University of Nottingham

Nottingham

Is this a true representation of Law at Notts?

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Reply 1

LeedsStude1

Yes it is accurate, bu I wouldn't bother looking around anywhere else and it will be the same story.

The fact is that Uni is very different from School and it takes the majority of people a year to cope with it. Universities understand this - that's why at most Unis your first year doesn't count towards your final degree result.

You will find that though most people get pretty average marks in their first year through a combination of going out too much and not working as well as finding it difficult to adjust, by the second and third year people understand how to get good marks and their grades improve dramatically.

Seriously, don't worry about it.

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Reply 2

jkyng1

Yeah I'm actually worried as well..does a 2:1 mean 60%?

Reply 3

RachelBabyfrog

Actually law is done on points I think, so it doesn't correspond exactly to sixty percent (I think I'm right on that). But it's more or less.

I know a lot of lawyers and they all got 2.1s this year... and I think in terms of support it's generally the case across the university that if you want help, it's there if you go and get it.

Reply 4

LeedsStude1

Generally (for every Uni) to get a 2.1 in law you need an average of 60%. Though it is possible to get a 2.1 with an average lower than that in some cases (e.g. if you are borderline and have more 2.1's than 2.2s).

I don't mean to be rude but if you go to a top University (and Nottingham is a top University) and you do not GRADUATE (I am not talking about first year results) with at least a 2.1 then you're not good enough for a career in law because you're not clever/hardworking enough*.

Can I ask where you got your figures for good honours for Nottingham law (a reference with some authority rather than a TSR poster please)? I looked on The Times and that says 75.7% of Notts students get 2.1+!

*unless you have strong mitigations.

Reply 5

Brotherhood

Sounds like a bit of sour grapes to me.

Reply 6

sleekchic

so does this mean its not the case with nottingham as I am really considering applying for Law

Reply 7

Brotherhood

All the Law students I know got 2:1s this year.

Reply 8

LeedsStude1

Brotherhood

Sounds like a bit of sour grapes to me.

haha!! Can I ask how I sound like I have sour grapes? Nottingham is a great university, i don't go there but it is similar to all the other redbricks in having a fantastic reputation for law. I'm not sour at all, I just think most graduate employers ask for a 2.1+ for a reason and if you can't manage that (especially given the strong academics you need for law at nottingham)_ you should consider other careers.

Reply 9

Brotherhood

LeedsStude1

Not from you, fron the Notts Law student quoted in the opening post! He's obviously a bit miffed about getting a Desmond and blames the uni.

Reply 10

prospectivEEconomist

Definitely apply to Nottingham irrespective of the statistics - you will most likely be earning big bucks afterwards. If you get a better offer then go elsewhere. :smile:

Reply 11

Barny

Notts law is tough, one of the toughest courses at Notts - the exams are marked harshly, which is why only 50% get a 2:1 or above. Sounds like the person in question has difficulty understanding the concept of independant study and has found it hard to cope with the transition from a spoon-fed public school to the real world. My heart bleeds...

Reply 12

prospectivEEconomist

Barny

Hey Barny...is the investment society at Notts basically the 'Finance' one?

Reply 13

LeedsStude1

Barny

In my experience, what this poster says is spot on but you will find that at all of the top Universities' law courses. Law is tough at Uni level - most top Unis will give out between 5 - 10 first class degrees per 250 pupils!!! In other courses you would expect double or triple that amount. But law firms only ask for a 2.1 degree and if you go to Nottingham and get a 2.1+ you can get into the very top firms.

I would only consider rejecting Nottingham if you have an offer from: Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, Durham, UCL or LSE personally,

Reply 14

Lewisy-boy

LeedsStude1 you're wrong: unis like Cambridge, LSE etc the figure regularly hits 10% of firsts.

A 2:1 is quite difficult to get, but last year (when I graduated) plenty of people got them (over 50% - I think it was quite a good year overall). There were 7 firsts, of which 4 came from people on 4 year courses, so with only 3 people going straight through it is tough.

Just to clarify, overall degree awarding works something like this:

If you get half your marks in one class of grades and the other half in the class above, you will be awarded the higher class.

As mentioned above, the points reflect this, but allow you to have much more complex combinations. It's not soething you need to know about until after you get here though.

Reply 15

LeedsStude1

Lewisy-boy

LeedsStude1 you're wrong: unis like Cambridge, LSE etc the figure regularly hits 10% of firsts.

Before you say someone is wrong you should read their post carefully. I made a very general comment which you try to refute through specific examples - of course there are going to be some top Unis that don't concur with what I wrote!!!

The very top universities (Oxbridge) are known for giving out a lot of first class degrees (even double and starred firsts!). Similarly new Universities have a reputation for giving out a lot of firsts. In the middle their is a whole spectrum of good Unis like Nottingham where what i said holds true.

Reply 16

Barny

prospectivEEconomist

Hey Barny...is the investment society at Notts basically the 'Finance' one?

The investment society at Notts is a society where you meet up once every two weeks and discuss the financial times/the latest price of oil. A complete waste of time if you ask me. I stopped going after the first term when I realised it was a crock of ****. Whether or not that's the finance society - I don't know.

Reply 17

prospectivEEconomist

oh right..sounds like a piece of ****. Why don't you think anyone has bothered to create a proper 'Finance' Society likes the ones found at other universities?

Reply 18

Barny

Too similar to all the other societies? There's business soc, investment soc, and entrepreneurship soc, between all that you've definitely got something that constitutes "finance".

Reply 19

Lewisy-boy

You referred to most "top unis" for law (oxford, cambridge, lse, ucl, kcl, bristol, durham, nottingham, warwick - i doubt many would argue with that list) and it's fair to say that of them Nottingham dishes out the fewest firsts. I didn't mean only those two, note the "etc", just couldn't be bothered to dish them out.

Most of the law students I know did get 2.1s (and I just graduated in law in the summer), but there were a fair proportion of people who missed out and I would have said were very smart people who worked hard. One of the guys I know who did get a 2.2 now has a training contract in a good firm in London, however, so it is by no means fatal to your career aspirations, although it will make it a lot tougher.

Ultimately, the course is tough, but I knew nothing about any of these figures before I came and I think that publishing them just scares people. Scares people and encourages unis to be softer, because surely applicants would (logically) rather go somewhere where their chance of getting a higher grade is higher?