Recently gave CLAT and got GNLU (Considering it as a T1 NLU), As I have noticed many of Indian Harvard Law School graduates are from NLS and NALSAR. I want to do LLM after I'm done with my BA.LLB and preferably in some good US Law School. Will the GNLU name tag add a shine to my application later on same as NLS and NALSAR adds? Or at least to some extent?
Speaking as someone who has been to Harvard and is aware of how the selection process works, the names of NLSIU and NALSAR by themselves do not add anything to your CV. These places do not attract the fancy of foreign universities regardless of how much adulation they receive from people here. However, studying at these places are likely to train you fractionally better to write a good application, get international internships with reputed organisations like the UN, WB etc., get close to people whose reco letters would matter, such as some of the more liberal SC judges for example, get you to attend events and conferences that would broaden your horizon somewhat (this is not to say that you cannot attend those from GNLU either), have faculty who would encourage you to research and write well, as well as convince you to prepare yourself for a life outside the more popular law firm careers. I have known a Harvard LLM batch to have as many as 6 grads from a single NLU (NUJS if I remember correctly) though from various batches. They all had these characteristics in common.
He also mentioned that he's from Harvard and therefore, probably better suited than most to opine in this matter. His comment was a sensible one too. Why are you trolling after a year?
College does not matter for doing an LLM from top ivy schools. What matters is what you make out of 5 years of your law school. They (IVY) want stellar SoP, Good grades and an excellent CV. (be it from NLS Banglore or some XYZ college). I have literally seen one person who was from 3rd or 4th tier law school in India get into Oxford.
Harvard p-grad here. Having a NALSAR or NLS background does help but only to the extent of being better trained and having great connections with your senior/alumni who have already done their LLM from here. That meant I knew exactly how to train, what to write and how to go about my applications. A great set of faculty or alums (who in my case was also my Partner in the law firm I was working) really helps with the recommendations. I guess the one major advantage of NLS/NALSAR supremacy has been its old school network-i.e. alumni and students...what I am trying to say is it is the students that make the university and not so much as the faculty or admin. But yes some faculty of NLS/NALSAR have been exceptionally well read and respected and yes if a word of recommendation can come from them it may make a lot of difference. Having said that my batch had people from India who did their LLB from non NLUs and I will say they were equally talented. So best of luck!
Yes. I think it does help. Its not an auto accept if you are from a T1 nor an auto reject if youre not. But im glad I went to the law school I did because it opened doors for me. Two of my professors at law school were heavy hitters whose recommendation letters were difficult to obtain but persuasive to admissions committees. I got both of them. One of them specifically took me under his wing and got me my first job. There I earned three more recommendations from NLU Alumni who went Oxbridge and Ivy schools for their advanced degrees. Not to mention all the mentorship, these people took the time to talk to me about my research projects and taught me difficult things and read over my applications and my cv and gave me advice on application strategy. I worked with them in classrooms and in research projects so I learned what it was to write a paper or to teach a class. I wasnt sure about applying the year I did- but because the profs encouraged me I did apply, and I went to an Ivy too.
I didnt moot at all in law school, I had two good papers, and two years of academic experience. I had a fairly middling GPA but basically five LORs and a lot of work as a researcher and in a junior academic position. And I got money from the university that took me. And now profs from the Ivy write me LORs.
Its just hard to get that kind of mentorship in the newer NLUs. Its also hard to get professors who will recognise potential and invest in their students and bother to teach them in a rigorous ways. Its harder- but its not impossible. If you arent going to- NLS or NUJS or NLUD right now (NALSAR Im leaving out because Sid Chauhan is leaving and Dhanda is emeritus- i dont know others who are as good as they are in that university)- you have to work extra hard to get access to all of this. You cannot afford to slack off the way I did because the alumni network wont be there to catch you. And yes some of your education might be lacking. Demand better professors and dont run away from work. Get good people to come and offer electives, protest your VCs to make sure they hire good people. all of that pays off.
Or back to India?
I didnt moot at all in law school, I had two good papers, and two years of academic experience. I had a fairly middling GPA but basically five LORs and a lot of work as a researcher and in a junior academic position. And I got money from the university that took me. And now profs from the Ivy write me LORs.
Its just hard to get that kind of mentorship in the newer NLUs. Its also hard to get professors who will recognise potential and invest in their students and bother to teach them in a rigorous ways. Its harder- but its not impossible. If you arent going to- NLS or NUJS or NLUD right now (NALSAR Im leaving out because Sid Chauhan is leaving and Dhanda is emeritus- i dont know others who are as good as they are in that university)- you have to work extra hard to get access to all of this. You cannot afford to slack off the way I did because the alumni network wont be there to catch you. And yes some of your education might be lacking. Demand better professors and dont run away from work. Get good people to come and offer electives, protest your VCs to make sure they hire good people. all of that pays off.