Can I succeed in law/TCs with a mixed academic record?

Hi - I'm studying Classics at Bristol and am now considering a legal career. Am I wasting my time in applying to any decent sized firms? Realistically I can only apply to firms which could help me fund the GDL & LPC. Which (if any) firms would you apply to with my credentials? My first & second year uni grades are very weak.

Quite frankly, my grades from first year were shocking: one 2.1, three high 2.2s, and a third = 58

Second year, mildly better: two high 2.1s, one low 2.1, three average 2.2s = 60.
I lost 5 marks in two modules for late submissions. Third year is worth 60% of my degree.

Concerning the rest of my education, I have A*AA at A level; 7a*s 3as GCSE

Extra curricular: leadership experience in social enterprise, ran my own business

Work experience: 1 week at mid sized law firm, and I've worked summer jobs since I was 15.

I welcome all your opinions and constructive criticism... Fire away... x

Reply 1

LawLad13

4

Original post by alittlebitlost

Hi - I'm studying Classics at Bristol and am now considering a legal career. Am I wasting my time in applying to any decent sized firms? Realistically I can only apply to firms which could help me fund the GDL & LPC. Which (if any) firms would you apply to with my credentials? My first & second year uni grades are very weak.

Quite frankly, my grades from first year were shocking: one 2.1, three high 2.2s, and a third = 58

Second year, mildly better: two high 2.1s, one low 2.1, three average 2.2s = 60.
I lost 5 marks in two modules for late submissions. Third year is worth 60% of my degree.

Concerning the rest of my education, I have A*AA at A level; 7a*s 3as GCSE

Extra curricular: leadership experience in social enterprise, ran my own business

Work experience: 1 week at mid sized law firm, and I've worked summer jobs since I was 15.

I welcome all your opinions and constructive criticism... Fire away... x

Can you succeed with your academic record etc.? Absolutely - plenty of people have secured TCs with similar and worse grades than yours. Will you succeed with your academic record etc.? This is much harder to answer (if not impossible) - no one is guaranteed a TC, nor is there a defined recipe for success.

When you apply to a law firm, your application is viewed holistically. We don't know the exact weighting each component receives, but there are plenty of candidates out there that are 'lacking' in one component or several (whether it's grades, relevant work experience etc.). In your case, the most glaring 'deficiency' is your university grades.

I think it's a complete misnomer to call your university grades 'very weak' and 'shocking'. Just looking at your first and second-year averages alone, they are pretty standard and I am willing to bet they fall in the middle/slightly below the middle of all the averages of your cohort. However, and as I'm sure you're aware, there will be numerous candidates out there from all different disciplines that will have better grades than you.

I think it's easy to get hung up on one component of your application and view it in an overly negative fashion. Your university grades aren't great but they're far from drastic either. Firms have a 2.1 minimum requirement, so as long as you're meeting that, then by definition you're giving yourself a chance.

If you view your university grades in light of the rest of your application, they don't look too bad at all. You have stellar A-levels and GCSEs, relevant work experience and interesting extra-curricular activities.

My advice would be to do one of two things:
Option 1:
Apply, but be realistic in your expectations. Absolutely go ahead and apply for the 'best' firms out there, but understand that there are many candidates out there that don't have any glaringly obvious deficiencies in their applications. Really think about the type of firm you want to work for, but also how you present yourself to them. I've met far, far too many self-delusional students out there that have, at best, above-average to good applications, and then find it absolutely incomprehensible that X LPP declined their applications. Go into this process with your eyes open and you will learn from any rejections along the way. I would try and apply to a good mixture of firms to increase your chances of success.

Option 2:
Writing applications and immersing yourself in this process is time consuming and draining; both mentally and physically. We're not superhuman and it's absolutely okay for someone to turn around and say that they can't exert the level of effort and commitment needed to not only tackle the hardest year of their degree, but also write stellar applications and prepare diligently for interviews. If you think that your time would be better spent absolutely nailing your last year and coming out with the highest grades you can, then do that. I've always thought that the worst possible situation is to spend a gargantuan amount of time on applying, at the expense of one's grades, wind up with no offers and actually be (on paper) a 'worse' candidate at the end of their degree than at the start of their third year.

