Nobody can give you any meaningful input about the IIM Rhotak law programme since it has just started, it will be long before the first batch graduates and there is no clarity about the faculty or person in charge of the programme. It will be too much of a gamble to risk enrolling in that programme at this stage. Without having any alumni influence to speak of (the management alumni don't count), they cannot count on a good placement at the end either, maybe some in house jobs using the IIM tag (there too Rhotak doesn't command much respect).

Hi there, I still haven't decided about either JGLS or Symbiosis as the LSAT/SLAT is not going to be out before 3rd week of July. As we continue with our struggle I came across the affiliated Universities on CLAT consortium website. From the list, the one where I need some feedback is on "IIM Rohtak offering Integrated Program of Law". Please let me know if anyone has any inputs. I might be getting blinded by the IIM tag so need some independent views of our learned community. And, this option also doesn't come cheap. The 5 year program at IIM Rohtak costs approx 38Lacs.

And if by any chance, if you have any views on these private institutes which are listed on CLAT Consortium site (under Affiliates page) then let me know. I am not calling out the names, as they are so many.

My daughter inclines to reappear in Dec2022 attempt so one thought is not to go for any institute which has quite a rigorous first semester...So, trying to keep a balance of having a seat in this window and still having the maximum time for her to prepare.

I feel sometime I am contradicting but thats where I look for suggestions to make sure a right decision is made...Look forward to your comments. Thanks again to one and all for contributing!!!

Then they should identify it as such and still make those students give CLAT and take the highest ranker from them. The current practice is as shady as it gets it seems. Who is to ensure that personal considerations aren't being accepted in exchange of seats filled in this manner, when the rest of those are being subjected to a nationwide competitive exam?

No, GLC Mumbai is what we call a 'traditional' law college, not an NLU. It is one of the oldest law colleges in India, established in the times of the British and has produced some great legal luminaries. The fees is low and because it is located in Mumbai (along with the low courseload), students are able to intern all year, thus giving them a good chance at jobs. But ever since the rise of NLUs, GLC has lost its sheen. Most people would rank it below SLS-Pune or Jindal.

If NUALS is actually taking in NRI/NRI-sponsored students through the backdoor in the way it has been claimed in the comments, then that alone is enough to destroy its credibility in terms of student quality. This is just seat-selling then. The other NLUs are at least using the CLAT score.

I strongly suggest that you should consider only Tier1 NLUs for NRI seats. Four out of the top six NLUs (under CLAT) offer NRI/NRI Sponsored quotas:

Cost for NRI students (five years- tuitiion+hostel+food)
NUJS - Rs 48 lakhs
NLUJ - Rs 42 lakhs
GNLU - Rs 55 lakhs
NLIU - Rs 43 lakhs

The two reputable private institutions:
Jindal Global Law School - Rs 44 lakhs (five years - tuition+hostel+food+laundry+housekeeping)
Symbiosis, Pune (NRI quota) - Rs 40 lakhs (NRI quota) (five years - tuition+hostel+food)

All the six options above cost upwards of Rs 40 lakhs for the five-year course. Your daughter may find it hard to get into the Tier1 NLUs with her NRI rank - she might have an outside chance in NLIU, Bhopal, where, in 2021, the last NRI seat went to NRI Rank 559 (AIR 10,911; CLAT score 45.25). Note: NLIU's NRI application is open now, and the deadline is 7th July.

If she can't make it to the above four NLUs, Jindal should be the next option. I'd rather she goes to Jindal than Symbiosis, Pune.

As you have mentioned NLU NRI seats, Jindal and Symbiosis, I've assumed in my answer that you can afford to pay a fee of 40+ lakhs.

Going to Tier3 NLUs (Assam, Shimla, Jabalpur, Patna, Sonepat, Trichi, Nagpur, Aurangabad etc.) is certainly not advisable. Even Tier2 NLUs - Odissa, Lucknow, Patiala and Raipur suffer from a lack of good faculty, weak management & underdeveloped infrastructure.

Best wishes to the young lady!

