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Does this count as an Extenuating circumstances ?

So my friend wants to use this extenuating circumstance to get into law school to make up for his poor gcses.

his gcses were: BBCCCDDU

His circumstance: His dog died during his gcses

Is this a wise thing for him to do , he wants to do law and he said that this will help increase his chances alot , what do you guys think , does this count as extenuating circumstances ?

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Reply 1
Original post by Ray_Shadows
So my friend wants to use this extenuating circumstance to get into law school to make up for his poor gcses.

his gcses were: BBCCCDDU

His circumstance: His dog died during his gcses

Is this a wise thing for him to do , he wants to do law and he said that this will help increase his chances alot , what do you guys think , does this count as extenuating circumstances ?

If this is something that affected him a lot then unis may consider it. But he would need a lot of evidence to show that his performance was affected, and because it sounds trivial he may have difficulty obtaining this evidence. The best option is to initially discuss it with his teacher, as he would need their support to take it further.
Original post by Juno
If this is something that affected him a lot then unis may consider it. But he would need a lot of evidence to show that his performance was affected, and because it sounds trivial he may have difficulty obtaining this evidence. The best option is to initially discuss it with his teacher, as he would need their support to take it further.


i mean he was sad about it for a while , but i think me and my other friends noticed he was back to normal the week after (plus he has two dogs)

what could he use as evidence ?
Reply 3
Original post by Ray_Shadows
i mean he was sad about it for a while , but i think me and my other friends noticed he was back to normal the week after (plus he has two dogs)

what could he use as evidence ?


The fact that he has 2 dogs is irrelevant. You have 2 legs, but if I chopped one off you'd probably still be upset.

Evidence would be things like a letter from his teacher, a letter from his parents, a letter from a doctor, a copy of his marks showing a dip after the event, a letter from the vet/crematorium etc.
Original post by Juno
The fact that he has 2 dogs is irrelevant. You have 2 legs, but if I chopped one off you'd probably still be upset.

Evidence would be things like a letter from his teacher, a letter from his parents, a letter from a doctor, a copy of his marks showing a dip after the event, a letter from the vet/crematorium etc.


ah yes he has some sort of documentation from the vet , hopefully this should be enough
Reply 5
Original post by Ray_Shadows
ah yes he has some sort of documentation from the vet , hopefully this should be enough


That's a good start, but he would still need some other documents to prove how it affected him.
yeh that's what i was thinking hence why i cam onto here to talk to people about it , he does have official vet documents that can help him

isn't law competitive though , should he retake anything
Original post by Juno
That's a good start, but he would still need some other documents to prove how it affected him.


i don't think he has anything else , atleast nothing else ik about :/
"Claims should be reserved for serious situations: significant illness, bereavements, being a victim of crime or the sudden significant illness of a close family member." So, while it's sad that he lost his dog and probably did have an impact on his emotions, I'd assume not.
Original post by tcmcm
"Claims should be reserved for serious situations: significant illness, bereavements, being a victim of crime or the sudden significant illness of a close family member." So, while it's sad that he lost his dog and probably did have an impact on his emotions, I'd assume not.


ah that sucks , but then again he treated his dog like part of the family :frown:
sad that something like a pets death is not treated as seriously as a persons death, pets are very important in our lives as well, don’t see how it’s trivial :frown:
Original post by bubblegumcat
sad that something like a pets death is not treated as seriously as a persons death, pets are very important in our lives as well, don’t see how it’s trivial :frown:


yeh i agree hence why i came to ask here to see if anything could be done
Original post by NeverGrowUp.
yep most people consider dogs as family unfortunately when it comes to university applications, they are very strict on what they consider as "extenuating". e.g. if your uncle died and you were really close to him, they are unlikely to consider it as they just usually consider bereavement within your immediate family (siblings, parents, grandparent). So unless the death of his dog caused severe emotional distress and was clearly documented during that time (e.g. notes from a counsellor) then it is very unlikely. However, GCSE's aren't everything, he can easily resit those GCSE's if he wants to and work really hard to get amazing grades at A-level. I'm sure there are many law schools that will consider him then, just make sure you look carefully at their entry requirements. Of course he is unlikely to get into very competitive law schools e.g. Oxbridge etc.Research is key.


just to clarify his results were as followed:

English lit-D
RE-B
History-B
maths-c
English language-c
Science-CD
DT-D
Geography-U
(edited 6 years ago)
i posted his grades above what do u think of it , thanks for the attention to detail , appreciate it
i think i should mention that atm he is doing btec buisness in college + a-level sociology

he initially wanted to do psychology , sociology, english lit

but he failed lit (forgot to mention it but i edited it in) so he coudnt do it , they also refused for him to take psychology because everyone in the class had got a B or above and he is simply refusing to retake maths so he coundnt do psychology (they would of let him take it if he retook maths but because of his stubbornness :/) , so he stuck with btec buisness with sociology a-level

can he still do law with a btec ?
Original post by Ray_Shadows
So my friend wants to use this extenuating circumstance to get into law school to make up for his poor gcses.

his gcses were: BBCCCDDU

His circumstance: His dog died during his gcses

Is this a wise thing for him to do , he wants to do law and he said that this will help increase his chances alot , what do you guys think , does this count as extenuating circumstances ?


While it's sad and all, I think most Unis would see it as a farily weak circumnsatnce where it'd probably do more harm than good mentioning it. If it was a close family member say a Grandad or Uncle or a serious health issue for sure I'd add it but this doesn't really qualify.

If he was adamant on doing law the only way around it would probably be by doing a foundation year, then if successful he'd be able to continue on the degree course so he's still got a chance though law is extremely competitive...
Original post by Anagogic
While it's sad and all, I think most Unis would see it as a farily weak circumnsatnce where it'd probably do more harm than good mentioning it. If it was a close family member say a Grandad or Uncle or a serious health issue for sure I'd add it but this doesn't really qualify.

If he was adamant on doing law the only way around it would probably be by doing a foundation year, then if successful he'd be able to continue on the degree course so he's still got a chance though law is extremely competitive...


what about whats he doing , post above
Original post by Ray_Shadows
what about whats he doing , post above


Possibly, I'm not sure what the B-tec he is doing entails. How many UCAS points is it worth? If he got a B/A in sociology and a distinction in Business I'm sure he'd get in at a few places.
Original post by Anagogic
Possibly, I'm not sure what the B-tec he is doing entails. How many UCAS points is it worth? If he got a B/A in sociology and a distinction in Business I'm sure he'd get in at a few places.


i'm not so sure
I love how everyone here is saying "it's a trivial thing". I would like to see you guys tell that to John Wick.

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