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Hi there!

I am expected to become a US citizen soon and a Bachelors of Law graduate in my country at around the same time next year!
I am on my 30’s now and am interested in pursuing an LLM in US, preferably in NY since I live here!

As a green card holder for almost 6 years, I spent half of time in US, while the other half in my own country to complete my degree. I travelled almost 6 times to my country during these 6 years, spending almost 6 months per trip in my country, since my green card wouldn’t allow me longer. I just wanted to finish what i had started and not to quit.

Finishing college took me far longer than it normally should have. Depression and having had to spend almost half of my time in US to get the US citizenship contributed to this massive delay big time.

It’s been almost a year since I started recovering from depression that has eaten me alive for over a decade and had caused me mental decline, setbacks in every point in my life and now I feel I am finally back in the track to make my dream come true-studying in the US.

Half of my grades are excellent, while the rest are minimal. If I i would convert my GPA into US system, that would be 2.9 - 3.0. I participated in 2 highly competitive international student conferences with some other selected students in Europe, and was offered a group leader position in another one but couldn’t be a part of cause I had to be in US. I also couldn’t be part of 2 other important ones such as London Model United Nations and another Model United Nations because of the same reason.

I speak 4 foreign languages, and wrote from time to time editorials in high school magazine. Translated a novel at 16 that was never published.

While spending that short limited time in US, I have never been able to do anything higher than working at short periods of time at Walmart, Kohl’s, Amazon etc as an associate.

I know I may not sound realistic but what are my chances of getting enrolled in NYU or its equivalents with this profile. I could have had an excellent profile. I have always been a stellar student but depression got in the way, so this is all I could do so far and it’s tormenting me.

I am sick of having to live in other people’s homes and am on the verge of ending up homeless, so in case I get in in any college, how likely I am to be supported from college or government for housing while studying?

I am still waiting for decent responses!

Call wrote:I am still waiting for decent responses!

It's gonna be a long wait. You're in a pretty unique situation, and most people here aren't familiar with the LLM admissions process for foreign lawyers, let alone foreign LLBs with no experience who just became US citizens.

cavalier1138 wrote:

Call wrote:I am still waiting for decent responses!

It's gonna be a long wait. You're in a pretty unique situation, and most people here aren't familiar with the LLM admissions process for foreign lawyers, let alone foreign LLBs with no experience who just became US citizens.

The rumor mill suggests that (non-Tax) LL.M. admissions for foreign LLBs are fairly lax - that is, schools are willing to take just about anyone with a pulse who's willing to pay. That said, I really have no idea whether "fairly lax" means "willing to take sub-3.0 GPA".

Call wrote:I am sick of having to live in other people’s homes and am on the verge of ending up homeless, so in case I get in in any college, how likely I am to be supported from college or government for housing while studying?

I'm sad to say the answer to this specific question is a hard no, except insofar as the federal government will underwrite loans to cover tuition and cost of living.

cavalier1138 wrote:

Call wrote:I am still waiting for decent responses!

It's gonna be a long wait. You're in a pretty unique situation, and most people here aren't familiar with the LLM admissions process for foreign lawyers, let alone foreign LLBs with no experience who just became US citizens.

What exactly are you referring to when you say that my situation is unique?

Call wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:It's gonna be a long wait. You're in a pretty unique situation, and most people here aren't familiar with the LLM admissions process for foreign lawyers, let alone foreign LLBs with no experience who just became US citizens.

What exactly are you referring to when you say that my situation is unique?

I think cav was wrong to say your situation is "unique". It's not. But I think cav is right to say that most of us have very little experience re: (non-Tax) LL.M. admissions, particularly with respect to whether U.S. citizenship moves the needle at all. Hopefully someone will chime in with more info.

QContinuum wrote:

Call wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:It's gonna be a long wait. You're in a pretty unique situation, and most people here aren't familiar with the LLM admissions process for foreign lawyers, let alone foreign LLBs with no experience who just became US citizens.

What exactly are you referring to when you say that my situation is unique?

I think cav was wrong to say your situation is "unique". It's not. But I think cav is right to say that most of us have very little experience re: (non-Tax) LL.M. admissions, particularly with respect to whether U.S. citizenship moves the needle at all. Hopefully someone will chime in with more info.

I actually would say it's "pretty unique," in that I never met a foreign LLM student at NYU who didn't have at least a few years of experience in their home jurisdiction before seeking the LLM. I also didn't meet any LLM students (as far as I know) who had US citizenship and a foreign LLB.

I have no idea how easy/hard admissions will be, but I feel like an LLM may not be a great option for someone in the OP's situation.