Do let us know once you decide what to do.

Please shut up, the GNLU admin did nothing. Around 90% of the students want offline classes and offline exams. The rest 10% are here just to pass and barely matters. Online education is sickening, we haven't learn a thing and the grades are unjust. Offline education is how things should be. Get your doses of vaccines and if needed get a precautionary dose and move on. Move on in life, a generation of students graduating without really studying is deeply worrying.

Thanks. Yes I found that last evening. Such a sham!! The so called CLAT consortium has put together a face to conduct a centralized exam but then each NLU follow their own timelines. While I am not expecting that entire universe fall in line but at least with respect to admission dates and process, it should be aligned for all NLUs. Thanks again for highlighting this!!!

Sir,

Jindal is a great university but you already know the fees that it comes with. If you're comfortable sending your kid without the fees feeling like any sort of monetary burden then well and good, they'll get everything here and thousands of opportunities. But if there is any sort of explicit or implicit debt/monetary burden involved, please think before sending your child. It's not about the fact you'll be able to pay, it is about the pressure inserted upon the child. They'll be confined to the choice corporate jobs and not be able to explore the variety of career options that Jindal offers. There will always be a pressure on them to get an ROI, so think about if you ever think about admitting your child in Jindal.

In other aspects my experience has been very positive

You can try for NUALS. You should be able to get an admission with NRI quota there. It is a college that it is often overlooked by the north of India, and it is partly shadowed by NLS and NALSAR in the south. However, NUALS has been excelling in almost every aspect in the recent years, the achievements in the public domain is itself a testament. NUALS has had great mooting achievements, like being champions in the Stetson moot in 2020, and qualifying to the global rounds in almost all the international moots in the last year. Has gotten a Rhodes scholar, 66th rank in UPSC this year, many LLMs in NUS, cambridge, NYU etc., and alumni as partners in several Tier 1s.
The student community there is very supportive and collaborative, and in general, has all necessary facilities. Kochi is a safe and beautiful place also. Having studied at NUALS, I can say that the mess food is waay above average and each room has its own attached toilet, which most NLU hostels, if not all, lack.
The only negative that was aired mostly was lack of diversity and representation from the north. But a peculiar advantage of the pandemic was that in the last two years, all the students from north who were allotted to NUALS on merit stayed there, since they did not have to struggle to adjust to the place, which otherwise is a reality in a malayali dominated place. And now, since there is at least two batches of pretty good representation from the north, and really accomplished seniors and alumni, it is definitely a good and underrated NLU to consider.
And to all those who are again going to cite the 'Victimisation and Blatant sexism' article on lawctopus, please! That is an article from 7 years ago and stop harping on that. Talk to students in the college and gauge the culture there.

As someone who has studied and currently teaching in NLUs, I can give you an unbiased opinion that if you can afford Jindal's fees, you can go for it. It is as good as most of the NLUs and certainly has got most resources. Of course, it isn't without faults, but then, nor are the NLUs, not even NLSIU. Symbiosis will be as good as any NLU after the first 8 or so, especially if you are focusing on placements at the end of 5 years. Spending more money to get NRI category of NLUs that are yet to prove themselves may not make sense. Maybe MNLU would do better in future, maybe it won't.
The December plan is a good one, but only if you think that your child can focus on prep throughout this period. Personally, I advise students to get enrolled somewhere and then repeat. Because CLAT at the end of the day is a gamble at best.

A lot will depend on two things
1. What you can comfortably afford
2. Your daughter's aptitude and personal work ethic: does she thrive in a chill environment when left to her own devices or does she need a rigorous environment and external motivation?

