Transcript Dia 1 - Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid KU Leuven

Verder studeren in het
buitenland
WORKSHOP
“HOW TO APPLY”
Content
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Language Tests
Resumé
Recommendation Letter
Statement of purpose
Scholarship and funding
Language Test
TOEFL: www.ets.org
IELTS: https://ielts.britishcouncil.org
Preparing Application Package as a
Persuasion Exercise
- It’s about selling yourself: present yourself in your best light!
- But think carefully about your audience!
Be a forward-looking candidate!
- Studying is not an end in itself but a MEANS to an end!
- What you’re likely to do AFTER your LLM matters as
much as what you will be doing DURING your LLM
Resumé
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No Europass
Chronological ordering: most
recent first
Highlight job experience and
internships, specify duties (+
reference person if possible)
Do not try to hide significant
“gaps”: There is no failure, only
feedback!
Resumé
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Provide detail of grades and
ranking (e.g. “top 5% of the
class”)
“avoid clutter” (no unnecessary
headings)
Pay attention to e-mail adress
(permanent; avoid weird,
unprofessional nicknames)
Resumé
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Languages: Don’t be too
modest (e.g. may specify that
courses in English and French
are part of the regular,
mandatory curriculum at KU
Leuven)
Resumé
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Hobbies and interests: carefully
consider how they reflect on you
as a person (running perhaps,
chess certainly, piano of course,
fishing and heavy metal probably
not)
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Think about your “social resumé”!
(Charity work, student union…)
Resumé
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layout: clean, well-polished (use
same fonts throughout, consistent
sectioning and underlining)
1 or 2 pagina’s (better not one and
a half, by no means 3)
if more than 1 page use headers
Grammar and spelling: be
perfectionist!
Beware: you may be googled…
Resumé
For writing tips, see:
http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asi
s/agep/advcv.pdf
Resumé
For those considering applying in
2015, think about beefing up your
creds with:
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Summer internships
Summer courses
Moot court competitions
“Civic engagement” (e.g. youth
movement, NGO, politics,
unions…)
Recommendation Letters
Whom to ask?
Think carefully
You need two or three
May vary from application to
application
Recommendation Letters
Whom should I ask? Criteria:
Professor, internship supervisor,
assistant,..
Someone who knows you and had
direct contact with you (the more
the better)
If possible someone prominent in
the discipline/business/policy area
Recommendation Letters
Whom should I ask? Criteria:
Alumnus of the institution applied
to
Prestige of referee
Relevance to your specific focus
and ambition
Recommendation Letters
How to ask?
Don’t be pushy
Give her/him sufficient time
Provide relevant information
Make her/his work easy
Recommendation Letters
What you need to send her/him?
“Where do I know her/him from?”
Resumé
If academic referee: detailed
grades
Explain why you chose
programme/university
State your goal/ambition
Recommendation Letters
What you need to send her/him?
Indicate deadline!!!
Specify if you need several letters
For academics: offer to provide a
draft letter
Recommendation Letters
What is a good recommendation?
Does not replicate resumé
Focus on personal contact and
interaction
Identify skills
Give a sense of the candidate’s
potential
Statement of purpose
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Sometimes called “personal
statement”
For some US Law Schools:
“autobiographical essay” is also
required
Statement of purpose
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Choose a topic or domain that is
relevant to law broadly defined
Demonstrate that you are a driven,
ambitious forward-looking
candidate
Always have your audience in
mind (if applying for scholarship:
committee not always jurists)
Statement of purpose
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Try to link what you have studied
and what you want to study (in
LLM programme) to your long term
goal
Bring out your ambition!
And show you have a strategy to
achieve it!
Convey self-confidence but don’t
arrogant
Statement of purpose
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Be concrete
Avoid platitudes (e.g. “I find law
exciting”)
Statement should be organised
around a unifying theme/common
thread
Strive for clarity and elegance!
Autobiographical essay
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Don’t replicate your resumé
Be concrete and personal
Strive to answer the question
“Who is the candidate?”, “What
does he stand for?”, “Where is he
coming from?”
Scholarships and Funding:
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BAEF
Fullbright
Rotary
(http://rotary.belux.org/nl/program
mas/studiebeurzen)
Stichting Fernand Lazard
Doctoral students: FWO
Scholarship & Funding
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Sometimes LL.M. programme
itself offers scholarship
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Alternative: “tuition waiver”
Scholarship & Funding
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After your LL.M.: some law firms
compensate for cost of LL.M. “sign
on fee” (cash bonus to cover
student debts)
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Tax rebate?
Last but not least
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Seek advice
Speak alumni
Hedge your bet and keep your
options open