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A levels needed for Law

Hey everyone,
Im new to this so be nice hehe. I will be choosing my A Levels in a couple of weeks and do not have a clue on what i need to pick. When i go to univeristy i want to study Law. So the A Levels i was thinking of choosing was Law, Spanish...and im not sure what else! Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
xx

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Reply 1

Serenity

Really doesn't matter as long as they're academic (and even then - different Unis have different views on certain subjects/what they'll accept): such as English, History, Maths, Science - whatever. I'd say stick to the subjects you think you'll do best in and would have a good chance of getting good grades - because at the end of the day it is the grade that matters most in winning a place at a uni and not the subject. Many people could recommend what they think would be a winning combo for Law on here but at the end of the day we're not admissions tutors, we don't know every single universities' policy, and there is absolutely no use doing a subject you'll hate and not do very well in - just because you think it's the subject that will get you into Law.

Reply 2

Dimebag

In fact I think the only one you may want to avoid, somewhat paradoxically, is law itself. There is much debate about the advantages/disadvantages once you get to uni - there are rumours of it affecting entry and study once at uni. Have a good talk with your careers advisor and admissions people at uni to see what they think.

And of course silly ones like general studies. :smile:

Reply 3

sweetangel

Yeh I would say to choose 'traditional subjects' like English Literature and History

Reply 4

nayiseda

Yeh Law is 'neither encouraged nor discouraged' and 'provides no advantage' so i think law schools ideally dont want to see it but if you get a good grade in it (that is what is most important) AND combine it with other, traditional, respected subjects, then its fine.
Spanish is good, many lawyers have a-levels in foreign languages.
Law is an essay writing degree so an essay subject (maybe 2) would be useful (English Lit, History, Philosophy, Politics).
A contrasting subject would show you have skills in many different areas which is useful since a law degree does require many different skills. So maths/science or even economics would show that you can think logically and solve problems by applying theories.

So Maths, Spanish, History, Law would be very good, but you can pick whatever you want so just do what you're most likely to enjoy and get the important A grades in

Reply 5

cancelled_account_11

oh, serenity hkg me parents are from there have fun and killers u lucky person.

Reply 6

TommehR

nayiseda

So Maths, Spanish, History, Law would be very good, but you can pick whatever you want so just do what you're most likely to enjoy and get the important A grades in

That sounds like a good choice. Nice combination of a science, language (provided you're not a native speaker) and two essay subjects. You can get away with choosing anything really, so long as it is academic and isn't something like General Studies or Drama.

On the usefulness of doing Law at A-level: I did it and am currently in my first year at UCL doing Law. I personally am finding it pretty useful so far as it has given me a basic understanding of how the law generally works and so I can view the new things that I learn in light of that. I know that some people are finding it a bit confusing getting to grips with some of the concepts as they've never really had any exposure to the law before. It's also proving useful to help solve problem questions and the like.

I want to make it clear though that you shouldn't read this as me saying that A-level Law is crucially important if you want to do a Law degree; it isn't. What I'm finding is that it's helping me to settle into the degree and concentrate on the particular subjects that we're doing, rather than having to learn some of the central concepts on top.

I think that if you really want do a Law degree and your college offers it, you should look at what you actually do in A-level Law and decide whether it sounds like it would interest you. It'll also back-up your perhaps spurious claims on your Personal Statement (everybody does it :p:

)that you've "always wanted to do law, ever since you were an ickle kiddy, and get in a state when reading the Times Law Reports or get terribly het up at the prospect of new Government tax legislation". If your college offers Law as an option and you don't take (or at least seriously consider) it you can't really claim that it has been a lifelong passion as otherwise you'd have jumped at the chance to do it.

Reply 7

Serenity

Threelions

oh, serenity hkg me parents are from there have fun and killers u lucky person.

Thanks

Yeah I'm soo excited about the killers - just wish my pc didn't keep timing out when I bought tickets from the NEC website and could've got standing tickets or at least better seats. But better than most who didn't manage to get them before they sold out I guess! :smile:

Reply 8

emma_daton

i did sociology, communication studies, ict. I didn't choose to traditional orthodox subjects because i felt i wanted to learn something different.

sociology and communication studies were more essay based a levels so fit right in with Law.

Reply 9

Purple

Why bring up a year old thread?

Reply 10

student1102

I like to study Government and politics for year 12 to do law for my uni. How is this subject. Interesting?

Reply 11

TommehR

student1102

I like to study Government and politics for year 12 to do law for my uni. How is this subject. Interesting?

(a) Why are you bringing up a thread that is two years old (one year old if you can't somebody else bringing it back up last year)

(b) Why are you asking about the Government and Politics course in the Law forum?

Reply 12

TommehR

Surely he would get better responses by asking this in the A-level forum...

Reply 13

scarabcake

TommehR

Surely he would get better responses by asking this in the A-level forum...

possibly, but, as for my response:
Moving into college next year, I have turned my thoughts to the subjects that I would like to take for my A levels. Having spoken to my schools career adviser, I was told to take academic subjects, ones that include essay writing. when asked for further specification, I was told: english Language, Late modern History, a foreign language, and government and politics. I obviously have no experience of this yet, and so can only pass information that I have been given.

Reply 14

kimmytan92

Hi all! I've just finished my IGCSEs this year, and in January 2009, I'll be starting my A Levels then. I also intend to study Law in the future, possibly in UCL (university college london) or king's college. I'm taking Sociology, Economics, English Literature as well as Law for my A Level subjects, do you guys think those subjects are okay? ..& what are the usual grade requirements to study Law in the UK?

thanks :nah:

Reply 15

chariot9103

In a book I read for the LNAT it said that the best three subjects to do are Economics, History and English Literature, but after calling many admissions departments trying to work out if any one combination was better than another, any academic combination should be fine as long as there is an essay subject somewhere

Reply 16

ummhelp?

i dnt really kno what i'm doing on this tbh :wink:

so i'm sorry if i'm like mustlin in on sum1s question,

but i want to be a lawyer and i'm planin to do ...

maths
history
english lit
philosophy and ethics

think they're okay?

do i need a science?
or a language?

i'm so confused ;O

thanyouuu

Reply 17

Spain'93

Hi.
I recently joined this Student Room Thingy, and I was very interested in this topic. I have my final GCSE's coming up next month and I too, want to do Law in the future.

Unfortunately, my school does not have Law or Philosophy or History as an A-Level.
So I thought of taking:
ICT
Business
English
and maybe Maths..I'm not too sure about it since I don't work very well with numbers.
Any opinions? I'd love to know what I should or shouldn't take and what universities are good in the UK.
Thanks.

Reply 18

gi.

Spain'93

its fine. as long as you take traditional subjects or non-blacklisted subjects..
i heard Law is not requirement from on the forums, and usually some stronger univs discourage you to take it as well..

whats ICT? maybe you should throw in a science as well?

well i took IB.. and i took
HL English
HL Physics
HL Economics
SL Chemistry
SL Math
SL Chinese

so as you can see, mine is very non-law focused, with double science , especially with one at Higher Level.

so my advice: stick to normal/traditional subjects, and focus on getting As for them.

Reply 19

gi.

ummhelp?

i dnt really kno what i'm doing on this tbh :wink:

history and eng lit are very good options to be honest.

im not sure what Philo and Ethics require of you as an full A-level subject, cause in my country, most of the students take traditional combination of Bio-Chem-Math-Econs or Phy-Chem-Math-Econs or EngLit-Math-Chem-Econs