The Student Room Group

Rejecting Oxford Law for UCL

Right I have until next Thursday to decide this massive issue.

I have an open offer for Law at Oxford and an offer to do law at UCL. Both AAA.

To most this is an obvious choive and I know some chap already posted a thread about rejecting Oxford but no one really gave any sort of helpful answers.

All I've read about Oxford Law makes me think it will be a total horrorshow. The workload sounds insane, as most current undergrads have commented on, and I'm really worried I won't be able to have the uni experience I want.

Before people reply with "Well why did you apply in the first place?", I did it for the prestige and to see if I could do it to be comptely honest. I got my offer but it isn't something I'm particularly passionate about or worked for, and I would only be going because I recognise it's a once in a lifetime chance to "open doors" in employment and to say I did it. Oxford is world class, and people would kill for this opportunity which is why I feel like a goon for even considering not going.

Personally I would rather fit my work around having an amazing time at uni rather than trying to scrape a social life in around piles of reading and essays. I know I sound like a really rubbish student and that I'm an idiot for applying in the first place but from what I've been told and read about it I'm not sure Oxford is for me.

Any advise from current Law undergrads?

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Reply 1
I've got an open offer to do law at Oxford and one for UCL, both AAA.

To get straight to the point I've got to pick between the two by next Wednesday, and although for most people this is an obvious choice, I am having a horrorshow doing it.

From what I've read, Law at Oxford sounds completely soul-destroying. I applied on a whim and was lucky enough to get an offer, but now I'm faced with the decision of taking it up or not.

Any advise from Law undergrad would be great. I'm not hard working in the slightest and have been blagging my way through education for years now, is Oxford going to completely kill me? UCL is such a good uni, albeit not Oxford, I just think I will feel more comfortable there. I fell in love with it yesterday on an open day, where as when I was at Oxford I felt I could grow to merely like it.

Am I completely mental or does anyone get what I mean?

Sorry this post is short and makes me sound a bit ****ty, I just wrote a big post explaining my predicament and I closed the tab and cba to do it again.

Cheers guys
Definetly go UCL i reck, both are intense uni's and you've worked to get offers from them for Law. Don't go to Oxford for the sake of going to Oxford is my opinion.
Reply 3
I think if you're just 'blagging your way through' it will be hard whether you go to UCL or Oxford because i think people exaggerate these differences between good universities. However I think for the same effort you'll get more out of Oxford than you would out of UCL. You'll probably end up doing more work, but it will be ok because everyone will be doing the same.
Go for Oxford
FFS go for Oxford :tongue: .
Pain is temporary and all that jazz. u'll be ****ed with so much work later in life anyway so get the oxford degree. Please.
Reply 5
Do It!
Reply 6
LJ Iodine:

Law is soul destorying per se

I think you overestimating the difference in soul-destroying-ness between Oxford and UCL

Therefore go to Oxford
Reply 7
go where you want. Go where your going to be happy in your surroundings. If you love UCL go there, no amount of reputation is worth being unhappy for in my opinion. I know you get to write .ox at the end of your degree, but i dont think it's worth 3 years of being unahppy and possibly not achieving your full potential a first from UCL is work more than a 2.2 from oxfrod and maybe even a 2.1. You need to be where you'll be happy
Go to Oxford, unless you really hate it or wanna live in london badly.
tbh some may laugh but if I was given then opportunity to go to oxford i'd turn it down -go for whats in your heart matey
i would too tbh. just because i could :P. My mates got an offer from durham, he doesn't want to go there, he just wants to decline them
Reply 11
It's a bit risky making predictions about what you'll be like at university - from what I've seen, you cannot know until you're there. I know of people who experienced changes in their work ethics upon starting uni. Although you do love UCL, I wouldn't rule out Oxford just yet. Of course it'll be hard work - but you'll be alongside hard working people in an intensely academic environment, which for all you know could bring out the best in you. You may think you're blagging your way through, but that could well be because you've not got much enthusiasm for what you're studying... but that could change when you're studying for a law degree.

You're clearly intellectually capable, shown by the fact that you've managed to get yourself an offer post-interview. As you can see, the 'could' sentences are stemming largely from a 'what if...' point of view - the main point being, it'd be horrible to look back in a couple of years' time and regret your choice of Oxford just because of a prediction. And, of course, if you really don't end up enjoying it - it's not like you're tied down. But I get the feeling you will probably benefit immensely from a law degree at Oxford.
Ironman451
I've got an open offer to do law at Oxford and one for UCL, both AAA.

