Durham Law or reapply to Oxbridge/LSE

I only got into Durham, not Oxford or LSE due to my lazy PS. Should I reapply or go to Durham? PS: I have 3A*s and only care about getting a high paying job in law, ibanking or consulting.

I only got into Durham, not Oxford or LSE due to my lazy PS. Should I reapply or go to Durham? PS: I have 3A*s and only care about getting a high paying job in law, ibanking or consulting.

Going to Durham for law will not hinder you from getting a high paying job in law, ibanking or consulting.

Still an achievement, why don't you want to go to Durham? It's up to you if you want to try Oxbridge again.

career prospects in certain fields is why they might hesitate, although Durham would give them a good shot but not necessarily the best

I don't think anywhere is the best apart from Oxbridge or Russell group universities, but yes I can understand why. Cambridge and Oxford are extremely competitive, I'm concerned I won't get into postgraduate study there.

My statistics may be exaggerated but my underlying point is that to work for top firms it requires you to work long hours (80-100 hours a week) and there is no way OP is going to last more than a year in this industry such as IB/Consulting/top firms in law let alone achieve more than a 2.1 just doing it for the money.
To OP, IB/consultancies recruit people doing any course so you can get in studying Viking studies but you'll have to get into a target university which is much more important so I advice you to do a degree which you're passionate about. I don't know the details about law firms but I heard they are increasingly taking STEM students from Imperial so that might be an option too.

Durham will not be an issue for law unless you want to go into a top commercial barrister set, and even then the competition for that is so extreme that even Oxbridge candidates’ chances aren’t great. Having said that I believe my director of studies went there and he now works at a very respectable commercial set.

My understanding is that Durham is not a solid “target” IB university (I’ve heard it described as a “semi-target”) which might possibly prove problematic if you’re applying for really heavy hitting roles, but the extent to which it’ll hinder you is not something I know enough about to comment on.

Another thing I wanted to say is that (and this especially applies for Oxbridge), that personal statements are usually fairly minor components of the admissions process, with academic performance, admissions test scores and interview scores being far more important. If you got rejected from Oxford then I don’t think it was just the personal statement that was to blame. With that in mind, coming in with a stronger personal statement the second time around is unlikely to substantially improve your chances.

You might have a better shot at LSE, though.

Ik sometimes personal statements aren't read. Although this might be more for STEM. For Oxford; GCSEs and LNAT will have been an issue if they didn't get interviewed. Durham is a semi-target yes which could be an issue but not a huge one.

The point about them sometimes not being read is true, and it also happens with law admissions. I think in some cases it can be used as a tiebreaker or, more commonly, as a talking point at interview. However, unless your personal statement is literal dogshit it is really unlikely to be the sole dealbreaker. After all, it’s a part of the admissions process that could be heavily influenced by an experienced teacher.

very true, worth putting a lot of effort into them still, especially if they can guide your interviews. My cambridge med ones had nothing to do with me as a person or my personal statement but were all very academic questions etc. However, my classmate's oxford chemistry one was geared around a book she talked about in hers.