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Applying to Study Law 2016

This is a megathread, for everyone planning on studying Law in 2016, albeit just under 2 years away. Anyway:

Which university are you thinking of studying at?

Are you applying for any other courses?

Are you doing it as a joint degree (Law and ...)?

Why are you studying for a Law degree?


For me:
Provisionally: Oxford, KCL, Lancaster, Queen Mary and LSE.

Thinking of Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Looking at:
Politics, Philosophy and Law at KCL
Law and Politics at Lancaster

I want to become a Criminal Barrister (life-long ambition),

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Law sounds super interesting lol
Reply 2
Original post by The Legal Eagle
This is a megathread, for everyone planning on studying Law in 2016, albeit just under 2 years away. Anyway:

Which university are you thinking of studying at?

Are you applying for any other courses?

Are you doing it as a joint degree (Law and ...)?

Why are you studying for a Law degree?


For me:
Provisionally: Oxford, KCL, Lancaster, Queen Mary and LSE.

Thinking of Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Looking at:
Politics, Philosophy and Law at KCL
Law and Politics at Lancaster

I want to become a Criminal Barrister (life-long ambition),


Hmm, it will be interesting if you still want to be a criminal barrister after university. My opinion is you will choose something else, but good luck to you.
Hi. Just thought I'd create a thread for people hoping to study law at uni & applying for 2016. What are people planning to write in their personal statements? & where will you be applying?
Reply 4
I will be. I haven't really done much this Summer, so i'm just reading the 'Rule of Law' by Lord Bingham, reading over some newspapers/old cases, and trying to write my Personal Statement. Which I don't believe is particularly good... but I guess my school will help me out with that.

I haven't even prepared for the LNAT yet..

I was considering applying to QMOL, LSE, UCL, and two back-up options. AAAA in AS. (Maybe i'll give Oxford a punt if i'm well prepared by October)

What about you?
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 5
I did my personal statement in July (college is on it lol 😂) - highly doubt its any good though. Got ABBC at AS & hoping to apply at Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Liverpool and as my security net (if I flop next year) DMU 😊

as for the LNAT...👀🏃 (no idea what I'm doing about that). Read a bit of 'Letters to a Law Student' & some articles from the Youth Law Journal but that's about it.
I started my PS in July, wrote a draft and am now just fixing it up. At AS I got AAAB and am thinking of applying to Brum, Leicester, UEA, maybe UCL and Liverpool. I was reading Eve was Framed, but parts of that book are ridiculous. As for the LNAT, like an idiot I'm gunna do it in September, and have started prepping for it today.
I'm currently reading 'The Law Machine' which I think is a good one to put on your personal statement
Reply 8
Last year I got 5 Law offers (all LNAT universities) - feel free to message me for some LNAT & law application advice xxx
Original post by anonlad
Last year I got 5 Law offers (all LNAT universities) - feel free to message me for some LNAT & law application advice xxx


What grades did you need? & did they accept lower grades? x
Original post by vis break
I started my PS in July, wrote a draft and am now just fixing it up. At AS I got AAAB and am thinking of applying to Brum, Leicester, UEA, maybe UCL and Liverpool. I was reading Eve was Framed, but parts of that book are ridiculous. As for the LNAT, like an idiot I'm gunna do it in September, and have started prepping for it today.

What are your predicted grades and what did you get at GCSE?

The unis you've mentioned are good, but from your ASs I'd say you could aim even higher.
Original post by Law-Hopeful
What are your predicted grades and what did you get at GCSE?

The unis you've mentioned are good, but from your ASs I'd say you could aim even higher.


Idk about my predicted grades yet :frown:
but for my GCSE's I got: 1A* 7A's and 1B. My school had a 50% pass rate for that year tho and I got 3rd best for Gcse.
Original post by vis break
Idk about my predicted grades yet :frown:
but for my GCSE's I got: 1A* 7A's and 1B. My school had a 50% pass rate for that year tho and I got 3rd best for Gcse.

Have you dropped the subject you got a B in? How high were your As?

