It's upto you, both have pros and cons.

NUJS - Best Placements among all NLUs, good location, good peer group and alumni network (better than NLUD because of the age of the university), better study-life balance with enough time for extra-curriculars. Cons: Inefficient administration, state government interference, Faculty quality deteriorating.

NLUD - Pros: Good faculty, Good Location (can do long term part-time internships at the High Court/Supreme Court), good research opportunities, proactive Vice-Chancellor. Cons: very rigorous academics that don't leave time for extra-curriculars, placements aren't the highest.

Doesn't clat work on preference model? If you are qualifying for both NALSAR and nujs and NALSAR is higher in preference there is no way you'll get NUJS. This is only possible if you're rank is not good enough for NALSAR in the first list and right now you've put NUJS after NALSAR

It is theoretically possible. Say, I have ranked Nalsar ahead of NUJS in my preference list and my rank gets me NUJS in the first list with chances for upgradation in the subsequent lists. But if I do not opt for upgradation, I can stay at NUJS. If the person faces such an issue, then they might have to choose between the two regardless of original preference order. Moreover, few students drop out within a month and then the NLUs advertise for those seats separately.

NALSAR is probably the better bet. You have stronger alumni networks and a far wider selection of electives. The campus is also pretty and has a lake nearby, you'll get a great "college" experience. The flip side is water snakes, scorpions, and other assorted venomous fauna, and the city is 32km away.

Sorry, but this really isn't much of a dilemma at this point in time. At present, NLU Delhi is better than NUJS on nearly every front barring corporate law firm placements. I know I'll be downvoted for saying this since Noojies are very active on these kinds of threads, but facts are facts.

Kolkata doesn't really compete with Delhi in terms of exposure and opportunities in the field of law (if location is considered). NLUD has many good visiting faculty that come in for its seminar courses during the later years for senior batches due to its locational advantage. While a couple of great faculty have left NLUD in the recent past, the remaining permanent faculty is still very good and comparatively better than at NUJS.

As far as corporate law firm placements are concerned, NUJS is ahead in absolute numbers. But you need to realise that NLUD is still quite young and has no partners at hiring and decision-making levels at the top law firms (this does make a difference). Also, a majority of students at NLUD aren't running behind corporate jobs (although getting a tier-1 corporate job at NLUD is not that difficult if you're in the top half of the batch). I personally know of people from NUJS who have skipped their end-semester exams to intern at law firms to try and get a PPO, and this is something unheard of at NLUD, especially since the academics are already quite rigourous.

Lastly, NLUD doesn't have a domicile quote yet (atleast for this year, this may change in the near future considering the ongoing litigation and how almost every NLU has one now). Putting aside NIRF, I would personally rank NLUD over even NALSAR considering its location and its potential to get even better in the coming years. Dwarka, where NLUD is located, has been identified as the next diplomatic area of Delhi after Chanakyapuri, and this would lead to even better opportunities in the future.

For the record, I have nothing against NUJS and think it is still a very good college and a safe choice as the fourth-best law school in the country. But, at the present moment, NLUD is ahead.

Apart from UPSC results, please name any career where NLUD grads have been doing better than their NUJS counterparts. Go on, show the stats. And it's not only Mrinal and Aparna, others like Chinmayi have also left NLUD over the years. There are still good people there no doubt, but they are in the minority. And the admin quality has definitely gone down after the departure of the last VC. 'Locational advantage' is not really a big deal in this day and age. Plenty of good people offer credit courses and weekend lectures at NUJS too physically and virtually from way before the pandemic. NLUD is definitely ahead in overall infra and funding though. But so far, NLUD students have not used those resources to get ahead in any visible parameter.

NLUD is a great place, but I don't think there is a huge difference between NLS NLUD NUJS and NALSAR. I am from NLUD and have a bias and I think most people would really enjoy and learn a lot from NLUD, but your career outcomes will not be too different if you go to any of the other places.
I know it seems like a big deal whether you go to an NIRF 2 or NIRF X college, but between these 4 there is not much of a difference.
Your options to litigate, take good courses, join corporate law firms, pursue other opportunities (like Moots, ADRs, Law Reviews etc...), go abroad for a Masters do not differ in any meaningful way. You can use one set of stats to justify choosing NALSAR over NUJS and another to choose NLS over NLUD but do not bother too much about it. At the end of the day you get to a fantastic place with decent (some average and some extraordinary faculty), brilliant peers, decent infrastructure and support at all 4 places. I remember when I joined NLUD I was so worried if I was making a mistake when I was confused between NUJS and NLUD but now I realise it wouldn't have made a huge difference. You would of course be shaped by your college but don't think too much of it.
And of course, a lot depends on what you make of the college.
Good luck on getting one of these colleges though and I hope you have a fantastic journey ahead of you.

