請教LLM選校問題--BU vs UMN

[hinge]

各位前輩 您好：

我是申請llm的學生，在最近收到了Boston U--Banking and Financial Law & U of Minnesota的入學許可。想請大家給我一點建議。謝謝!!

就我目前所知的是：
Boston U
1.地點佳--波士頓是個人文匯粹的地方，歷史悠久。附近還有許多知名學校，可以取得的資源比較多。如果畢業想找工作應該也比minnesota容易。
2.校友多--人脈廣，在台灣名聲也比較大，對未來就業或許有不少的幫忙。
3.banking and financial law這個課程很專業，如果未來想從事金融行業，應該可以有不少幫助。
4.bar--如果要考試起碼離紐約州近。

U of Minnesota
1.生活費較便宜。
2.llm的台灣人不多，可以訓練自我獨立及英文。
3.課程可以自己選擇，除了商法外，還有IP或勞工法，另外還有drafting. negotiation...想走inhouse，這些都是實際上會用到的。

個人是想在念完llm後，準備考NY bar。希望念完一年書，可以增強英文，法學能力，還有對之後的就業有所幫助，我知道想在美國找工作都不容易，不過這兩間不知道對於回台灣找工作是否也有很大的差異呢?(目前並沒有侷限自己一定要找哪一種行業的想法)

不知道我的認知是否有錯，如果有，請大家更正，另外有其他應該要考慮的點也請大家給予提點。麻煩各位給我一點建議，謝謝!!

[lacunae]

Hi,

I have never been to this bbs until yesterday, and hope this post would not be too late for your decision.

As far as I know, the locations would make the biggest difference for one's decision between BU and UMN.

Boston has its advantage in some aspects such as its cultural events, prestigious schools(Harvard, MIT, Tufts...) and location in the heart of the New England where you will have time to explore the east-coasters' life in a historical city.

UMN-Twin Cities gives you a different aspect of the mid-west American culture. But Minnesota is generally more liberal than some midwest states and will probably get you closer to the life of most other Americans in the other states of the United States than the urban east-coaster cities such as Boston can do.
Minnesotans are mostly immigrants from the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Poland. Their kindness to outsiders are generally referred to as "Minnesota-nice."

Since it would be extremely difficult for foreign LLM students to find a job in the US, I would not touch upon the issue of career prospective in the US after attending either of these schools.

As far as Taiwanese job market is concerned, I believe these schools are probably not so drastically different. Both schools have some alumni in major law firms as well as in-house counsel positions in big corporations.
For example, there is a partner in one of the biggest firms in Taiwan, Formosa Transnational, who has his LLM degree from UMN. And the two LLM alumni graduated in 2006 both received pretty good offers for in-house positions in major tech corporations.

For BU LLM program, there are alumni who specialize in international financial regulations went on to their SJD studies and both got their degrees(from other law schools, though) and already received offers from major law schools in Taiwan. And alumni working in major law firms and in-house positions are also not unheard of.

Thus, the employment prospects may not vary as much as the distinctive curriculua you might need to spend more time to make a close comparison. The flexibility of UMN's program may be to a foreign LLM's advantage if he or she intend to formulate his/her own specialized arena.

Also, the overall school environment in terms of its hardware and software(the people) may be also determinative to your enjoyment in the 1-year program.

As for their rankings, the US-News Ranking is actually calculated based on JD programs and has really not much to do with their LLM programs.
You may want to check other rankings for academic strength such as the Leiter Ranking for their faculty's academic accomplishment.
In both rankings, UMN consistently maintained a higher status and its faculties are strong in areas that differ from that of the BU.

But again, it really depends on what you want to get from studying in an US law school for 1 year. So, you may want to study their faculty info and the schedule of their classes in the 2007-2008 academic year to see if you could get some interesting classes from their carricula.

Weather-wise, both Minneapolis and Boston are really cold in the winter and you will definitely enjoy some snow storm there.

You may also want to locate more alumni in both schools in their LLM programs for deeper understanding of the real circumstances they face during their stay.

I believe there are at least 5 Taiwanese LLMs who graduated this year from UMN and probably many more from the BU Law School.
If you can talk to them, their info may be most helpful for you to make an informed decision.

Good luck!