To get straight to the point I've got to pick between the two by next Wednesday, and although for most people this is an obvious choice, I am having a horrorshow doing it.

From what I've read, Law at Oxford sounds completely soul-destroying. I applied on a whim and was lucky enough to get an offer, but now I'm faced with the decision of taking it up or not.

Any advise from Law undergrad would be great. I'm not hard working in the slightest and have been blagging my way through education for years now, is Oxford going to completely kill me? UCL is such a good uni, albeit not Oxford, I just think I will feel more comfortable there. I fell in love with it yesterday on an open day, where as when I was at Oxford I felt I could grow to merely like it.

Am I completely mental or does anyone get what I mean?

Sorry this post is short and makes me sound a bit ****ty, I just wrote a big post explaining my predicament and I closed the tab and cba to do it again.

Cheers guys


*Looks up from a ten hour revision sesh*

Yep. Law at Oxford is pretty soul destroying for the first two terms. But apparently it gets a lot better after MODS. :frown: We have a summer of fun, then second year is a breeze. It's a complete baptism of fire but I am getting quicker at reading boring articles and writing essays and it's really satisfying when you do well!
Reply 13
Instincts are important. I'm a law student and I got offers from Oxford and UCL as well and chose Oxford because I felt an immediate instinctive bond with my college. But the workload is quite horrible. Are you definitely keen on law? Law in general is quite a lot of work, probably so at all the top universities including UCL, so speak to some people at UCL. What do you want to do afterwards? I suppose the standard advice is to apply to Oxford if you're decided on entering the legal profession, because law firms seem to recruit quite heavily from Oxbridge, and the Bar has some preference for Oxbridge as well. If you want to be a bum don't come to Oxford unless (a) you can blag and (b) you are willing and capable to do the work at some later point. Weigh it all up: what's more important to you, what do you want out of uni?
Reply 14
You will get a massive workload at UCL too, probably.
Reply 15
tiggerish
Instincts are important. I'm a law student and I got offers from Oxford and UCL as well and chose Oxford because I felt an immediate instinctive bond with my college. But the workload is quite horrible. Are you definitely keen on law? Law in general is quite a lot of work, probably so at all the top universities including UCL, so speak to some people at UCL. What do you want to do afterwards? I suppose the standard advice is to apply to Oxford if you're decided on entering the legal profession, because law firms seem to recruit quite heavily from Oxbridge, and the Bar has some preference for Oxbridge as well. If you want to be a bum don't come to Oxford unless (a) you can blag and (b) you are willing and capable to do the work at some later point. Weigh it all up: what's more important to you, what do you want out of uni?


I'm a god of the blag but I'd be an idiot to think I could pull it off for 3 years. This is my big fear, a "baptism of fire" scares the **** out of me. I wanted to try for the Bar, but now I'm really keen on going into corporate law in the City, and I think the employment prospects for that from UCL will not differ hugely than had I gone to Oxford. Plus I think I've got more of a chance of getting a good degree (first, 2.1) than a probable 2.2/3rd at oxford.
Reply 16
Ironman451
I'm a god of the blag but I'd be an idiot to think I could pull it off for 3 years. This is my big fear, a "baptism of fire" scares the **** out of me. I wanted to try for the Bar, but now I'm really keen on going into corporate law in the City, and I think the employment prospects for that from UCL will not differ hugely than had I gone to Oxford. Plus I think I've got more of a chance of getting a good degree (first, 2.1) than a probable 2.2/3rd at oxford.


Seriously, when Oxford gave you the offer they knew you could get a 1st or a 2:1.. why else would they bluddy want you?! Have some faith man, don't just assume if you end up going Oxford you're gonna fail lol.
Reply 17
Cheers for the vote of confidence Rei.

can anyone tell me, is Oxford anything like being at Public School?

I went to public school up to GCSEs and i cant even express how much I hated it. I don't want to feel restricted by conventions and rules at uni, i think UCL will have a much more independant vibe. I might be completely wrong on that one, but when i was there for interviews the whole thing, even including the shower agrangements, stank of being back at school.
Reply 18
If you don't take up the place at at Oxford for your reasons mentioned you will be making the biggest mistake of your life.
I would go too. UCL will work you hard, and you can always transfer out if you really do end up hating it. I can imagine you would have the "what if" problem.