It is frankly misleading to say there's no difference. There is a significant gulf between NLS and number 2. Similarly there is a significant gulf between NALSAR and NUJS. The odd one to slot here is NLUD, which floats up and down (between 2nd to 4th) depending on specific parameters that one might pick.

Do you swim/wade across that gulf on a regular basis? Such random comments people make here without any expertise. There is no difference in general between the students of NLSIU, NALSAR, NUJS etc. when they graduate. So whatever they are being offered at the universities cannot really be that different from each other.

Both are pretty good in their own right, but one thing to consider is that NUJS is also increasing its batch size by some 50% this year for a new BSc LLB course, so they might struggle with hostel space as well, and living in dorm like hostels at NUJS is way more inconvenient than living at home.

Better to stick to NLUD. Having the opportunity to stay at home is a privilege over 5 years, trust me. And if NLUD manages to build the new hostels before you graduate, you might just get your own room eventually.

I don't know about that. Especially the comparison with NLUJ and GNLU. In terms of percentage of the batch placed, it's on par, if not ahead, of most older NLUs except NLS. In absolute numbers, it's behind and that's because it has always had a smaller batch. Only 80 kids every year till 2020.

No. In percentage of the recruitment batch placed, NLUD is definitely ahead. Not our fault that majority of people at NLUD don't want to end up as corp slaves, but if they are interested, placements opportunities are definitely available if one works for them.

On a similar note, this is like how Noojies keep saying that even NLS placements are too less but that's also because their batch size is less and lesser people from there are opting for corporate firms nowadays. Point being, NUJS is not the best, not anywhere close to it.

Yeah, keep saying that, nobody believes you. Those whom you pass off as not wanting Corp jobs include those who don't get placed. Regardless of whatever you claim. And don't you also claim that your grads get higher salary than anyone else in India? Who will believe your lies after that?

There is a very simple answer to your question, even though I'm guessing the choice to select your NLU has passed now. While NUJS is still a top NLU given how the others below it present no competition, it has stagnated as a notch below NLS and NALSAR, and it's unlikely that most people will ever regard it as number 1 or even number 2. NLUD, on the other hand, has both the potential and the established drive to become number 1 in the country, although it will not be easy competing with NLS.

Coming to your query, it depends on how satisfied you want to feel after five years. Would you rather join a NLU that is still improving and strives to be the very best across all legal fields or settle for a lazier choice which would help fetch a corporate job slightly more easily? At NLUD, you can actually contribute towards the institution-building process by working hard whereas at NUJS, it feels like it's resigned to being the place with the "highest" placements for jobs which most people quit after 2 years, and not much else different from other NLUs.

And if people are saying that the law school tag doesn't matter and all top NLUs are equal, just look at the pride with which old NLS graduates carry themselves despite having gotten in at a time when law was not even considered prestigious. They're proud since they helped make law a reputable profession based on merit and ability. NLUD is like a new improved force with modern ideas that can become even better, so it's an easy choice over NUJS.

You didn't mention a single objective fact that makes NLUD a better choice. All rhetoric and no substance. Participate in institution building? NUJS students have always been doing that with way more freedom and autonomy than NLUD students ever did. Placement? Other than UPSC, which other kind of career has seen NLUD students doing better exactly? From litigation to judiciary to politics to policy bodies to LLM scholarships to entrepreneurship, every field has NUJS students doing better. NLUD students just feel like saying that they are better without any stats to back it up at all. As for being number one, it's position as number 2 as per NIRF is also based on lies and fake data, so nobody actually believes it anyway.

Oh please, stop selling NUJS like it’s ever going to be the next big thing in legal education. Even if the students are good, you have an admin that will undermine them and keep the college mediocre.

And don’t talk about stats, I see plenty of comments in this thread alone about why NLUD is a better choice. I think you should ask yourself 2 questions - if you were an aspirant today, would you honestly choose NUJS over NLUD? A place with a larger batch size, local domicile, less metropolitan location and shitty infrastructure. Would you really opt for that over NLUD just for slightly better placement numbers? Atleast don’t mislead the kid into a decision he’ll later regret. There are people from NUJS who drop a year for NLUD. No one at NLUD does that for NUJS.

