本日から10月となりました。来月にも出願を控える受験生も多いのではないでしょうか。
9月からレジュメの作成へ着手する出願者も目立ち始め、今月からはEssay (Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose)を書き始める方々も増えてくるものと思われます。
そうした中、下記U of Chicago LL.M Programの出願要綱サイトには出願プロセスが丁寧に述べられています。同校への出願者でなくとも、LSAC経由で出願する方々は目を通しておかれてはいかがでしょうか？
https://www.law.uchicago.edu/llm/apply
APPLICATION STEP # 1
Please supply the information requested in the Basic Information Form for LLM Students and submit it electronically before you submit your application materials. Although all of the information requested is also supplied by you on the Application for Admission, submitting this information to us electronically before you apply will enable the Admissions Office to expedite the processing of your application materials once they are available.
When you submit the Basic Information Form for LLM Students you will receive an acknowledgement statement which will contain a BIF code. This BIF code must be entered in response to one of the questions on the Application for Admission.
APPLICATION STEP # 2
Candidates applying for admission to the LLM Program must use the LSAC LLM Credential Assembly Service. Chicago requires both the Document Assembly Service (DAS) and the International Transcript Authentication and Evaluation Service (ITAES). Applicants must submit all the required materials through LSAC: application for admission with the supporting documents described below, academic transcripts, letters of recommendation (at least two and no more than four), TOEFL or IELTS scores, and the $85 application fee. We do not waive the application fee. If your answers to any of the questions on the Application for Admission require further explanation, or if there is other information not called for that you think may assist the Graduate Studies Committee in considering your application, you are encouraged to add this additional information to your personal statement.
Please submit with the Application for Admission the following supporting documents:
- A description – in the form of a resume, curriculum vitae, or similar document – of your academic and professional background. In this document, please describe as fully as necessary the significance of any honors or distinctions so that the Graduate Studies Committee may compare your academic performance with others. It may be helpful to look at the sample resume PDF posted on our Web page before preparing this document.
- A brief personal statement (one to three pages) describing the academic interests you wish to pursue at Chicago and your career plans following completion of our program. There is no particular format (font, word size, margin) for the personal statement. You should use your own judgment in selecting a format that you would find comfortable to read yourself.
APPLICATION STEP # 3
Financial aid application. Admitted applicants who wish to be considered for financial assistance from the Law School will be asked at the time of admission to supply information about their own and their family’s financial circumstances. Funds to support students in the LLM program are exceedingly limited. Grants are available only in a small portion of the total cost. Therefore, applicants requiring financial aid should make every effort to obtain assistance from their governments, families, employers, or other outside sources.
THREE COMMON SOURCES OF CONFUSION IN THE APPLICATION PROCESS:
- Name Inconsistency. Sometimes applicants with several family names or nicknames use one name on the application and a different name on their LSAC registration. Applicants should always use the same formulation of their names on the Basic Information Form, the Application for Admission and the registration for LSAC services. When applicants use different names it is difficult for those who process the applications to match materials and email messages submitted on behalf of one applicant. For the purposes of the application process, we ask all applicants to follow the name order convention used in most countries: first (given) name followed by last (family) name.
- TOEFL/IELTS test date changes. Applicants are asked on our application to indicate the date they took or plan to take the TOEFL/IELTS examination. Our policy is to make an application complete, assuming all other required documents have been submitted, when we have received the scores for the language test listed on the application. Therefore, applicants who 1) decide not to take that test, 2) decide not to have that score submitted to us, or 3) decide to take the test at a later date, should notify us so that their applications can be made complete with the appropriate language test scores. Once an application has been made complete, it is submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee for review and subsequent scores will not be added to the application after that. Applicants who wish to take subsequent TOEFL or IELTS exams after their applications have been made complete may do so, but they should wait to request reconsideration of their applications with new scores until after they have received an initial decision on the application AND have actual new scores that can be submitted to us.
- Online application status checker assumption. The LLM Program does not use an online application status checker, although some candidates assume we do because other schools and programs have such a system. When an application becomes available to us through LSAC, it will be acknowledged with an email message. The same thing will happen when an application becomes complete. These email messages are sent as soon as possible but applicants should understand that when application volume is particularly heavy, it may take several days or a week to acknowledge receipt of applications or completion status. Once an application is complete, there will be no further status messages until the decision email is sent in February.
