Conversation with Director Vic Telesino (Post Your Questions Here)

CostLLMUID: 3282841

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 12:26
Thank you for your question. While UCLA does not require applicants to our LL.M. Program to have w ...

Thank you, sir.

二毛毛二新新UID: 3438858

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 11:43
Thanks for your question. While UCLA performs quite well in publicly-available university rankings ...

Thank you for telling me so much,Sir!!! I really like your school as well as you!:)

二毛毛二新新UID: 3438858

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 11:43
Thanks for your question. While UCLA performs quite well in publicly-available university rankings ...

Thank you for telling me so much,Sir!!! I really like your school as well as you!:)

MissTCCUID: 3438100

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 12:15
Good evening MissTCC, thanks for your question. It has been my experience that the Committee will  ...

Thank you again for replying my question promptly.:p

UCLA-VicUID: 3483700

hala92 发表于 2013-11-10 12:03
Thank you, sir~ I want to apply for your LL.M program this year, while improving my LSAT score for ...

Thank you for the clarification. Your intention to continue on to J.D study after completing your LL.M. will not be viewed negatively in any way. The final paragraph in my previous reply also applies to your chances of being admitted to the LL.M. Program. In fact, your chances of being admitted to the LL.M. Program may be stronger, given that we do not require the LSAT for LL.M. applicants. So we are certainly happy that you will apply to the LL.M. Program, and I think your qualifications bode well for your chances of admission.

You may also be interested to know that UCLA permits graduates of our LL.M. Program to apply as transfer students to our J.D. Program immediately after completing the LL.M. degree. This opportunity is available only to graduates of UCLA's LL.M. Program in the summer immediately following their completion of our LL.M. Program. Approximately 3 to 5 students have applied in this manner in each of the past few years, and 1 to 2 have been granted admission. For these students, the LL.M. degree is rescinded and credited to them as one year of J.D. credit. They then complete two more years in the J.D. Program to earn the J.D. degree.

Another advantage to applying in this manner is that these applicants are not required to submit an LSAT score. (For this reason, the Committee will grant significant weight to their UCLA grades.) You can visit this page for more information on this process: http://www.law.ucla.edu/prospect ... he-jd-program.aspx.

CocoSunshineUID: 3476646

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 12:10
Thanks for your question. With regard to the J.D. Program, please see my previous post regarding m ...

Thank you for your patience sir! These information is of great help for me. UCLA is a great school and I am very much looking forward to apply to it next year!

hala92UID: 3402130

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 12:38
Thank you for the clarification. Your intention to continue on to J.D study after completing your  ...

Thank you so much! It's really nice of you to let me know that UCLA allow students to transfer to J.D and the LL.M degree is credited to them as one year of J.D credit. I really like this policy~

UCLA-VicUID: 3483700

evelynleaf 发表于 2013-11-10 12:13
Dear Mr. Telesion，thank you very much for your time. I am a senior student in college.

My quest ...

Dear evelynleaf, thank you for your message. While UCLA does not require applicants to our LL.M. Program to have passed the bar exam, passing the exam will definitely be viewed as a plus. The Committee is well aware of the difficult requirements and low annual passage rates for bar exams, so passing the exam will be viewed by the Committee as an impressive achievement and a reflection of your ability to pursue and achieve an important career goal.

Applicants to the LL.M. Program receive the same consideration by the admission Committee regardless of their area of interest, or if they plan to pursue one of our degree specializations (http://law.ucla.edu/prospective- ... /Pages/default.aspx). So a lack of previous education in Business Law will not be a hindrance to your application.

If you are granted admission and enroll in the program, you may find that our Business Law specialization tracks are flexible to such a degree that your lack of previous experience will not be a disadvantage. For example, our Business Law -- Business Law Track specialization enables students to tailor their curriculum to their particular areas of business-related interest: http://law.ucla.edu/prospective- ... ess-law-track.aspx.

Students who prefer a more theoretical course of study may enroll in courses such as the seminars and clinical courses toward the bottom of the "Group B" list, while those interested in more practical topics can enroll in those numbered in the 200s and 300s. Each year, approximately 60 to 70 percent of our LL.M. students pursue a degree specialization. Among that group, the most popular specializations are the Business Law -- Business Law Track (about 30%) and Entertainment, Media, and Intellectual Property Law (about 30%), and smaller groups are pursuing the International and Comparative Law specialization and the others we offer.

MissTCCUID: 3438100

Dear Vic, I love LA as well because it is a comfortable and beautiful city  for living and studying. But I am wondering whether the employers would prefer students who graduated from a law school from New York or Washington D.C. I love UCLA and LA!!!

