The Student Room Group

Law conversion Course

Just a few questions...
I was put in the pool for Cambridge (History) but have had no contact as yet, so probably unsuccessful.
I have always thought I'll do a law conversion course after my History degree. Just wondering how the postgraduate application system works, is it much like UCAS?
Can you apply to Oxford and Cambridge? How many choices?

Thanks :smile:
Oxford, Cambridge and one or two other places do a two year senior status law degree for graduates which is both expensive and extremely competative.

However when most people refer to a conversion course they mean the course known as the Graduate Diploma in Law alternatively known as the Common Professional Examination.

This course in offered in several cities by the College of Law, a private provider BPP, and a number of universities most of which are post-1992 universities.

Except where law firms are meeting the cost, they generally do not care where the GDL is undertaken.

Entry requirements are normally a degree, a pulse and a cheque book.
Reply 2
Thank you- So oxford and Cambridge two year senior status law degree for graduates... I'd be talking ten thousand plus?
Original post by misostars
Thank you- So oxford and Cambridge two year senior status law degree for graduates... I'd be talking ten thousand plus?


You will be an ELQ student but I don't know how that impacts on college as well as university fees
A few universities offer the 2 year Senior Status Law. Going from the list of courses in your signature, I know that Leeds definitely offer it and it would run you (currently) £4,200 per year as a full time home/EU fee paying student. Durham definitely don't offer a Senior Status Law course and not sure about the others.
Reply 5
Contrary to other opinions the GDLS is not a course which requries 'a degree, a pulse, and a cheque book'. It can be very competitive to get onto these courses and is very intensive if you're lucky enough to get selected.
All universities that offer the GDLS require at least a 2:1 at degree level. The application process involves applying through a central admissions body - but you are not guaranteed a place just because you can afford the fees. An example: Birmingham University ( a red brick university) receives 400 - 500 applications per year. They are licensed to take 50. Once you have finished the course you are then required to undertake the LPC (which all graduates of a 2 or 3 year LLB are required to take if they want to qualify). The GDLS is, in effect, a law degree in a year. Anything other than this would render the student unable to gain access to the LPC. Graduates of the GDLS are viewed positively by admissions into the LPC as they have proved themselves on the intensive GDLS.
Original post by AngieC
Contrary to other opinions the GDLS is not a course which requries 'a degree, a pulse, and a cheque book'. It can be very competitive to get onto these courses and is very intensive if you're lucky enough to get selected.
All universities that offer the GDLS require at least a 2:1 at degree level. The application process involves applying through a central admissions body - but you are not guaranteed a place just because you can afford the fees. An example: Birmingham University ( a red brick university) receives 400 - 500 applications per year. They are licensed to take 50. Once you have finished the course you are then required to undertake the LPC (which all graduates of a 2 or 3 year LLB are required to take if they want to qualify). The GDLS is, in effect, a law degree in a year. Anything other than this would render the student unable to gain access to the LPC. Graduates of the GDLS are viewed positively by admissions into the LPC as they have proved themselves on the intensive GDLS.


I am afraid the example you have given is wholly unrepresentative.

For the year 2011/2 there are 5330 full time places. In addition there are part-time and distance learning courses. In the case of the College of Law the number of part-time places is unlimited.

The minimum academic standard for admission to the GDL is a pass degree (a 2:2 is needed for the BPTC). Whilst many institutions impose a higher entrance requirement, the largest provider the College of Law does not.

In the case of both the GDL and the LPC the places available exceed the number of students wishing to undertake the course.
Reply 7
None of the above means that the quality of teaching isn't any good though. Who cares what the entry requirements are, so long as the teaching is good and you heighten your career prospects?!
Original post by emsalina
None of the above means that the quality of teaching isn't any good though.


No-one ever suggested it did.
Reply 9
so, what must you do to read law in oxbridge with an undergrad degree which isnt law?

Quick Reply

Latest