Jindal is a very good college with good connections and opportunities. SLS-Pune isn't bad either. But in both of these places, the outcome depends entirely the one's own efforts. The batch sizes are very large and there are a lot of not-so-serious students, thus the environment can be very laid back. In order to make the most out of these places, one needs to be extra disciplined. NLU-O or MNLU Mumbai are also good colleges and in my opinion have a better name than Jindal. But via the NRI Sponsored route, it will end up costing the same, so Jindal might be better in this case, since they have slightly better faculty etc. But I am not sure about this, you may consult other people and take into account others factors (location, distance from your hometown etc)

About CLAT, you are absolutely right that one year's gap makes NO difference in the long run. I would strongly encourage her to seriously prepare for it and take CLAT/AILET again. The difference between the top schools (NLS,NALSAR,NLU-D,NUJS) and other colleges is very, very real. But the question is, should you in the meantime enroll in whatever college she is getting now, to lock in this seat at least? Preparation alongside college is definitely possible, a lot of people do it and get into top colleges. So it will depend on those same two things again. If you can comfortably pay such exorbitant fees for an extra semester, go ahead and enroll her in whatever she is getting now, to be on the safer side. But if you think your daughter has the zeal and self-discipline to seriously prepare by herself and crack the exam in her next attempt, at least get NLU-O or NLU-Mumbai via the general list, then there is no need to enroll her into any college now.

Firstly, one year of drop will make absolutely no difference even 10 years down the lane. It will have even lesser of an impact if we consider the overall career trajectory of your daughter. So dropping a year has no problems from that aspect. Please note that dropping will not guarantee an improvement in rank. I have seen many instances where people got worse rank after a dropped year.

With regard to private colleges, if you can afford easily, close your eyes and send your kid to Jindal. It is the best of the lot in terms of networking and job opportunities (considering that your daughter is either studious or you are a connected individual or your kid is great in networking). Other private universities don't even hold a candle to Jindal unfortunately. Irregardless, Jiggles is better than other private unis and lower rung NLUs.

With regards to NLUs, if you are paying NRI fees, don't go to anything other than NLS, NALSAR, NUJS, NLUJ and GNLU. I am not sure if all of these have NRI quote but I have identified these universities as they give the best opportunity from a placement perspective.

Good Luck

- a 2016 graduate from a lower rung NLU.

Private Unis, Jindal > Symbi. If you don't have any financial constraint I'd say let her join Jindal and if she works hard she'll do great. The fee including almost every necessary expenditure would come around 45-48 lacs. In symbi too it's somewhere around 30 lacs, and Jindal is better than Symbi.

Do apply for NLUs till NLIU, after that spending that much amount won't make much of a difference, also NLU O's NRI fee is not that high somewhere around 4lpa, can prefer that college over Symbi as it'd be cheaper and opportunities are almost the same.

If she's a fresher, for sure she can prepare for CLAT, a year won't make a difference AT ALL in the longer run.

Also majority of the answer would depend upon her future aim, if she wants to litigate then a drop wouldn't make much sense, I'd say NLU O would be your best bet. If she wants a corp job Jindal is good to go, even for judiciary/foreign studies drop won't make much difference.

Hello thank you for your question.
I though cannot say that which University to opt for, but I would say just don't take admission in GNLU, even though it has a no of NRI quota seats.
The reason for this is that the GNLU admin, and even the present VC is so so shameless and insensitive that they have forced the students to come back from 4th July on campus even when there has been a dangerous Covid outbreak in the University. The last time they opened, when the whole disunited student community in gnlu was pleading them not to open they opened , and the campus soon turned into a containment zoneeee. What an insensitive admin we have, please don't come here.

Hi there, Like many other parents, I was hoping for my daughter's admission to NLUs but given her rank (AIR General Rank is 5,369 / NRI Sponsored Rank 576), the chances of getting into any NLU seem impossible and in IP Uni(GGIPU) has high reservations. I hereby seek an opinion from the members, on the options that we have -
a) Go for Private institutes like Jindal or alike? If yes, then are there options to consider...or Jindal /Symbiosis rule the chart...Any stack ranking will help!!!
b) Go for NRI Sponsored category, even if you get admission in the last NLU (Hopefully). e.g. NLU Odissa or Mumbai...if they invite
c) Simply focus on Graduation and reappear for CLAT in Dec. IMHO, in a long run, a gap year may not make too much of a difference

I would love to hear it from all learned individuals, to help me take a decision. Best Regards