Hi All,

I am going to do my LLM at UPenn. However, since I don't have enough money to finance my LLM completely, I was thinking of working on campus while doing my LLM. However, I spoke to a UPenn LLM student, as well as a LLM Colombia graduate recently, and they both told me that the lessons would be so hard that one could hardly even step out of home, let a lone work.
I want to know whether that's true. Does this mean that I won't be able to work as a LLM student? Are you also of the same opinion?

Thanks,
Nina

I have always worked during law school, and I have worked on campus (research) at an American law school, so I might have some advice.

1. Pay is usually really bad, so I hope your deficit is not too big. At WFU you get $8/hour for doing research. I think you can work a maximum of 20 hours a week?
2. Classes are (usually) mandatory, so you have to work either nights or weekends. I guess that does not leave much time for social life and/or extra studying.
3. If you work as a research assistant it might be valuable for a class or on your resume.
4. If you are either a fast learner, very efficient or you are used to working while in school, it might be possible. I always did a lot of social stuff, clubs, charity work and sports while doing my LLM, and still finished with good grades (top 10%). But I am used to working and participating in sports while doing full time school, so it made no difference really. Plus English wasn't a big issue for me.
5. School in the U.S. was just as easy/hard as school in my country (Norway), so you could compare it to your school probably, although I know several people would disagree here. But in my opinion school here takes more time if you are not used to preparing for each class and/or reading legal stuff in English. But you really get used to that, and in my second semester I easily could work say 10 hours a week. I think working 20 hours might be excessive.

Working for a professor might be worth it, because you get an added bonus of being able to put that on your resume. Plus you might get a great recommendation letter/refernce afterwards. I am not sure what other jobs would really be good for both resume and finances, and ultimately worth it?

These are my personal thoughts, and I know a lot of people disagree with me. But these people also generally claim that you can't have a social life in law school either and at the same time get good grades, so I guess it comes down to what you are capable of and used to, and how hard it will be for you to adjust to a new legal system and language.

hannenyh,

Many thanks for your post. It was really helpful. It was also very kind of you to share your experience with me.

I have another question hannenyh. Would you let me know whether the possiblity of working while being a LLM student could differ from one school to another too? By that I mean whether some schools might expect greater performance or expect their students to study harder which could allow them less time to work while LLM students?

Would really appreciate your comment.
Thanks.

Unfortunately, the 20 hours on campus work is limited by immigration/your visa (probably F1), and has nothing to do with your school. Your school may impose restrictions as well, but I highly doubt it.

F1 employment regulations:
The F-1 student employment regulations state that students are no allowed to be employed during their first academic year, except for on-campus work which can begin as soon as the student is admitted in F-1 status. The on-campus employment is limited to work performed on school premises or at an off-campus location that is academically affiliated with the school. While school is in session, the student is limited to 20 hours/week.