Hello,

I was recently admited to Georgetown for their International Business and Economic law program. My focus is in antitrust and anticorruption.

Today, I just received an e-mail from UPenn asking if I would say yes to them. I have to answer in 24 hours.

Even though UPenn is better positioned in the general ranking (plus the Ivy League status), Georgetown seems to be better positioned when it comes to my area of expertise.
Also, Georgetown seems to be better for networking and for getting externships in my area, since I would like to have an externship at pklaces such as World Bank, BID or FTC.

So, I would really appreciate some advice from you. Thank you for your time!

Its always better to choose a university which is well reputed in your area of expertise over a university that is otherwise better reputed, but does not have a distinct reputation in the courses you will take.

Also, proximity to the location you want to work in is always important. If you would like to get a job eventually with any of the institutions you have listed, being in DC would certainly be an advantage.

If I were in your position, I would choose Georgetown.

Hope this helps :)

@waitlisted: Thank you! When I decided for Georgetown over other better positioned options in the general ranking, this is exactally what I considered. However, even the specific rankings are not that specific in my case since my area of interest is somewhere between corporate law and international law. If I consider Corporate Law, UPenn is the first one of my list. If I consider International Law rankings, Georgetown is the winner. Also, in my country, for some reason Georgetown is more well known than UPenn. However, I would like to have some working experience abroad. When I look at Professor's profile, most of them have graduated at UPenn. I only saw a few graduated at Georgetown.
Also, when I check Universities with better reputation worldwide , UPenn might have an advantage considering rankings such as : http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/reputation-ranking/range/51-60

Hi JoyHopeful, I am currently in the same situation, and I have to decide in the next few hours. I am aware that Penn is better ranked and also better recognized by most important law firms when hiring. That is definately important to me. On the other side, GULC is also very good considered and allows you to get some part time job that allows you to have aditional experience while studying as well as get some extra money -Penn does not provide students with any part time job-. Also, Penn requires students to get the Summer Course, but I am not interested on it...

By what I've read I think both of you already have your answer.

I will go to Georgetown. I have to go with my guts. :-)

Wise choice Joy Hopeful.

Finally I decided to go for Penn. I received some advise from the people in charge of hiring from one of the biggest law firms in NYC and from what I have been said, it seems that GULC is the most recognized law shcool in Washington, however Penn is more recognized nation wide and therefore because of its location the chances of being employed includes other cities apart from Washington. Also, they told me that if they have two students with similar credentials, they would go for the one that graduated from Penn. Since I really need to get a job after the LLM, I am trying to play safe. Thanks a lot!

@ fiarg:I intend to work for places located at DC: NGOs, World Bank, BID or Law Offices that work with government related issues. From my experience, being near the places you want to work for helps a lot. So I think GULC has this advantage in my particular case.

However, if your focus is wider than mine, you might be right.

@waitlisted and wmendezjr : thank you! Are you also going to Georgetown?

I agree with Joy Hopeful. I believe that you should take into account where you want to practice afterwards. Oddly enough, UPenn is not a big brand name in Latin America. It is a great school in the U.S but that is assuming that you would be competing with American J.D's, which, let's face it, it's a whole different ball game.

I believe that getting a part-time job, fellowship, practicum or whatever work experience you can while in the U.S is by far the best thing you can do. Even better than getting a perfect GPA or getting a degree from an Ivy. Being out of the market, whatever your field of law is, creates a serious disadvantage. I would go for the school that provides the best practical experience (Georgetown) because that is a much more effective pathway to employment.