And two, if NUJS were set up in 2008 and NLUD was older, would there even be a contest? NLUD would be miles ahead. This should put into perspective how meteoric NLUD’s rise has been despite being a decade younger and how NUJS has hardly improved since its early days.

And as far as NIRF goes, one doesn’t need to believe that to see NLUD as number 2. Most folks acknowledge it as 2 or 3 anyway and definitely prefer it over NUJS. But don’t hide the fact that we’ve beaten you there for first 3-4 years where there were no “fake data” issues.

Good attempt at alt narrative building saying that NLUD didn't have fake data earlier. It has always done so and nobody believes any data coming from it anymore. What's worse is that neither faculty nor students ever protested against that despite knowing that it is false. Shows the pathetic culture and lack of education. And these 'most people' are only a figment of your imagination. Nobody in the legal profession believes NLUD to be anywhere near the top.

Greedy McGreedson? That's your best argument? LOL, Noojies should really introspect. You have no basis to claim NUJS is better than NLUD but yet you put up these pathetic arguments? And NUJS won't be sold because no one's buying it except the folks that don't have choice to choose a better place.

Oh, I would have told you several other choice objectives that would have fit AILET and your pathetic attempts to justify that fraud, but R won't publish those. All you and your institution care for are money. As for comparison, you didn't come up with any objective criterion for the supposed NLUD superiority either, though you people cry all over everywhere whenever someone doesn't call you Number Two

OP here.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have picked NLU Delhi now. No hate to NUJS. I chose Delhi because of the location and the research centers it has. Placements and all do not really affect me. At the end of the day they depend on what you do working towards them. One significant factor that made me averse to NUJS was the bad rap it was getting for faculty and admin. Seemed like a real problem.

Anyway thanks again!

Good work dude, last year one of my friends and me had the same choice. I chose Del while my friend chose Cal and believe me, that is one of the best choices of my life as he cribs about a lot of stuff over the call while I am extremely content with everything.

Anyways, welcome to en el you dee, see you soon

Here’s the correct answer: NLUD over NUJS generally, but definitely NUJS over NLUD if you live in Kolkata. Because the comforts of home will make life a lot easier for you.

I say NLUD over NUJS generally because of one simple reason: Mamata Banerjee. In stark contrast with her predecessors (both extremely erudite and one a London-educated barrister who invited Madhava Menon to set up NUJS in the first place) Mamata is an ▮▮▮ who runs a government of rogues that have politicised ▮▮▮ educational institutions across the state. NUJS has also been a victim. You can contrast the governing bodies of NUJS during Left rule (when the country’s top legal and academic luminaries were a part of it) versus now (when it is dominated by mediocre party leaders and politicians).

I dare anyone to counter me on this.

Sorry but NLUD does have better faculty. NUJS may have a few of their alumni teaching there but almost all of them are NUJS LLMs as well with hardly any cross-institutional exposure.

Student performance is a wide range of activities to deal with. Be specific. Having followed achievements of both places for a few years now, there’s nothing that NLUD students haven’t matched up to against the older NLUs, whether it’s moots, publications or final graduate outcomes.

Academically, NLUD is more rigorous and that’s primarily what an aspiring law student aims for. If one wants to merely party and have a chill life, might as well go for places like SLS or JGLS.

As far as placements go, NUJS is merely ahead in absolute numbers since it has a larger batch size and has an older legacy. I don’t think it will keep sustaining the same way with increased intake for some new BSc LLB.

And we do have quite a budding litigation scene where many people voluntarily opt for it despite high batch ranks and other opportunities.

As far as OP is concerned, NLUD would be the right choice. As a comment mentioned, NLUD still doesn’t have a domicile quote either.

Compare the faculty publication records, it will be clear how NUJS Faculty are way ahead of current NLUD faculty. Cross-institutional experience means zilch if it is limited only to India. As for whether anyone is a good teacher or not, only their own students can vouch for that and no outsider. Nor is NUJS ahead in placements in absolute numbers only, but in percentage of batch placed in tier one firms and companies, foreign firm placements, foreign scholarships, competition wins and every other metric apart from UPSC when it comes to a comparison with NLUD grads. In fact, other than bigger campus and more funds, NLUD is not ahead in any way whatsoever.

Sorry, but your claims are all just wrong. First, NLUD has performed better in many moot and ADR competitions that NUJS hasn't done well in or won (Man Lachs, OxPrice, OxIP, Warsaw Negotiation, come to mind in the recent past). Second, NUJS is definitely not ahead in foreign placements from London firms either, on average, NLUD in recent years has had atleast 3-4 offers every year which is on par with NLS considering its smaller batch size. Scholarships, maybe historically, NUJS has more by virtue of being much older, but NLUD has had equal numbers in recent years.