MisstinnyUID: 3484356

Dear Mr. Vic:
     Hello!
     I am this year's applicant from China, UCLA is my target school for my LL.M. degree. I have two questions for you .
     1. According to your experience in UCLA, how many UCLA llm students from China got a good job offer when they graduated?
     2. I got to know some US law schools have student ambassador for many counties to keep relation with applicants from their domestic Countries. Does UCLA have Chinese ambassador for us to get information?
     Thank you very much

二毛毛二新新UID: 3438858

UCLA-Vic 发表于 2013-11-10 12:26
Thank you for your question. While UCLA does not require applicants to our LL.M. Program to have w ...

Dear Mr. Vic Telesion:
I noticed that your school personal statement format requirements included"typed double-spaced in 12-point font, and should not exceed three pages in length."But if I do have a lot to say,could I write up to 4 pages beyond the requirements?will it lead to some bad results?
Thank you very much for answering this stupid question!

灵小犀di磕绊史UID: 3432145

Hello, Mr. Vic Telesio，I am a student from Wuhan University. Thank you very much for your generosity to share some valuable information. First of all, I just wonder, except GPA and TOEFL, whether UCLA will pay a lot attention to reputation of my undergraduate university. And also I am concerned about the UCLA Chinese alumni resources since I know UCLA law school, unlike USC or Cornell, admits only a few Chinese students in the past years.How is alumni resources of UCLA law school in China?

MissCICIUID: 3408460

Dear Mr. Telesion,

Thanks for your patience! Really nice to talk to you.

I'm a senior student who's applying for LLM now. I'm interested in business law, and I used to minor in International Trade and Economics for two years and achieved a decent minor GPA. I feel excited when found your Business Law Specialization--Business Law Track in your LLM program, that's exactly what I want to specialize in. But I don't have an impressive internship in a distinguished law firm(only a small one). Therefore, I'd like to ask that:

1. Will a business academic background be an advantage in admitting Business Specialization students?

2. Will a lack of outstanding internship in big law firms be a drawback? How do you regard the practice experience in law firms?

3. How do you value the campus activities in college? Busy with that for three years may be a reason of lacking legal practices.

Thanks again for your precious time! :)

UCLA-VicUID: 3483700

MissTCC 发表于 2013-11-10 13:03
Dear Vic, I love LA as well because it is a comfortable and beautiful city  for living and studying. ...

That's a good question, MissTCC. It's true that some employers, particularly those based on the east coast of the U.S. or in Europe, recruit students who attended top law schools in New York or elsewhere on the east coast. But as the world rapidly continues to globalize, California and its metropolitan hubs like Los Angeles offer prospective employers many appealing reasons to recruit here. UCLA's outstanding reputation and our location in the heart of the entertainment industry, for example, have enabled more than a dozen of our international LL.M. students to secure internships with entertainment studios such as Warner Bros. and NBC Universal each year. This provides our students with invaluable real-world experience, and led the Hollywood Reporter magazine to rank UCLA as the top law school in the nation for entertainment law: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com ... ainment-law-351304.

We also work to place our students with employers from a variety of different fields. In 2007, UCLA created the annual West Coast International LL.M. Job Fair, the first fair of its kind devoted to hosting employers specifically interested in hiring international LL.M. students from west coast law schools. Now in its eighth year, you can read more about the upcoming 2014 fair here: http://www.law.ucla.edu/career-s ... -llm-job-fair.aspx.

As my own work tends to focus on admissions and student services rather than employment placement, please feel free to contact my colleague, Ms. Ying Cao, who is our official LL.M. Career Counselor and is herself originally from China. She organizes the annual job fair and can offer you examples of the employers who participate in the fair, and past UCLA students' experiences with them. Her email address is cao@law.ucla.edu.

UCLA-VicUID: 3483700

Misstinny 发表于 2013-11-10 13:03
Dear Mr. Vic:
     Hello!
     I am this year's applicant from China, UCLA is my target school fo ...

Thank you for your message, Misstinny. Please see my reply to MissTCC below, which covers related matters. You should also feel free to email Ms. Cao, who works directly with our LL.M. students on career services and can provide examples of past students who completed the program.

One of our current LL.M. students, Mr. Andy, was kind enough to introduce me to this forum and organize this conversation. He posted the first message in this thread, and I would expect that he would be willing to answer your questions about his experience at UCLA thus far. Please also feel free to email me at the address listed on this page: http://law.ucla.edu/prospective- ... onal-Programs.aspx. When I'm back in the office next week, I can provide you with the contact information for former students who participate in our Ambassadors program.