Reply 2

ragandbone

1

I agree with all above -

Just concentrate on getting your 2.1 - that is the thing - if you don't get it, then you will be in bother for a law career - obviously, as I am sure you must know, the rest of your grades are very good. I don't think having 13 x As counts as having a 'mixed academic record' - don't say that, it makes you sound really sheltered!! OK that is not my business - but yeah that's not 'mixed'!! Lots of people out there do have mixed grades and get on.

You're going to look pretty much like everyone else on paper apart from the own business thing. You can leverage that in apps though.

So just get the best grades you can from now on in - the thing that will hold you back is the 2.2 - don't get one.

Original post by alittlebitlost

Hi - I'm studying Classics at Bristol and am now considering a legal career. Am I wasting my time in applying to any decent sized firms? Realistically I can only apply to firms which could help me fund the GDL & LPC. Which (if any) firms would you apply to with my credentials? My first & second year uni grades are very weak.

Quite frankly, my grades from first year were shocking: one 2.1, three high 2.2s, and a third = 58

Second year, mildly better: two high 2.1s, one low 2.1, three average 2.2s = 60.
I lost 5 marks in two modules for late submissions. Third year is worth 60% of my degree.

Concerning the rest of my education, I have A*AA at A level; 7a*s 3as GCSE

Extra curricular: leadership experience in social enterprise, ran my own business

Work experience: 1 week at mid sized law firm, and I've worked summer jobs since I was 15.

I welcome all your opinions and constructive criticism... Fire away... x

Reply 3

indigoscarecrow

I agree with the above. You definitely can succeed and overall your academic record is good.

I did poorly in both my GCSEs and A-Levels, but well at uni and did quite a bit of extra curricular stuff and secured a TC at a magic circle firm this summer.

It can be done but for now focus on the 2:1 overall.

Reply 4

working_machine

I am not sure if you have started applying for training contracts but you would find that academics are more important to bigger firms as these are one of the criteria when it comes to screening candidates.

Smaller firms are actually the better shouts but they rarely fund your LPC.

If only academics are the only and most important requirement then things would have been a lot easier for you. Once you have been to interviews, you would find that the most important thing is that whether the interviewers like you or not. Previous experience and extra curricular activities are pretty much just talking points during the interviews (I'm talking about getting a job on an entry-level).

If you answer competency questions well, carry yourself well in a professional manner and show good level of confidence, then the interviewers would see you as a potential colleague they can work with. After all, nobody would constantly remember how much you have achieved back in uni if you are someone difficult to work with.

Reply 5

ragandbone

1

You rock!!!

:biggrin:

QUOTE=indigoscarecrow;51437729]I agree with the above. You definitely can succeed and overall your academic record is good.

I did poorly in both my GCSEs and A-Levels, but well at uni and did quite a bit of extra curricular stuff and secured a TC at a magic circle firm this summer.

It can be done but for now focus on the 2:1 overall.

Reply 6

username1177050

20

Original post by indigoscarecrow

I agree with the above. You definitely can succeed and overall your academic record is good.

I did poorly in both my GCSEs and A-Levels, but well at uni and did quite a bit of extra curricular stuff and secured a TC at a magic circle firm this summer.

It can be done but for now focus on the 2:1 overall.

Congratulations! If you don't mind me asking, what a levels did you get?

Reply 7

indigoscarecrow

Original post by neal95

Congratulations! If you don't mind me asking, what a levels did you get?

BBC

Appreciate they aren't the worst grades possible, but when you're looking at a top-decent City firm, they're asking for AAB in most cases.

Reply 8

username1177050

20

Original post by indigoscarecrow

BBC

Appreciate they aren't the worst grades possible, but when you're looking at a top-decent City firm, they're asking for AAB in most cases.

Congrats, I actually have BCC so this has given me some hope. It shows that academics aren't the be all and tht if you can impress in interviews, compensate in other areas on your application and above all earn the firm money, you have just as much a chance of getting an offer as someone with better grades. I am actually resitting my a levels ATM mainly In order to get to a better uni but also to get past the a level filters for law firms, do you know if most of them want the AAB/ABB on first sitting?

Can I succeed in law/TCs with a mixed academic record?

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