Mature Law student at OU

Hi all,

Hope you can help!

I’m set on applying to undertake a BA in Law using the Open university full time. I’m 31, I have 1 child, a wife and a full time job in middle management, I’ll also be using a student loan in order to facilitate the degree costs. I have 3 GCSEs and no A levels and am essentially looking for a career change/bolster my current career path.

What would I do with the degree?
Upper management and directorship positions. Solicitor/barrister- both aspects are exciting- barrister being the more exciting option

- I’m a very dedicated individual- is it realistic to expect I can do this course in my situation?
- How does the job market view OU students?
- How does the job market view No A levels and just C’s for Maths and English lit and lang at GCSE level?
- Will having no A levels affect being able to qualify to undertake the BAR? Is it possible to qualify as a barrister without them?
- How does OU degree in law differ from a traditional degree as far as the content goes?

If anyone has experiences they can share that’d be fabulous! Essentially I just want more from life and a career, I feel stuck in middle management and although I enjoy it, I want more from life and my career for my family.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks

(edited 3 months ago)

Original post by KN555

Hi all,

Hope you can help!

I’m set on applying to undertake a BA in Law using the Open university full time. I’m 31, I have 1 child, a wife and a full time job in middle management, I’ll also be using a student loan in order to facilitate the degree costs. I have 3 GCSEs and no A levels and am essentially looking for a career change/bolster my current career path.

What would I do with the degree?
Upper management and directorship positions. Solicitor/barrister- both aspects are exciting- barrister being the more exciting option

- I’m a very dedicated individual- is it realistic to expect I can do this course in my situation?
- How does the job market view OU students?
- How does the job market view No A levels and just C’s for Maths and English lit and lang at GCSE level?
- Will having no A levels affect being able to qualify to undertake the BAR? Is it possible to qualify as a barrister without them?
- How does OU degree in law differ from a traditional degree as far as the content goes?

If anyone has experiences they can share that’d be fabulous! Essentially I just want more from life and a career, I feel stuck in middle management and although I enjoy it, I want more from life and my career for my family.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks

Hi @KN555,

Firstly, congratulations on making this decision, it certainly cannot be an easy one but I am sure you will enjoy it!

So I am currently a bar course student and, although, I did not obtain a degree from OU or have secured pupillage yet, I do have quite a lot of knowledge about the process of coming to the bar so, hopefully, I can help in some way 🙂

Having done an undergrad degree, I believe that as long as you are dedicated to your work then you will be more than capable of completing it. I know lots of mature students who had other commitments such as children etc. whilst undertaking their degree and although that did cause them a heavier workload than a younger student with fewer responsibilities, they were more than able to graduate with good grades!

I know from applying to pupillages that most chambers redact the information of where you went to university so all they care about is the degree grade you have rather than where you got it from. Also, I know that more and more chambers are going this way so I really don't think it will matter where you do your degree.

Having no A Levels may be a potential barrier, however, it is by no means a barrier which cannot be passed. No chambers care about GCSEs so that shouldn't hold you back and, in terms of doing the bar course, some institutions do require you to have passed English and Maths but you have so that should be fine. When it comes to a lack of A Levels, lots of chambers do not even ask for A Level grades when applying so this should be fine at this stage. Also, those that do, will accept mitigating circumstances and simply having now had a career and done a lot more (compared to a student aged 21 for example) they won't give much weight to A Levels but more to what you have demonstrated in more recent life - same goes for bar course providers. So put simply, yes it is very much possible to qualify as a barrister without them 🙂

I am afraid that as I have not done a OU degree I cannot help you with your last question. What I would suggest is checking whether the BA Law is a qualifying law degree as this is what you need to do the bar course. Normally, qualifying law degrees are LLBs. However, even if it is not, this won't be the end of the world as you can do a conversion course which will count as a qualifying law degree (you can also do this online with unis such as ULaw).

I hope this helps and good luck!

Sophie

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Hi I'm 44 and start my open uni llb on 2nd of Feb. I'd say go for it 👍yes I have a background working in prisons but I've done zero study since school and even then I didn't take any Gcses so left with non. My course is 6 years part time as I also work for the courts in admin Mon to Fri. If your prepared to put the work in then go for it. I couldn't of done this 20 yrs ago I had small children and I probably wasn't committed enough back then.... Remember we only really regret what we didn't do not really what we did 🤗

Mature Law student at OU

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