps for those wishing to pursue a career in an international organization or in some economics-related kind of job?From the research I have done, my understanding is that Harvard is the place to be for both national and international policy-makers.
Finally, given that you live in NYC, could you give me your personal impression of NYU and where you would locate it in your rankings? Thanks!

I do not agree that Chicago is better than Harvard period.

Like Nail, would love to hear your elaboration on this!

This is my personal ranking. I made in part based on other rankings, in part of opinions of people that I know (US lawyers, professors etc.) and in part according to my personal research and opinion.

1) Yale
2) SLS, HLS
3) CLS
4) Berkeley, NYU, Chicago
5) Duke, U of Michigan, Penn, Northwestern.
6) Cornell, Georgetown, UCLA, Virginia

Of course it all depends on what you want. For example, if you want to specialize in tax law, NYU and Georgetown will work better for you than Harvard or Yale. If you dont like cold weather, you should see some law school at California or Duke as your option. If you like to study in a hip city, NYU, CLS and UCLA.

BTW, sometimes the differences between universities in rankings are minimal. Maybe the only law school that in every ranking win by far is Yale. In fact, between Yale and the number two law school (usually HLS and SLS) exist the same difference than between number two and number eight (for example, if Yale has 100 points, SLS and HLS has 90 and Michigan has 80)

Personally, I want to share with the most intelligent students and learn from the best faculty, and, in the future, although my private practice is my priority, I want to continue as a part time professor (two or tree classes a week), therefore, I want to study at Yale, but, at the end of the day only you know what is better for you

This post confused me with regard to the ranking of UofChicago. Gab2009, are you sure its reputation in the US is even better than Harvard, especially in light of some replies to your post that place it at a lower level (along with UPenn and CLS)? And if your answer is positive, why do you think it would be better?Perhaps for those wishing to pursue a career in an international organization or in some economics-related kind of job?From the research I have done, my understanding is that Harvard is the place to be for both national and international policy-makers.
Finally, given that you live in NYC, could you give me your personal impression of NYU and where you would locate it in your rankings? Thanks!

dear gab2009
These are great information. thanks a lot
however i still have questions:
1. how many(and what percentage of) professors told you about chicago is the best law school?
2. did they mention the reason for this conclusion?

P.S.:in usnews, the "Peer assessment score" for harvard is 4.8, chicago is 4.6 and penn is 4.3. NYU and others in T5 to T10 is mostly 4.5.

dear gab2009
These are great information. thanks a lot
however i still have questions:
1. how many(and what percentage of) professors told you about chicago is the best law school?
2. did they mention the reason for this conclusion?

P.S.:in usnews, the "Peer assessment score" for harvard is 4.8, chicago is 4.6 and penn is 4.3. NYU and others in T5 to T10 is mostly 4.5.

Are you showing me a mirror my friend?:)

Are you showing me a mirror my friend?:)

Thanks again. I think i am going to apply for a JD degree after llm, so what these professor think may be important to me. I may have to seriously reconsider this..

i make this kind of mistakes all the time:)

Dear Gab2009: I do not agree with you in a couple of things:

1) Yale it is comparable with other law schools (at least for the JD degree), and, as someone posted above, it is by far the best one in every aspect that rankings take into account, and prominent politicians (especially the ones that comes from rich families) prefer Yale than Harvard, and, bearing in mind that Yale has a smaller program, I think that Yale has produced more prominent people than Harvard, but well, since we are from abroad, it doesnt matter too much.

2) Yale, Harvard and SLS are better regarded than Chicago inside and outside USA. Maybe Chicago could compete against NYU, CLS and others, but not against the abovementioned three.

3) You said that if you have a recommendation from a politician that do not know you well, your chances to be accepted in Columbia (for example) are odds! but your chances in Harvard are pretty good Well, at any serious law school, they will a) not take that letter into account, or, b) Disqualified you for cheating, since if the politician dont know you, you will have to write the letter for him, and, admissions officers who read thousand of letter every year- know when someone write his own letter
In fact, the most strict law school in that topic is Harvard! They state that you need to be recommended by someone who knows you well and they reserve the right to disqualify the application of a candidate who has played any role in writing (or translating) a recommendation letter

4) Yale, Harvard and Stanford are more selective than Chicago, and Im not talking here only about numbers and statistics: The best applicants both for JD and LLM- want those 3 law schools, so, I dont agree that everybody wants to go there (to Chicago); in fact, I believe (personal thought) that most professors will tell you that Yale and SLS are the best law schools, while lawyers will say that are Yale, SLS and HLS, and if they are from NYC they could add NYU and CLS.

I would love to think that Chicago is the best regarded law school, since I have been admitted there, but I think that is very difficult to think that.

BTW, I admire you because of choosing to attend a law school that is ranked lower than other. I also believe that one should not take ranking into account and choose the best law school for you, the one that better suit your interest and perspectives.

Cheers!

Dear Jenny1980,

Let's take for grant that Yale is by far the best school. About your second point, I know what you mean and I totally agree when you talk about "outside", but I do not believe that inside, harvard or Stanford have a better reputation, at least not in law, for sure in business.
About the third point you made, I think that they (all schools) do not have sufficient tools to know for sure how good the letters are. But what I do know, for example, is that there is at least one person in harvard whose the recommendation was written by a famous politician in my country, who happen to be this person's father. I doubt that other schools would give much credit for such a letter in normal circumstances.
About your 4 point, yes, I used to believe in it, but after actually talk to some people (and of course my sample can be biased) here, I start to think that it is what people from outside think and believe, because we see it all the time in movies, TV series and other stuff like these.

But again, I am not stating that harvard is not an amazing school because there is no doubts it is! I am just re-thinking my criteria because I believe it might be over-influenced by things that I do not really know! And like everybody else, I am trying to make the best choice! lol

bests,