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Cambridge Law Students and Applicants

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There are no official GCSE requirements, but some colleges do seem to have "unofficial" GCSE screening policies. Churchill are particularly fussy about GCSEs - read the Law section on their site for more info.

There are no extra curricular activities that will improve your application; you are assessed solely on academic achievement and potential. Keep up with general/legal current affairs and maybe read some introductory legal texts.

Good luck!

Reply 981

gethsemane342

Work experience may help you - they like it if you've done some form of legal work experience (just go sit in a court for a week or something)

Reply 982

Doughnuts!!

I was inspired by the thread made for Cambridge Applicants 2011. but decided that all potential Cambridge lawyers should have their own thread :biggrin:

I was going to make this some time ago, but didn't want to get flamed for being over eager!

Ironically, I'm the guy that decided to make this group, but I'm likely to get rejected!

Anyway, this thread is for us to share ideas, chat, talk about colleges and any Law related fun!

Reply 983

248677

I'll be around if anyone wants to know anything...
:bigsmile:

Best of luck!

Reply 984

jjarvis

Man, this year's crop IS keen! Good luck to everyone!

Reply 985

Doughnuts!!

jjarvis

Man, this year's crop IS keen! Good luck to everyone!

Apparently, last year you guys made your thread in early April! :eek:

Besides, nobody seems to have stumbled upon this thread yet, though I do know of a few 2011 Cam lawyers on TSR :frown:

Reply 986

Silvertongue

Haha omgosh this thread has started super early! It's always good to see a separate law thread though, there are so many things specific to a law application at Cambridge. And no I started the Cambridge thread in October, shortly after the deadline I think? So rather behind on your guys! Our lot of applicants seemed to do really well though :smile:

Best of luck guys!

Reply 987

The1truebelieber

becbec :)

I'll be around if anyone wants to know anything...
:bigsmile:

Best of luck!

As will I.

Note I am older thus wiser thus totally the guy you ask questions.

Reply 988

crowsy

definite possibility, very tempted to reapply depending on my grades

Reply 989

username218989

HDS

As will I.

Note I am older thus ~~wiser~~ less knowledgeable thus totally the guy you ask questions.

Fixxed

I have nothing to do with this thread....bye :p:

Reply 990

248677

icecreamaddict

Any personal statement / college choice advice?

Well personal statement is kinda determined by subject... what are you thinking of applying for?
As for college choice, don't try and base it on statistics. Particularly with the pooling system in place, you're no more likely to get into one college than any other. And don't stress over college choice too much. You're likely to get the same treatment academically whichever college you attend. The societies available within each college are often open to members of other colleges and there are, of course, lots of university wide societies. Wherever you end up, you'll love it, and will instinctively think that you're college is the best. Saying that, there are la few factors to help you narrow down your choices:
1. Decide if you're after a college in a particular location - do you want to be really near where your lectures are? In the middle of the town? Or do you not mind being just outside?
2. Do you want a large or a smaller college? The number of undergraduates each college takes is listed in the prospectus I think
3. Do you want an older or a newer college? What kind of accommodation is important to you? Do you need to have an en-suite bedroom? Or are you happy to share?
4. Where applicable, do you want to go to an all girls college?
Other than that, you've just got to go and look around to see what you like. You'll just get a feeling of whether you liked the college or not :yep:

EDIT: Just realised asking what subject was very silly... I thought this was the general Cambridge Applicants, not the law one :facepalm:

Yeh as jjarvis says, submitting it to the personal statement advisers here can be very useful, as well as reading through the examples. Try not to focus on why you want to do law as a career (if you do) because studying law is very different form working in it. Try to express what interests you about the subject and how you've explored that interest at this stage. Also why you think you'd be suited to a course in law. Make it as convincing and as personal as you can, without being cheesey :yep:

Reply 991

jjarvis

icecreamaddict

Any personal statement / college choice advice?

Submit your PS here to the PS help forum. I found it quite helpful!

Reply 992

FlobberDobber

Okay so i'm going to apply to St Catharine's to do law. I have 11A*s at GCSE and am doing 6 AS levels in Maths, English Lit, History, Biology, Philosophy&Ethics and Critical Thinking. (hopefully getting to 90 or above UMS in results)

I play several instruments (with qualifications), do sports, am a volunteer for teaching years 7's maths and underage sales etc, and have work experience of private and public law as well as visiting law courts.

Is there anything else i need to do, or anything that would help?
Any adivce for personal statements, interviews or ANYTHING would be amazing, as i really really REALLY want to get accepted :L

Thanks :smile:

Reply 993

FlobberDobber

oh, and i have been on the cambridge sixth form law conference and have read (and am going to read) lots of books related to law :smile:

Reply 994

jammy21

I got an offer from Trinity. It seems that you have most things sorted.

Your non-law extra-curricular activities will be irrelevant to your application.

Make sure you do that reading. Try to find one or two areas of law/legal issues that interest you (as long as they not to technical) and read into them as well as reading generally. If you want good reading material sources, just ask.

Make sure that at least 75% of your PS is related to law. The rest should be a brief paragraph. Make sure it demonstates a substantive interest in law.

As for interviews, there are several important things to note

i You're obviously highly qualified. Try to forget this fact. Behave as if you're starting from afresh. Don't think that you're somehow entitled to/likely to get a place.

ii Be as calm and relaxed as you possibly can

iii Do not be passive. Obviously you will have to answer a number of questions, but nothing stops you from raising issues of your own, putting forward ideas and asking questions.

iv Be prepared for some tough questions. Your interviewers will probably be very nice people (mine were), but they want to work out how intelligent you are, so they will take you outside of your comfort zone and examine in minute detail anything you say.

v Be prepared to defend your statements (I was challenged quite aggresively on things I said which I later found out were exactly right), but also be receptive to suggestions/different perespectives. Don't be afraid of contradicting yourself or admitting that you were wrong about something (I did and I got in). They want to know how you arrive at a conclusion not the conclusion itself.

vi Find out the format of your interview e.g. whether it involves preparatory study

vii Be intersting and interested. And try to be yourself.

Oh yeah, before the interview do something relaxing. Bring a magazine/an iPod. Don't feel you have to talk to other applicants - they are irrelevant to what you are there to do. And 3 days before the interview, stop preparing intensively for it. You'll induce a mental breakdown. Flick over some things, but just start calming down.

Reply 995

gethsemane342

They may ask you about topics in the subjects you studied (as you will have stated in your SAQ) or things which have been in the news so make sure you know both.

In your personal statement, make EVERYTHING relevant to law. OK, it's nice that you can teach kids maths and play instruments. How will that help you be a good law student? Answer that question in your Personal Statement. In my interview, the interviewers clearly didn't care much about that stuff - but they did ask me about the Model UN i did because it's linked to politics.

Do NOT say you are 'going to read law books' because they may ask you about them and if you haven't read them, you're doomed. If you've read law books, great. If you haven't, don't worry too much.

You are not expected to have any prior knowledge of law so don't worry too much.

Reply 996

Nonnie Jones

Hi,
I'm just about to start college and would like to then go on to study law at Cambridge, however I'm having a bit of trouble trying to work out which is best in order to increase my potential of getting an opportunity to get in, should I stick with doing law, business studies, Spanish and English lit/lang, or should I ditch law and business studies for history and geography?
all thoughts and ideas welcome I really appreciate the help. Thanks.