And as for placement percentages, just look at this blog: https://lawschoolwizard.wordpress.com/2021/11/23/demystifying-day-zero-batch-of-2022/. Probably the most accurate picture of placements in recent times. NLUD's percentage placed is definitely higher and unlike NUJS and NLUJ, we don't have many tier-2 firms that come for Day-Zero to bump up numbers.

And no, NLUD RCCs has no bar on who sits for placements, many students here voluntarily opt out to try other options. I get that Noojies are insecure since there's very few things that they are actually better at than NLUD now, but that's no reason to spread misinformation. NLUD is well ahead. But nice try at undermining NLUD's achievements to just a "better campus and more funds". Try harder next time. Point being, NLUD is easily the better choice over NUJS anyday. Maybe with NALSAR/NLS, there is a decision to make, but even there NALSAR is also stagnating.

Did you win any of those competitions? Just compare the number of moot wins of NUJS students with yours, simple. You will find that you are not ahead in any count. As for quoting that stats, everyone knows how NLUD placement committee claims that the people who didn't get day zero jobs never sat for day zero. Nor do you even publish your full placement records regularly, besides claiming false placement data every year in official records. There's no trying, there is not a single parameter in which NLUD students are ahead of NUJS students at this stage and no amount of rhetoric from your side is going to prove otherwise. 4 TCs every year? Please name 20 people in the last 5 years from NLUD who have got TCs then.

Lol, clearly, you're arguing without any facts and data and basing it on your conjectural opinions of NLUD. You should be marked trollish, but for the sake of engagement, I'll respond. NLUD has WON all those international competitions I cited, and NUJS never has. Even in LI's MPL which used to take place every year till 2017 or so, NLUD ranked ahead of NUJS in most years. So, yeah, our co-curricular achievements are just as good, if not much better.

And honestly, atleast show some integrity when you're arguing rather than falsifying facts in a pathetic attempt at defamation. And you're calling my verifiable arguments rhetoric? NLUD placement committees DO NOT remove people who haven't got placed to bump up percentages. Who is "everyone"? Some jealous Noojie trolls like you who can't accept the decline of your college and keep living in denial about more enterprising NLUs?

And I'm not going to provide you names of people with TCs, check on LinkedIn yourself if you're that desperate. Honestly, your opinion of NLUD matters very little since you've shown that you don't even know what goes on at the place, but your malicious arguments deserve to be called out as BS. But let me reiterate, it would be a big mistake for anyone to choose NUJS over NLUD. NUJS is going nowhere beyond their "fourth" place.

Publications are just one aspect of good faculty, JGLS faculty have loads of publications, don't really see any academic rigour among their students. Also, the NUJS faculty are all mostly from in and around West Bengal. NLUD, on the other hand, has quite a few faculty with foreign qualifications and various others from universities across India. And besides, the academic rigour at NLUD is way better thanks to a more serious admin that actually functions in the larger interest of the university. We actually have to study to pass and can't keep interning the whole time for PPOs.

Publications are the only objective metric that outsiders can test a faculty for. As for your other claims, it goes to show that you have zero idea about NUJS faculty. There are people teaching here from UP, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and TamilNadu at present, besides Bengal. And in between them, there are plenty of degrees from other universities including foreign ones. To claim that NLUD faculty are better because very few of them are from Delhi is the sort of absurd logic that NLUD trolls are infamous for. Why don't you produce a single piece of objective and verifiable parameter and use it to show how your faculty are doing better? You all kept claiming based on NIRF research and publication score how your faculty were doing amazing research. Now that the score has dropped, you're saying that publications don't really count.

been to both, must say that NUJS is in no way chill, in fact NUJS is a very very serious college and can be very toxic, but in terms of seriousness and student quality (academic wise, not anything else) NUJS still is better than NLUD, all that is better in NLUD is the infrastructure and big space, only thing lacking in nujs is the space, only 4 acres. Otherwise it could even beat NALSAR

Given that opinions are being thrown around without any evidence to back it up here are my honest facts:

1) I hear martians landed in NLUD yesterday and offered 5 recruitment opportunities, but because it cannot be put into NIRF the university declined the offer

2) Jo Biden is visiting NLUD when he gives retrun visits to India, however, the university declined as it would mean disruption in the academic schedule

3) NLUD has invited Newton and Einstein and Dr. House to come and be visiting professors. Newton accepted but Einstein declined but his name has been put on the NIRF list.

How I miss Onion!!