If you were to get predicted A*AA-A*A*A* I'd recommend you ask whoever is in charge of writing your reference to mention your school's pass rate and your overall ranking - with AAAB at AS and predictions in that range I see no reason why you shouldn't be applying to the likes of Warwick/Durham/KCL/UCL/Bristol/Nottingham etc.
Reply 13
Original post by hannah123.
What grades did you need? & did they accept lower grades? x


A*AA for UCL, KCL, Nottingham and Durham; AAA for Oxford

Oxford are very strict on their offer requirements, whereas KCL Durham and UCL would probably accept the equivalent grades (e.g. A*A*B, maybe A*AB depending on contextual information such as the school you attend)

Nottingham hand out AAB offers occasionally despite their conventional A*AA requirement (to people of low income backgrounds and/or people who do exceptionally well in the LNAT), this leads me to believe that Nottingham would be generous with accepting lower grades, although this is conjecture and I could be wrong

I think a lot of universities will allow you to drop a grade, although with the more prestigious law schools I would not bank on it - they are competitive and already hand out more offers than they have places available
I don't think I'll be applying to any Uni's which require LNAT. The requirements are just too high for me
Reply 15
Original post by anonlad
Last year I got 5 Law offers (all LNAT universities) - feel free to message me for some LNAT & law application advice xxx


What advice would you give?
Original post by Law-Hopeful
Have you dropped the subject you got a B in? How high were your As?

If you were to get predicted A*AA-A*A*A* I'd recommend you ask whoever is in charge of writing your reference to mention your school's pass rate and your overall ranking - with AAAB at AS and predictions in that range I see no reason why you shouldn't be applying to the likes of Warwick/Durham/KCL/UCL/Bristol/Nottingham etc.


Yes I dropped the B subject and I do have extenuating circumstances. My head of sixth and she said Oxford was worth a punt if all of these are considered, as I was out of school for 3 months and was homeless for 6
I was wondering tho, how many LNAT Uni's should I apply to, like 2 at max?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by vis break
Yes I dropped the B subject and I do have extenuating circumstances. I my head of sixth and she said Oxford was worth a punt if all of these are considered.
I was wondering tho, how many LNAT Uni's should I apply to, like 2 at max?

Oxford place a greater emphasis on your GCSEs than Cambridge do, so I'd recommend applying for Cambridge instead (assuming your AS UMS average is in the region of 88%+).

What was your UMS average (%) for each of your ASs?

From my experience the LNAT is just something universities use to filter out their weaker candidates, so as long as you get 24+ (/42) and write a decent essay it shouldn't be a worry. So if you like 3/4 universities don't be put off applying to them simply because they require the LNAT. That being said, I wouldn't apply to more than 3 LNAT universities just in case you don't do as well as you expected on it (personally I applied to 2 universities that required the LNAT - UCL and KCL).
Original post by Law-Hopeful
Oxford place a greater emphasis on your GCSEs than Cambridge do, so I'd recommend applying for Cambridge instead (assuming your AS UMS average is in the region of 88%+).

What was your UMS average (%) for each of your ASs?

From my experience the LNAT is just something universities use to filter out their weaker candidates, so as long as you get 24+ (/42) and write a decent essay it shouldn't be a worry. So if you like 3/4 universities don't be put off applying to them simply because they require the LNAT. That being said, I wouldn't apply to more than 3 LNAT universities just in case you don't do as well as you expected on it (personally I applied to 2 universities that required the LNAT - UCL and KCL).


My avg UMS wasn't too great about 80.3% so Cam is prolly out the picture. But in regards to other Uni's would you say I have a goodish chance? Plus which uni did you end up going to?
Original post by vis break
My avg UMS wasn't too great about 80.3% so Cam is prolly out the picture. But in regards to other Uni's would you say I have a goodish chance? Plus which uni did you end up going to?

What is the UMS average of your top 3?

If it's below 85% then unfortunately I don't think you'd have much chance of getting invited to an interview at Cambridge.

But AAAB coupled with A*AA+ A2 predictions and an explanation of why your GCSE results are (relatively) low would put you in good stead for a competitive application for basically every university outside of Oxbridge.

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