KCL Law

I do law at KCL. teaching is excellent here, and is comparable to UCL or LSE.
however, if you are a UK student, I would personally advise you don't apply to KCL. apply to LSE instead or somewhere else. reason being, is that the LNAT cut-off score for home students is 30. if you get below 30, they reject you, and this has been true for the current and last UCAS cycle. 30 is incredibly high, and very difficult to get, the average for every cohort that sits the LNAT being between 21-23 in the past few years. I'm a home student and was lucky enough to get over 30 and got into KCL. the cut-off score for internationals was lower, at 27. the reason for this favouring internationals is because universities want money.
admittedly UCL and LSE are just as hard to get into in general for law, but they don't have a strict and incredibly harsh cut-off score of 30 for home students, meaning it is probably harder to get into KCL than UCL or LSE for home students.
the LNAT btw is a test you'll have to sit for certain universities if you wish to study law. an aptitude test, not one based on knowledge. costs £70 to sit.
maybe you'll do really good and get over 30 though! who knows

I would have loved to apply for LSE but unfortunately I don’t meet their GCSE entry requirements and that would be grounds for automatic rejection. With UCL I would only meet there contextual GCSE requirements and I have to wait for the summer to see if they are the same as last year of have changed, but I currently do not meet their standard requirements. I know that the cutoff score for KCL is incredibly high and I planned to study intensely for the LNAT over the summer using some resources that other students who scored well in the LNAT have recommended. Do you have any personal recommendations for things I should do to prepare myself? If I do apply to an LNAT university the only one I could really see myself going to right now is KCL. It’s really reassuring to know that you’re enjoying your time there in the law school!

I bought and used 'the ultimate lnat collection 2022 edition' and practised for a couple of months before my test. it has hundreds of questions, as well as essay questions which makes up section B of the test. I did several questions a day and also did a full test under exam conditions like every two weeks when I was practising.
kcl only looks at your section a multiple choice question score. ucl considers both section a and b, but weighs far more on the section b essay.
other people have used arbitio which is online and have said it's helpful, though it's pretty expensive.

Unless you’re confident you’ll get over 30 in the LNAT, it’s a wasted application spot that could be better used up by a more fair university.

I would have loved to apply for LSE but unfortunately I don’t meet their GCSE entry requirements and that would be grounds for automatic rejection. With UCL I would only meet there contextual GCSE requirements and I have to wait for the summer to see if they are the same as last year of have changed, but I currently do not meet their standard requirements. I know that the cutoff score for KCL is incredibly high and I planned to study intensely for the LNAT over the summer using some resources that other students who scored well in the LNAT have recommended. Do you have any personal recommendations for things I should do to prepare myself? If I do apply to an LNAT university the only one I could really see myself going to right now is KCL. It’s really reassuring to know that you’re enjoying your time there in the law school!

Usually if you don't meet the minimum GCSE requirements that's automatic grounds for rejection, so unfortunately they are quite important. If you're still waiting on a decision and they've been in contacts its likely that your score was either extremely impressive so they are considering giving you an offer despite not meeting the grade (which is very rare), or they're picking from a second pool of candidates who may be in a similar position to you. For me, it's not just about meeting their minimum GCSE requirements, I don't have a strong portfolio. They expect candidates with several GCSEs at grades 8-9 and I only have 6 GCSEs at grades 876554. Unless I scored ridiculously high on the LNAT, which I probably won't seeing as I scored 23 on the practice test, it is very unlikely that they will select me. I'm generally reconsidering applying to LNAT universities as I have other options that I like equally. I'm thinking of applying to Manchester, Sheffield, York, and two of either Birmingham, Nottingham or Leeds, which are all non LNAT unis. I think I might have a better chance at them especially taking into account that the UCL and KCL offer rates are some of the lowest in the country. Honestly, attending open days is what will solidify my decision, but I have a few more months before that. Hope you hear back from LSE soon and congrats on your KCL offer!

I scored below average on the LNAT practice and ended with 31 on the real thing, so don’t lose hope on that. I would definitely put Leeds down on your list of non LNAT universities as I went there for my undergrad and was very impressed by the facilities and teaching, it’s a great environment. Best of luck to you.

This is so reassuring thank you! I actually really like the course at Leeds but my only problem is that I would only be eligible for their Access to Leeds offer of AAB if I firmed the university, and while I like it, I definitely have other choices that I like more. I may go to their open day in either June or October just to gain a feel of the environment. I'm glad they have good teaching as I've heard a lot of negative stories lately about lecturers at Russell Group universities being lazy or not knowing how to teach.

Have you sat the LNAT yet?

No I haven’t yet. I’m only in Year 12 so I have a while before we can book it, but I did a practice test and got 23, so that’s what’s making me reconsider applying to LNAT universities.

I got even less than that on the practice and ended up getting into king’s, so really don’t take that as gospel. There’s a website called Arbitio, I don’t know if you are aware, that’s purpose is to train you on the LNAT. I think using that massively boosted my competence at the test, you learn to read quickly, which information is important etc, and most importantly you get used to the very literal way they want you to use textual evidence and answer questions. Don’t get disheartened if your scores on Arbitio aren’t as high as you wish either, because it’s much more difficult than the real thing. I never got anywhere near the score on their practice tests I did on the actual one. So definitely sign up for it and practice on there, and remember you always do better than you think you’ve done on the real thing.

I’ve been looking into arbitio and I will probably sign up after open days when I’ve decided whether I want to apply to LNAT universities or not. My only problem with KCL is that this year they rejected any home students who didn’t meet their cutoff score of 30 and I don’t know if I’m capable of that. I really struggle with concentration and the LNAT is a long exam with subjects that I generally have no knowledge on, which is where I tend to panic and mess up. I don’t want my application to KCL to be a wasted one just because I didn’t meet their LNAT score, since my GCSEs grades are already weighing me down and even though I’m eligible for their contextual offer, my worry is that I won’t get the predicted grades that they ask for the standard offer and that will disadvantage me even more.

I understand, but you seem a lot more fearful of the LNAT than is necessary. Again I scored lower than you on the practice and didn’t have much knowledge on the topics either, a lot of it is just learning what kind of answer they want and where to find it in the text. The actual thing is also a lot easier than the practice stuff and really, if you want to study law you should practice sitting exams and keeping focus, something you can get used to on arbitio. Don’t worry about it so much because it’s very easy to get your average up and you will do better than you think. Good luck with whatever you choose to do anyway

Haha yeah I tend to overthink things a lot! I’ll try and sit some more practice tests in the next few weeks to figure out how they want me to answer and hopefully that should help more if I decide to go through with sitting the LNAT. Out of curiosity, what made you apply to KCL?

I applied to the top listed unis and hoped for the best lol