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Waiting to hear from NYU

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worry

Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 8
Waiting to hear from NYU
Wed Apr 11, 2007 09:12 PM
good luck
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 02:01 AM
When the doorman buzzed me a few minutes ago to tell me I had a package, I got all excited. Maybe this was my NYU acceptance package!

But when I saw this big bulky box, I was pretty disappointed. Just a keyboard that I ordered online for my computer. (I'm using the keyboard to type this post, very nice.)
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 02:19 AM
Hey Bob,

If you dont mind me asking what are your stats and when did your application become complete?
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 04:56 AM
My app became complete in March.
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Sofabed8

Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 13
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 04:31 PM
I received an email from NYU on feb 22nd indicating my app was complete and called Admissions today to learn they still have not made a decision. Ive heard from all the other top schools.
Don't understand why NYU is taking so long.
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 04:40 PM
Hey bob and sofa, what are your stats like?
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Sofabed8

Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 13
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 06:17 PM
I dont come from a highly ranked law school, ranked fourth actually. But i have pretty good grades and have high tax grades (3.75). I have taken a bunch of tax classes, did my university's tax clinic (pro bono work) and was on our Tax moot court team.

I got into all the top schools, just waiting on NYU- if I dont get into NYU, Ill be attending G-town.

Hope that helps
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candidate

Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 4
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 06:55 PM
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I think it is about time to make it clear that NYU handles domestic and foreign applicants differently.

First, they review all the foreign then all the domestic applicant files and then they devote time for those waitlisted.

Of course there are overlaps in the system.

It would be useful for those writing to this post to identify themselves whether coming with a foreign or a domestic background!

I hope this helps.

In case anybody would feel offended by my post, I did not mean to harm anyone and apologies in advance.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 07:22 PM
"did my university's tax clinic (pro bono work)"

Darn, I forgot to mention on my app that I participated in VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance). But that's so unrelated to the type of tax law taught at NYU that I probably didn't even associate the two.

In response to foreign vs domestic, I thought it was implicit that I was a domestic applicant to the LLM in Taxation, if only on account of my application becoming complete in March, when the deadline for foreign applicants was December 31st.

Do the exact same adcom people do the foreign applications as do the domestic applications? If so, then it would be the case that they'd let the domestic applications sit in a big pile until they finished with the foreigners. But I would think that, by now, they'd be finished doing the foreign applications.
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 07:35 PM
Foreign students were promised a decision by 4/1, so most likely the adcom people have moved onto the domestic students exclusively now.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 07:41 PM
And we're promised a decision by the end of June, so it could be a long wait :(
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 07:51 PM
I seriously hope they do not take until the end of June to make their decisions. I dont get why other schools can respond so quickly while NYU just takes their time, maybe its because they know we will wait for them.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Thu Apr 12, 2007 08:06 PM
Well NYU has the only LLM program worth attending, so the fact that some mediocre state school in Florida whose graduates have to take low paying jobs as accountants can offer its LLM applicants a quick decision is irrelevant.

And for programs ranked even lower than the one in Florida, they basically accept anyone with a JD degree, so it's not surprising that they can offer a quick "decision."
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worry

Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 8
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 03:58 PM
the end of June?
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texasaggie

Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 44
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 04:19 PM
bob_d:

You don't know what you're talking about.
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 04:30 PM
Texas:

I cannot speak for bob but I am pretty sure that I sensed some frustrated sarcasm in the tone of his posting. As for the end of june comment, that come straight off the NYU admissions site. That does seem like a late date but I assume that the well qualified and those who applied early will hear back earlier.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 04:52 PM
I know that an LL.M. in Taxation, even from NYU, is not a ticket to a high paying BIGLAW job, and NYU has the top ranked program and is in the nation's largest legal market. I didn't apply to any other schools because I don't want an LL.M. from any other program.

Regarding when NYU makes decisions, applications are processed in the order they are received. Easy decisions are made on a rolling basis, so if your application is very good or very bad, you will hear soon.

Difficult decisions are postponed for a second and even sometimes a third round of review. If you're in the third round, you won't hear until the end of June.

(I sort of made up the last two paragraphs, but it's probably a close to accurate description of the process.)
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texasaggie

Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 44
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 04:57 PM
That's fine that it's your personal choice to go to NYU or nowhere, but there's no need to say something like that to degrade other programs. UF and Georgetown are both very good programs, and as for me, I'm still waiting on NYU, but may very well choose UF even if I get into NYU for financial purposes. I just don't think it's necessary for you to say things like that, when they: 1) aren't true; and 2) only serve to degrade those who don't get into NYU for whatever reason.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 05:21 PM
I'm not degrading anyone for wanting a credential so they can get into a career in tax law, because that's what I want too.

But I'm being realistic about how difficult it is to get the good jobs and how much the legal profession worships prestigious credentials. Given this truth, I question the wisdom of going to school in Florida.
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Publius00


Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 25
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 05:49 PM
I do see the point of a lot of what Bob has to say, but I think it all depends upon what your career goals are and where you want to end up. Personally, I am going to NYU because I believe that it will help me the most. However, I do think that Florida is a great option for some people. For instance, if you want to end up in the South, Florida carries quite a bit of weight. I know that in Texas, an LL.M. in Tax from Florida really does carry weight (I know some people at great firms with UF LL.M's). If a person wanted to end up in NY or DC, I would question the wisdom of choosing FL. Another reason I might choose FL is if my dream wasn't to be at a BigLaw firm. For a person that wants to be at a smaller or medium sized firm, FL will get you to that goal a lot cheaper than NYU would.

