Third Class Degree?

So I'm having a bit of a rubbish moment trying to work out my next move in terms of a legal career. Last year I graduated from Aberystwyth University with a Third Class LLB Law with Honours degree.

Of course I'm deeply ashamed by this and I don't even list the grade on my CV. The main crux is that I was seriously ill during almost the entire portion of my second year but naively I continued to study and tanked my first semester exam. Sadly I couldn't qualify for special circumstances until the illness was properly diagnosed, something that wasn't done until the second semester and as such I only qualified for full resits on those exams; which I did OK in but not enough to mitigate the horrid first semester marks. I graduated with a final score of 48.6 - 0.9% away from the 49.5 that would have got me a 2:2.

I was lucky enough to be accepted onto a masters at Cardiff University this September but having asked a number of people in the legal profession, the general consensus is that I shouldn't waste moneys on a masters because it won't mitigate the Third Class degree and there is apparently very little chance of me securing any meaningful employment in the legal profession with a third.

So just wanted to see if that was the case really; reading online also confirms the advice I've had but I've always wanted to work in the legal sector; I have decent work experience crudentials and a well rounded CV but this Third has really blown me out of the water.

Any suggestions? (other than a form of suicide obviously)

So I'm having a bit of a rubbish moment trying to work out my next move in terms of a legal career. Last year I graduated from Aberystwyth University with a Third Class LLB Law with Honours degree.

Of course I'm deeply ashamed by this and I don't even list the grade on my CV. The main crux is that I was seriously ill during almost the entire portion of my second year but naively I continued to study and tanked my first semester exam. Sadly I couldn't qualify for special circumstances until the illness was properly diagnosed, something that wasn't done until the second semester and as such I only qualified for full resits on those exams; which I did OK in but not enough to mitigate the horrid first semester marks. I graduated with a final score of 48.6 - 0.9% away from the 49.5 that would have got me a 2:2.

I was lucky enough to be accepted onto a masters at Cardiff University this September but having asked a number of people in the legal profession, the general consensus is that I shouldn't waste moneys on a masters because it won't mitigate the Third Class degree and there is apparently very little chance of me securing any meaningful employment in the legal profession with a third.

So just wanted to see if that was the case really; reading online also confirms the advice I've had but I've always wanted to work in the legal sector; I have decent work experience crudentials and a well rounded CV but this Third has really blown me out of the water.

Any suggestions? (other than a form of suicide obviously)

So I'm having a bit of a rubbish moment trying to work out my next move in terms of a legal career. Last year I graduated from Aberystwyth University with a Third Class LLB Law with Honours degree.

Of course I'm deeply ashamed by this and I don't even list the grade on my CV. The main crux is that I was seriously ill during almost the entire portion of my second year but naively I continued to study and tanked my first semester exam. Sadly I couldn't qualify for special circumstances until the illness was properly diagnosed, something that wasn't done until the second semester and as such I only qualified for full resits on those exams; which I did OK in but not enough to mitigate the horrid first semester marks. I graduated with a final score of 48.6 - 0.9% away from the 49.5 that would have got me a 2:2.

I was lucky enough to be accepted onto a masters at Cardiff University this September but having asked a number of people in the legal profession, the general consensus is that I shouldn't waste moneys on a masters because it won't mitigate the Third Class degree and there is apparently very little chance of me securing any meaningful employment in the legal profession with a third.

So just wanted to see if that was the case really; reading online also confirms the advice I've had but I've always wanted to work in the legal sector; I have decent work experience crudentials and a well rounded CV but this Third has really blown me out of the water.

Any suggestions? (other than a form of suicide obviously)

I've always wanted to work in the legal sector; I have decent work experience crudentials and a well rounded CV
Any suggestions?

My advice would be to try and get your foot in the door at a law firm as a Legal Secretary or Paralegal for a few years. Work your ass off and shine and you may be offered a training contract with the firm in the future despite your degree results. Probably best to choose a small, regional firm as Paralegals seem to come and go in the top firms and they probably could never look past your academics.

This is personally what I would do in that situation.

Your third is, I think, pretty much terminal to your chances of securing a TC.

You provide an explanation for your difficulties in your second year, but say nothing of your first and third year results which, I assume, would have played a major part in your overall degree classification. Did you have medical issues in those years also?

There is an opportunity here for you to be brutally honest with yourself. Do you think your illness truly prevented you from reaching your real potential, or did you struggle with the rigours of the subject? There is no shame in acknowledging the latter. That said, if you think your chances of success were totally derailed, throughout your course, by your illness (from which I assume you have now recovered) then look to find a route by which you can still pursue the law.

I think a masters is pointless. It does little to improve the chances of 2:1 candidates, let alone those with thirds.

From your choice of institutions, I am guessing you are Welsh? You might want to consider maintaining your ties with the area, and look at other careers for the time being. Demonstrate your ability elsewhere, then look to do LPC part time etc, with a view to entering the profession (locally) at a later date when you can show that your academic shortcomings were clearly an anomaly.


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Not sure you'd get on an LPC with a 3rd. Even CoL claim you need a 2:2 minimum.


Posted from TSR Mobile

That is new. Certainly until a year or two ago, CoL stuck with the traditional idea that a pass degree was all you needed.

I think their entry standards say a minimum of a second class honours, obviously they have complete discretion and will probably let you in with a third if you spell your name correctly.