[insignificant]

Long story short, through no fault of my own, my Law degree is non qualifying. The only way I can make it qualifying is if I do the GDL and get exemptions for the modules I have. This will cost me around £3k.

What I'm wondering is, is it worth it? Just how many people are going on to the legal profession from doing LLB Law? How many people are getting training contracts and doing their LPC? Is it worth going to all the effort and the money when I don't have a good shot?

I was going to use my savings that I have to go travelling but now I have to decide whether to go have the time of my life, or use it to do a ****ing couple of modules that isn't even my fault that I haven't done them and then possibly not even have a chance?

[Sean9001]

If you genuinely want a career in law, I wouldn't sacrifice a chance at it because £3000 and the inconvenience of the GDL stood in my way. I completely understand that it would be soul destroying to have to throw away your savings because of someone else's negligence. But you may just have to bite the bullet.

[Bambilicious]

(Original post by insignificant)
What I'm wondering is, is it worth it? Just how many people are going on to the legal profession from doing LLB Law? How many people are getting training contracts and doing their LPC? Is it worth going to all the effort and the money when I don't have a good shot?

I'm not sure of the exact statistics at the moment, but I gather there are approximately 3 times as many people graduating from the LPC than there are training contracts available each year; so it's an extremely competitive market.

Whether the GDL is worth it really depends on how much you want to be a solicitor and how good your cv is.

[jacketpotato]

What happened?

And would (presumably) a single GDL module really cost £3k?

[insignificant]

(Original post by jacketpotato)
What happened?

And would (presumably) a single GDL module really cost £3k?

Its not one module, its 2, potentially three at £1065 a module.

Basically, I transferred universities repeating my second year at the new university. I gave them my transcripts my results, they spoke to my old university, everything and accepted me via UCAS. Couple of weeks before I started they realised that the modules do not match up between the universities, and so they told me by offering me these compulsory modules extra alongside my degree, that I would have a good chance of my degree being qualifying. So I carried on with second year, and doing these extra modules but it came too much for me to handle during the summer time exams so I deferred the extra modules to the summertime resit period. I got talking to someone also doing law and they told me that I probably infact don't have a good chance at all, and to contact the SRA so I did and they told me because the modules won't be part of my degree they don't count and so I wont have a qualifying degree. So I emailed uni and told them and they've taken me off of the modules. So now I don't have a qualifying law degree.

[jacketpotato]

(Original post by insignificant)
Its not one module, its 2, potentially three at £1065 a module.

Basically, I transferred universities repeating my second year at the new university. I gave them my transcripts my results, they spoke to my old university, everything and accepted me via UCAS. Couple of weeks before I started they realised that the modules do not match up between the universities, and so they told me by offering me these compulsory modules extra alongside my degree, that I would have a good chance of my degree being qualifying. So I carried on with second year, and doing these extra modules but it came too much for me to handle during the summer time exams so I deferred the extra modules to the summertime resit period. I got talking to someone also doing law and they told me that I probably infact don't have a good chance at all, and to contact the SRA so I did and they told me because the modules won't be part of my degree they don't count and so I wont have a qualifying degree. So I emailed uni and told them and they've taken me off of the modules. So now I don't have a qualifying law degree.

Unfortunate. Is there no way you could do the necessary subjects next year?

My uni offered a two-year degree for people who did their first year in another subject or were doing law as a graduate degree, and people on the two-year degree did some subjects (criminal law and torts) in their final year that regular students did in their first year. Is there no way that your uni could let you change your final year subject to make the degree qualifying?

If you want to become a lawyer - the issues around getting a TC are another issue entirely - then spending 2/3k to do part of the GDL is not the end of the world. Remember to keep a sense of perspective. You are still in a better (cheaper) position than people who have to do the full GDL. You are in the same position as Northern Ireland and Scottish law students who have to do part of the GDL to qualify in England and Wales. It would be possible to do 2/3 GDL modules and work part-time during that year, the part-time work could boost your CV especially if it is law-related.

Personally I would focus on deciding whether you actually want to become a solicitor. You need to research the career path properly and make an informed decision, if you do want to be a solicitor then one year of part-time work and part-time GDL is not the end of the world.

[jjarvis]

(Original post by jacketpotato)
My uni offered a two-year degree for people who did their first year in another subject or were doing law as a graduate degree, and people on the two-year degree did some subjects (criminal law and torts) in their final year that regular students did in their first year. Is there no way that your uni could let you change your final year subject to make the degree qualifying?

Small/pedantic point, but just to prevent confusion in the future--the affiliated/transfer course features criminal law in part II (final year). First year (IB) is tort, contract, land, constitutional, and one other optional paper (usually international, occasionally civil, very rarely something else).