URGENT Are my undergraduate credentials good enough for PostGrad Law @ uOxford?

Hello,

I would like to know my chances of receiving entry into the Graduate Law Progamme for University of Oxford.

I am a student from Canada whom currently holds a 3.75 G.P.A, the equivalent to a First Class Honours Degree (calculation received from the Fulbright Commission). I am the Vice President of my university's undergraduate law society and also have experience working in Toronto's financial HQ (Bay Street) for a prestigious American mutual-fund company.

I wanted to know wether you believe I have the necessary grades/CV?

I also want to know more about the program. I am a duel-national and will be competing for a trainee solicitor contract during my degree--what are career opportunities like at Oxford Graduate Law? How difficult is the workload in the Oxford Graduate Law Program and what is life in the Oxford like?

Other universities I will be applying to for Graduate LLBs (2017):
Bristol U, Nottingham U, Exeter U, Edinburgh U, Oxford U

I appreciate all answers to my post--thank you!

Reply 1

mishieru07

Original post by Nickman22

Just to clarify, you intend to apply to the Senior Status Law BA (https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/ba-jurisprudence-senior-status), and not the Masters programmes right?

If so, you might want to check whether that's a qualifying law degree in all the jurisdictions you are considering working in. For my country, you'd need to apply for an exemption for any law degree which is less than 3 years.

I don't see why you aren't qualified - your grades sound good given you have a First Class equivalent. Oxford Law tends not to care very much about your CV, so just make sure you talk about why you want to do Law as an academic subject (eg you have read books/ cases on xxx area of law, which you find very interesting for yyyyy reasons), and practise for the LNAT.

Graduate placement tends to be pretty decent - Career Services runs lots of events, and there are ample opportunities to meet law firms. With your experience, I think you'll do ok, although it's obviously a competitive market.

The only issues I can see is that:
(i) The senior status is very intense - you have less time to get to gripes with learning law and their schedule is more compressed than the standard 3 year BA. You also don't get to choose any options. I did the three year BA and I thought it was bad enough.
(ii) Typically, for London training contracts, you apply two years in advance of your start date. The senior status is 2 years long (followed by 6 month/ 1 year LPC), ergo you have to apply during your first year. Applications open in September/ October and close the following January, so you have very little time to line all your ducks up in a row.

Are there any colleges you're particularly interested in? Harris Manchester might be a good compromise - they start a term earlier and so follow the usual 3 year BA (7 terms to finish 9 modules).

University of Oxford

Oxford

Reply 2

Nickman22

Harris Manchester is exactly the college that I am looking for--it is my absolute dream to get into Oxford and I pray that I can get in! The Trainee-Solicitor Contract is my top priority (at magic circle or American international firm) so I want to ensure that I can get all my ducks in a row! And yes its a Graduate LLB and is QLD so it qualifies.

Reply 3

El Salvador

Yes.

Harris Manchester is the poorest college though.

Reply 4

Nickman22

Why is it the poorest college? Are there a top-3 that stand out? Is it more competitive per college?

Reply 5

mishieru07

Original post by Nickman22

Why is it the poorest college? Are there a top-3 that stand out? Is it more competitive per college?

How rich or poor your college is tends to depend on historical factors. The newer colleges, like HMC, tend to be poorer compared to the older ones like Merton or Christ Church. In more practical terms, what this would likely translate to is more expensive accommodation and higher meal costs in hall, less bursaries available and so on.

Looking at the list of colleges that offer a 7 term Law senior status, the richer colleges are probably Merton and Jesus.

There isn't a "top 3" college at Oxford. Everyone has their own preferences, and most people will tell your their college is the best.

As regards how competitive colleges are on paper, it does vary between colleges and between subjects. You can play around with the statistics here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate/additional-info/college-success-rates?wssl=1

That being said, I don't recommend picking a college on the basis that it appears to be "less competitive" on paper. The reason is that Oxford has mechanisms to even out competition between colleges, mainly through pooling candidates from one college to another, and numbers say nothing about the quality of candidates. Good reasons to choose a college are factors like accommodation location and availability, access to kitchens/ en-suites, cohort size and so on.

In fact, for Law, we're an oddity in that because of the way our pooling system operates (see https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/admissions-feedback-law-and-law-law-studies-europe), you can actually get pooled from a statistically less competitive college to a more competitive one. It happened to me (pooled pre-interview from Jesus to Brasenose in the 2011 admissions cycle).

TL: DR Don't try to play the numbers game. Just apply to a college you like.

Reply 6

Nickman22

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep that in mind.
Cheers

Reply 7

BJack

Original post by Nickman22

Why is it the poorest college? Are there a top-3 that stand out? Is it more competitive per college?

I wouldn't recommend Harris Manchester as a first choice, unless the extra term is a big deal for you. The lack of money, as mishieru07 says, means the accommodation is quite expensive, there's a meal plan that seems to be compulsory, and there's limited bursary money for students. You should be able to join your college's MCR (Middle Common Room; i.e. your college's group of graduate students) wherever you end up, as you'll be over 21 when you start and already hold an undergraduate degree, so the thought of being stuck with bright-eyed 18-year-old British students needn't deter you from applying to one of the other colleges, if it ever would have done!