With all of that said, I think Bob is right that after the top five programs or so, the rankings stop mattering nearly as much. It's not that those might not be excellent programs, but their placement for LL.M's is very regional. For instance, I'm pretty familiar with SMU's program and I know that almost all of the people I know who went there for an LL.M. end up in the Dallas area. If I want to go to a Dallas firm with an LL.M. from Miami, I could argue all I want that my school was ranked higher, but in Dallas the SMU degree will usually carry me further because of the connections you will have made. Likewise, in Florida, an SMU degree will mean much less than a Miami degree.
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texasaggie

Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 44
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 06:07 PM
Yes, but that's not what Bob was saying. He was saying that only NYU matters, and the rest are worthless. Of course, his opinion on this matter is pretty questionable, given that fact that he doesn't even have an LL.M. yet. The people to talk to are those that have theirs and are currently working, or those in the process of getting it right now. I want to end up in Texas or in Georgia/Florida. I didn't have the good fortune that many here did of having anyone other than myself pay for a single penny of ANY of my education-college or law school, so my loan debt is already a hefty amount. I don't want to end up in NY or DC, but if I did, of course I'd think that NYU or Gtown would be the best options. However, I don't, and that makes UF a very good option for me, and there's a chance that I may be able to get in-state tutition at UF as well, making it less than half of what Gtown or NYU costs. Under my circumstances, that would seem to be the optimal choice. As far as prestigious credentials being important in the legal profession-there's no doubt that's true. However, I think what many of us have to get out of our heads (I did too) is that while in speaking of law schools in general, there's no doubt that Georgetown and NYU are more nationally-recognized than The University of Florida. However, that's NOT the case in the Tax field. If you're goal is to work at a tax firm, who are you going to be trying to impress? Partners who are in the Tax groups at their firms. It's their opinions that matter, and in tax law, they know that UF (and Georgetown) are very good. While there's no doubt that NYU's the top dog, the difference in price, especially for someone who wants to end up where I do (in Texas or in Georgia/Florida), the extra cost of NYU might not be worth it.
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bob_d

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 27
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 06:56 PM
I concede that my original post on the topic was a little bit on the obnoxious side. I'm sorry.

Most tax LLMs are going to go into the area of international tax law because it's the most complicated so it's the area where there is the most need for people with advanced tax education. You don't need an LLM to do someone's 1040 form. (I did mine on using Tax Cut this year--boy was that easier than filling it out by hand.)

The one U.S. city which is the center for international commerce is New York City. More Fortune 500 companies are based in New York than any other city in the U.S.:

money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/cities/…

Independent of that, New York City is also known as the nation's financial and legal capital. Fortune 500 companies based outside of NYC will often use law firms in NYC because they think they need the best firms to do their most complex legal work. (Whether or not the NYC firms truly are the best is a different story. I suspect that a sheeplike follow-the-herd mentality causes companies to overlook the quality local talent.)

For this reason, an LLM's reputation in New York City is probably the most important thing when it comes to getting a job in tax law.

Now I know that the same link above shows that Texas, surprisingly, has the second largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters outside of NY, so therefore Texas would have a decent sized market for tax lawyers. Maybe the degree from Florida has some pull there, I don't know. But it seems risky to me. NYU has the weight of the high prestige of its JD program to pull up the LLM, Florida doesn't have that.

Florida is also isolated from employers. A firm from NYC could be too lazy to fly people down to Florida to do interviews, and too cheap to pay for the Florida students to fly to New York. But it's easy to interview prospective associate attorneys from NYU. Florida is not especially close to Texas either, so wouldn't, by geography, have an obvious advantage in the Texas job market.

NYC is also only a short Amtrak ride to DC, another center for tax law because the IRS is headquartered there.

[Edited 13 Apr 2007 by bob_d]
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texasaggie

Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 44
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 07:21 PM
bob_d:

You do understand that there are a lot of good law firms located in Florida and Texas don't you? NYC isn't the only city worth working in, or the only place where "real" tax work is. I think you have an inflated sense of NYC, and I suspect that you're from the north or the east coast. You need to understand that the vast majority of people DON'T think that way.
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shoortie


Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 60
Waiting to hear from NYU
Fri Apr 13, 2007 08:06 PM
setho:

it is true NYU will notify you as late as june. last year, someone from my school (who is graduating GT LLM this year) didn't hear from NYU until June (admitted).
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setho

Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 109
Waiting to hear from NYU
Sat Apr 14, 2007 03:22 AM
So I went to the open house at gtown for those accepted to the LLM program and the general consensus of the faculty who were present was that unless you want to practice in the south then you shouldnt go to Florida. They were also very honest and recognized that choosing NYU over any school is never a foolish decision.

Also speaking to one student there, in his experience he applied to NYU last year and was not rejected until early June. I really hope that doesnt happen to me!!
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