JackieDee Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 Hi I'm in my final year of IB and am about to send out my applications to universities to study law. I have good predicted grades (43/45) and am planning to apply to King's College, Queen Mary, SOAS, Birkbeck and New College of the Humanities. We had a barrister come to our school recently and talk to us about the difficulties in gaining access to the profession and how there is a lot of stiff competition. He said that grades mattered most, but there would always be some places that looked down on you if you didn't go to Oxbridge. I want to become a solicitor and work at a law firm after completing my law degree, to the best of your knowledge, would a degree from one of these colleges hinder my chances of being a competitive applicant to good law firms? I know I have the predicted grades to apply to Oxbridge, but due to a combination of reasons (family issues that make leaving London difficult and poor GCSE grades), I am not applying to Oxbridge. Any advice would be welcome! Thank you! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaby Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 28 minutes ago, JackieDee said: Hi I'm in my final year of IB and am about to send out my applications to universities to study law. I have good predicted grades (43/45) and am planning to apply to King's College, Queen Mary, SOAS, Birkbeck and New College of the Humanities. We had a barrister come to our school recently and talk to us about the difficulties in gaining access to the profession and how there is a lot of stiff competition. He said that grades mattered most, but there would always be some places that looked down on you if you didn't go to Oxbridge. I want to become a solicitor and work at a law firm after completing my law degree, to the best of your knowledge, would a degree from one of these colleges hinder my chances of being a competitive applicant to good law firms? I know I have the predicted grades to apply to Oxbridge, but due to a combination of reasons (family issues that make leaving London difficult and poor GCSE grades), I am not applying to Oxbridge. Any advice would be welcome! Thank you! From what I know, it's specific to the barrister profession that going or not going to Oxbridge could make or break your chances of entering the profession. When it comes to becoming a solicitor, especially at a big company, the name of the university is less important. Especially if you go KCL, you wouldn't be at any disadvantage. My friends at Kings have some great training contracts lined up. 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowhead Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 I second what Gaby has said. Not to pry, but I notice that UCL and LSE are not on your list. Considering your predicted scores, I think you should definitely consider applying to at least 1 of them and dropping New College. I think you will most likely be a shoo in for Birkbeck and QMUL regardless, so it's worth taking the risk, assuming when you say you have 'poor' GCSE grades, we're talking As and Bs and not Cs and Ds. Just something to think about. Also, I work at a very good law firm and at least two of my fellow trainees who are good friends of mine went to KCL and QMUL respectively, both of those unis will put you in good stead for a Training Contract. 2 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackieDee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 19 minutes ago, Gaby said: From what I know, it's specific to the barrister profession that going or not going to Oxbridge could make or break your chances of entering the profession. When it comes to becoming a solicitor, especially at a big company, the name of the university is less important. Especially if you go KCL, you wouldn't be at any disadvantage. My friends at Kings have some great training contracts lined up. 1 minute ago, Arrowhead said: I second what Gaby has said. Thanks for the confirmation! 2 minutes ago, Arrowhead said: Not to pry, but I notice that UCL and LSE are not on your list. Considering your predicted scores, I think you should definitely consider applying to at least 1 of them and dropping New College. I think you will most likely be a shoo in for Birkbeck and QMUL regardless, so it's worth taking the risk, assuming when you say you have 'poor' GCSE grades, we're talking As and Bs and not Cs and Ds. Just something to think about. I got 6A*s and 3Cs at GCSE, so not up to the standard of LSE/UCL from what I have been told. The three Cs were in my last 3 GCSE exams that I was not in the right frame of mind to attempt at the time. My father passed away during the weekend before my last three GCSE exams and my school was informed of this and told me that I could sit out the exams, but I chose to move ahead with them anyway - mistake on my end - but there was a lot of stuff going on at the time and I wasn't thinking rationally. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowhead Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) 25 minutes ago, JackieDee said: I got 6A*s and 3Cs at GCSE, so not up to the standard of LSE/UCL from what I have been told. Your definition of 'poor' grades is perplexing. 