NYU and Columbia do very good in the law school rankings. Does anyone know about the pros and cons of these universities). Which one has more LLM students? Where are they located? I do not mean the street address, but whther it is in a good environment or interesting area.

Hello,
NYU is located in the south of manathan : you will be in the cultural part of the city ( chelsea, soho, etc). Columbia is near Central Park , ie it is more a residential area. Both are close to each other, just take the subway and you will be there.

I always wonder why the in New York they have the same names for their city areas as London, eg Soho and Chelsea... You really get confused!

Thanks, camino69!
So I guess I should apply to both NYU and Columbia in case I will not be accepted. For the Tax LLM NYU is probably the first choice.

I actually remembered that I was in the Columbia University area when I was in New York once. It was quite far north but a nice neighbourhood with lots of young people. The area around Central Park is great, but probably too expensive too live there...

I always wonder why in New York they have the same names for their city areas as London, eg Soho and Chelsea... You really get confused!

I dont know about chelsea but soho in New York stands for "so"uth of "ho"uston street. They probably chose the abbreviation because of the London name...

Is life very expensive in New York City and in the USA? How much costs the rent of an appartment for one person?

For Europeans life in the US has become a bit less expensive as the Dollar is weak compared to the Euro at the moment. But still, if you consider the fees, flight, rent, food, etc. you will spend more than 50.000,- EUR for the year. Depending on your lifestyle it may be 80.000,- EUR as well (and I think you should not go to New York to stay at home all day....). The rent fro a room is something like 800 EUR per mont if you want to live in Manhatten. If you stay in Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey it may be less, but you should look at public transport and ask people from New York about whether the areas is ok before you sign the contract.

Columbia has fewer LL.M. students.

These schools are quite close to each other in many ways: both are strong in international and comparative law, legal philosophy, business law areas and so on.

The locations are great.

Both will give you pretty similar job opportunities.

I suggest you to ponder the following issues: the financial aid packages, are there individual scholars at either school, whose writings really make sense to you, and whether you prefer larger or smaller (not really small, though) program.