How to Choose the Best LLM Program for You: A Complete Guide

How to Choose a Balanced Portfolio of LL.M. Programs

In this post, I’ll cover:

• My 3-step decision-making process for choosing master of laws (LL.M.) programs
• How to research LL.M. programs and what criteria to use to evaluate them
• How many LL.M. programs to choose

My personal philosophy is that there is no such thing as "the right program." There is only what works for you. It’s therefore important to personalize your choices and always come back to what you want to achieve by doing an LL.M.

Step No. 1: Clarify Your Why

What are you trying to achieve?

Ultimately, an LL.M. is a vehicle to bring you closer to your goals and aspirations. You don’t need to settle on your goals for life—they will most probably change. But to select the programs that are best for you, try to map your goals at this particular point in your life to understand where you are.

What are you optimizing for?

Don't get frustrated if it's difficult in the beginning. My observation is that many applicants, especially from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, struggle to figure out their post-LL.M. future.

It’s normal. Life is a series of iterations, not one straight line, and it’s impossible to plan everything. For now, the purpose of this exercise is to roughly understand where you are and what you’d like to move toward so that you can figure out the steps to take.

Step No. 2: Make a Long List of Programs

List all the programs that spark your interest. Don’t judge it, don’t edit. Include everything that attracts you. Include the most ambitious and the least ambitious options.

Think of it like a long list of movies for the Oscars: most won’t make it into the final selection, but they are all under consideration. At this stage, you are exploring options, not making decisions yet.

Once you write down all the programs that excite you—in a spreadsheet, in Word, or on paper (whatever works for you)—write down their features and characteristics.

These usually include:

• Specialization and the content of the LL.M. program
• The cost of the program and available funding
• Reputation of the university and its position in rankings

Reputation and rankings are not always the same. Rankings are based on a multitude of criteria that might be irrelevant to you as a prospective student (e.g., peer-reviewed faculty publications). Reputation, on the other hand, is a more accurate reflection of the program’s quality. It’s what the program is known for in the industry.

For instance:

• MIDS is not ranked, yet it’s highly regarded in the European arbitration community.
• Similarly, the European University Institute isn’t part of most rankings, but it’s common knowledge that it’s one of the best Ph.D. programs in the EU.

My own strategy is usually to choose either:

• Top programs overall (because they offer the highest return on investment if you get in), or
• Programs with a strong reputation in your field (because they maximize your post-LL.M. future by being integrated into local industries and communities).

Other factors to consider:

• Entry requirements: What criteria do you need to satisfy to apply?
• Geographical location
• Anything else important to you

Be specific. Write down everything that catches your attention and resonates with you.

Step No. 3: Personalize Your List

Now you'll personalize the list. For all the features you’ve noted, consider them in the context of your life and your “why.”

Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve? What resources do you have to take steps in that direction? What resources do you need to pull?

For example:

• If you have MIDS on your list, measure it against your goals. If you are committed to a career as an arbitration practitioner in Europe, it should be high on your list.
• If a program has reasonable costs and offers scholarships, or you can raise funds through loans or family support, that program should also rank high.
• On the other hand, if funding is critical and a program has no scholarships or financial aid, it probably shouldn’t rank highly for you.

Do this for all the programs on your list. Think about what resonates with you, whether you can see yourself at that university, and how the program would move you closer to your goals.

To give a few examples from my experience:

• I applied to Yale Law School because it has an academic focus, and I thought it would be perfect for my plan to pursue an academic career.
• I didn’t apply to Stanford because they didn’t offer financial aid. They offer one scholarship, the Knight-Hennessy scholarship, but that's it. Since funding was one of my top criteria, I didn't include Stanford in my short list.
• I applied to MIDS and NYU because they have specialized arbitration programs, which aligned with my professional interests.

After you do this for all programs, you should have your short list.

Generally, most choices are a combination of the following strategies:

• Apply to the best-funded programs. For me, it was the MJur at Oxford (they had the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann and the Hill Foundation scholarships), as well as MIDS (it offered a full scholarship, which I secured).
• Apply to the top programs. Depending on your demographics, they may also be well-funded, but if they are not, you might have to get creative about how to fund them.
• Choose the programs that are the best in your field: examples are MIDS or Sciences Po in arbitration; Leiden University in public international law; Stanford, which has a strong reputation for environmental law.
• Any combination of the above.

Summary: Personalizing your list and assessing program features against your goals, resources, and preferences is essential to create a balanced portfolio.

How Many Programs to Choose?

There’s no universal rule as to how many programs to have on your list. Most people apply to 4–10 programs.

Personally, I applied to seven. I tailored each application to the program, and I felt that I couldn’t handle more than seven. But I know people who apply to more—and that’s okay. I also know people who to fewer schools. I even know people who apply to just one program and are prepared to reapply if rejected as many times as needed.

If you want to be really strategic, you could:

1. Choose several top law schools
2. Choose several mid-tier programs
3. Include programs where you estimate a high likelihood of acceptance (so called 'safety schools')

I didn’t follow this strategy myself—not because I was confident (I wasn’t!) but because I wanted to open as many doors as possible and therefore tried my hand only at applying to schools I knew I really wanted.

Important to keep in mind:

• Planning is essential, plans are useless. You’ll never be able to plan out everything. The best you can do is research the programs, then settle on a list, apply, and see what happens.
• Life and career paths often take unpredictable turns—and that’s okay.
• Not every choice needs justification. You’re allowed to dream and aim high.

How to Research LL.M. Programs to Choose

• start with a high-level Google search
• study the LL.M. programs' websites
• check social media and attend information sessions, even for the schools you are not targeting. For me, attending the information sessions by Duke Law School and the UC Davis School of Law was extremely helpful.
• Talk to alumni and current students of your desired LL.M. program.

If you don’t know anyone directly, ask your friends or connections for referrals or find them via LinkedIn and ask them nicely to share their insights and experiences.

If your questions aren’t answered on the university website, reach out to the school.

When I was applying, it was definitely something I had to figure out. My previous experience at Lomonosov Moscow State University was that if you came with a question, you’d be treated as a nuisance. Generally, a post-Soviet attitude of any state or state-related authority toward people is: “You should be grateful we are allowing you to exist at all. If you keep asking questions or negotiating things, keep in mind that there will be a lot of people willing to take your place.”

Maybe for some of you, this may be an unfamiliar idea as well. In this case, I think it can be helpful to keep in mind that the admissions committee is there for you. They are interested in attracting bright students, and it's their job to make the process transparent.

Other tips:

• Check rankings, but remember they might not reflect what’s important to you.
• Consider personal factors like funding, culture, language, and your goals for the future.
• If possible, visit short-listed schools to get a feel for their environment. For instance, the Associate Dean of International Studies at Duke Law School advises that visiting the campus can give you a good idea of whether it's going to be a good fit or not. Of course, not everyone will be able to do so - and that's okay. There are still plenty of resources to make a choice.

Final Thoughts

Prototype your study plans as much as you can. For me, my choices were clearer because I had prototyped study abroad multiple times before.

Hope it helps, and good luck! 😊

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