25 minutes ago, JackieDee said: My father passed away during the weekend before my last three GCSE exams and my school was informed of this and told me that I could sit out the exams, but I chose to move ahead with them anyway - mistake on my end - but there was a lot of stuff going on at the time and I wasn't thinking rationally. I can completely understand that and especially if your school documented this and knew about it and is willing to confirm it, any decent university will also bear it in mind when considering your application. From personal experience with the LSE, I know that they take extenuating circumstances very seriously and do whatever they can to accommodate students who have them. I definitely think, regardless of whether you decide to apply to LSE/UCL, your referee should mention your extenuating circumstances in some detail in his/her reference for you. With these circumstances and your otherwise top-notch GCSEs (6 A*s!), you are definitely a very competitive candidate at the top London unis for Law. I would strongly encourage you to apply to them. Edited October 6, 2016 by Arrowhead 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackieDee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 8 minutes ago, Arrowhead said: Your definition of 'poor' grades is perplexing. I can completely understand that and especially if your school documented this and knew about it and is willing to confirm it, any decent university will also bear it in mind when considering your application. From personal experience with the LSE, I know that they take extenuating circumstances very seriously and do whatever they can to accommodate students who have them. I definitely think, regardless of whether you decide to apply to LSE/UCL, your referee should mention your extenuating circumstances in some detail in his/her reference for you. With these circumstances and your otherwise top-notice GCSEs (6 A*s!), you are definitely a very competitive candidate at the top London unis for Law. I would strongly encourage you to apply to them. That's interesting to know. To be honest, I sort of discounted myself for LSE/UCL consideration a while back and made my peace with it because of my GCSEs. Nobody before now had ever told me that could be different. I think I'll apply to LSE as one of my options, I mean I wasn't too keen on New College from the beginning, so I may as well give LSE a go, what's the worst that could happen? A rejection? I can live with that. Thanks Arrowhead! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Young Posted October 7, 2016 Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 (edited) You think your GCSE's are bad... I am applying to both LSE/UCL with those IGCSE's > A*ABBBBBC ;\ IB Predicted; 40 points (I'm first or second highest in the year group) But with the majority of my year group failing IGCSE with C's and D's I guess my IGCSE's were alright? Lets just hope for the best! Edited October 7, 2016 by So Young 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrrs0 Posted October 11, 2016 Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 Hello, I am on my 1st year of IB and I want to become a Barrister in Britain. I want to go to Cambridge, and thus have read quite a bit about admissions for it (can't tell you much about oxford though) and they don't really care about GCSE scores, specially when there was a circumstance such as yours. I've heard solicitors' firms are less stiff about the Oxbridge thing, and considering that applications for Oxbridge close on the 15th it might be difficult. But more importantly if you don't feel like you can leave London (or know that you can't) then applying might not be the best idea. Hope I was useful. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
matbla Posted October 30, 2016 Report Share Posted October 30, 2016 Jackie, you got 43 points as the predicted grades and are considering Birkbeck and New College of the Humanities?! I dont really know what Birkbeck is, but I would replace it with the Lse or Oxford The grades look fantastic, so do everything you can to make them your finals, and forget about Birkbeck (heh)! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Young Posted October 30, 2016 Report Share Posted October 30, 2016 1 minute ago, matbla said: Jackie, you got 43 points as the predicted grades and are considering Birkbeck and New College of the Humanities?! I dont really know what Birkbeck is, but I would replace it with the Lse or Oxford The grades look fantastic, so do everything you can to make them your finals, and forget about Birkbeck (heh)! Well.. the deadline for Oxford has passed!! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackieDee Posted February 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) Hey guys! Thank you for all your advice a few months ago, I'm glad I wrote a post here and heard what you had to say. I am proud to say that I will be studying Law at LSE this Fall!! (assuming that I meet my condtions) Edited February 13, 2017 by JackieDee Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaby Posted February 13, 2017 Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 17 minutes ago, JackieDee said: Hey guys! Thank you for all your advice a few months ago, I'm glad I wrote a post here and heard what you had to say. I am proud to say that I will be studying Law at LSE this Fall!! (assuming that I meet my condtions) That's brilliant! Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your time at LSE 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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