Law at Oxbridge vs other 'top' unis

Seriously? Think about your question for a moment. You can't possibly get a definitive answer, and even if you did it would be meaningless. Are you going to base any decisions on something like 'at Durham I can study for 6 hours but Oxford needs 8'? There are so many variables (natural ability, reading speed, clubs and society memberships, social life etc). Generally speaking (big disclaimer) the workload for a particular course will be similar at similarly-ranked institutions.

I know I can't get a definitive answer - I wasn't looking for one, rather, a rough guide. You answered my question in your last sentence - I was wondering if Oxford law degrees are harder and require more work than a law degree at another university, and you appear to think not. Thank you. Everything else I either knew or came across as unnecessarily passive-aggressive

It's difficult making comparisons between universities when most people only experience studying an undergraduate degree at only one institution. People at "other top unis" no doubt believe they work very hard, so it's hard to imagine or even admit that there could be places where people work even harder. So, I'd be wary of anyone making any comparative claims.

What I think will help you is if I tell you what kind of workload you can expect and hopefully that'll be beneficial. I'm not a Lawyer but am at Oxbridge and have Lawyer friends so I can give you a cursory insight. The workload at Oxbridge is a function of two things, the short terms and the supervision/tutorial system. Shorter terms mean even if the material is identical to that of other "top unis" (and it's quite possible it isn't), you have less time to digest things during term time. The supervision system also means you can't coast through term at your own pace, you''re forced to write essays and prepare for supervisions. Going over lecture material and just keeping your head above the water isn't enough, you have to also allocate time to completing supervisions. That said, there's often a big overlap between the two. You can expect 2-3 supervisions a week for which you have to write an essay for each. I'm not too sure of the length of the essays but 1.5k-2k would be my educated guess.

I hope the above helps.

As mentioned I can't comment authoritatively on what you can expect at other universities, but if I were to speculate, I would say the best students would probably work as much as anyone at Cambridge. The difference is, they won't be forced to do so and will have more control over their workload.

I am hoping to study Law at Oxford next year, although the workload seems fairly intimidating. I understand that I will probably have to average at around 8 hours of work per day (possibly more), however to put this into context, I would like to know the average hours which a law student at other 'top' universities work per day.

So I guess my question is: What hours would a law student at KCL, UCL, LSE or Durham work per day on average, if they are aiming for a 1st or 2.1?

Wow this is also really useful thank you so much - I feel a lot more optimistic now. Must also thank you Jenkinsear for your advice when I was applying to Oxford earlier this year (changed my name from robhughes to anonlad after friends found my TSR account - tad embarrassing), I genuinely think your words played a role in me having a successful interview

If you don't mind me asking, what did you get at GCSE as im just trying to get a feeling for how many A* are needed or is a good number for law at Oxford


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I got 10 but I think that is above the average. There isn't a minimum number of A*s required and somebody with a low number of A*s (e.g. 2) with a good LNAT score (the law exam you will have to sit as part of the Oxford application process) will more likely get an interview over somebody with straight A*s at GCSE with a below average LNAT score.

I think the average successful applicant has between 5-7A*, so that would be good to aim for