Pupillage Gateway moved to January for 2016

As confirmed on Twitter by the Bar Council this morning. The process will move to January with offers being made in May, so candidates will know whether or not they have secured pupillage before committing to the BPTC.

http://www.legalcheek.com/2015/07/pupillage-gateway-moved-to-january-so-students-know-if-they-have-chambers-place-before-committing-to-bptc/

I'm actually interested to hear the thoughts of current, prospective and recent bar course students on this. The move is obviously a fair one, but I've just mentioned in another thread that only a very small number of candidates secure pupillage prior to the bar course anyway, and those candidates tend to be so good that one would perhaps expect them to have taken the course whether they'd secured pupillage before it or not. Then again, I might be wrong about that, hence why I'm interested in the opinions of those who are or have more recently been in that position.

Reply 1

LadyLaw23

Personally I think this is a good move, regardless of whether one has completed the BPTC yet or not, as it finally gets rid of the massive difference between Gateway and non-Gateway applications. I know this was an issue for many in the past if, for example, their 'backup' sets had deadlines in January outside Gateway and their preferred sets in April.

I do also agree with the Bar Council's argument re pre-BPTC applications, as although pupillage offers at this stage are rare and only given to exceptional candidates, for most people this round still gives them a good indication of where they might stand post-BPTC (eg. if they get all outright rejections, or a number of 1st round interviews, etc.), and therefore an indication of whether it's worth pursuing this. Not accurate in all cases of course, but still, I'd say an overall positive move.

Reply 2

typonaut

Original post by Crazy Jamie

A reasonable move. Now we just need to see the Inn's own BPTC plans come to fruition.

FWIW I have heard that the BPTC providers will accept people on to the course right up until it actually starts, as long as they have places available. And I think we already know that there is an oversupply of places.

Reply 3

Forum User

It's a moderately positive change so far as I'm concerned as I don't intend to do the BPTC without either a pupillage offer or an Inn Scholarship. The sooner I know if I'll need to make other plans, the better!