Royal Holloway for Law?

You apply once you’ve got an offer?
What if on results day you don’t get in or change your mind? What happens to the process? And is it finalised once you’ve applied to accommodation and finance?

Do you know if wanting to take a gap year/deferring the entry affects this? Like will i have to apply for it all in the gap year?

January 15th(?) is the UCAS deadline, but you could find out you have an offer way before or after then - it really depends on your application. In the majority of cases, the earlier you send it off, the earlier you'll hear back (NB: you definitely won't be penalised if you submit it later, though, as long as it's before the deadline in January. UCAS has strict laws about equal consideration of applications as long as they're all submitted before the deadline. You don't need to rush your application if you're struggling with your school/college/sixth form) but not always. All unis have a specific deadline they have to adhere to with responding to offers, so you won't be forced to wait too long.

If you miss your offer on Results Day and they won't take you, then you'll either end up at your insurance offer or in Clearing. If that's the case, then your accommodation offer will be cancelled, and you'll have to reapply at your new university. You'll also need to adjust your Student Finance application -- it'll be the same application, but you'll just need to tell them you're going to [x] uni instead of [y] uni - since they'll be sending your tuition fees to your uni for you. All of this happens in Y13 - I imagine to stop the post-Results stress and rush on resources, especially considering there's only a few weeks in between getting results and going to uni.

Most of what I mentioned is on campus, yes! Medicine, the club, is near the bottom of the campus, close to Tuke/Williamson/Butler/Gowar/Wedderburn halls, and the Student Union is dead centre on the campus. The EWD (Emily Wilding Davison) library contains the Union Shop and is closer to the top of campus, as it faces the huge Founders Building (the huge brick photogenic Victorian chateau, you know the one) - and Crosslands, the chill bar, is inside Founders. There are also some other cafes on campus - the Boilerhouse (hipstery) is close to the Student Union, Cafe on the Square (Starbucks) is in the library, and Imagine (bubble tea and Starbucks) is close to Medicine near the bottom of campus.

Our campus is a pretty fair size - it's not huge, and you can walk from the top to the bottom in about 15-20 minutes (less with shortcuts) - but it's very green, very natural, and nicely self-contained, so you don't have to leave to grab things if you don't want to. It's absolutely gorgeous, especially in the snow and in the spring with the daffodils.

I think looking up some pictures of RHUL's campus would be a good idea! Don't make any decisions until after your Open Day --you'll be able to look around and figure out if this is the place for you. Sometimes places look great on paper and terrible in person (for me when I applied, that was Kent ), or vice versa - it's a very personal decision, and I think as long as you go into each opportunity with an open mind, you'll know if it's right for you.

Thank you sm! Can you work whilst studying there?

You can update Student Finance any time, I changed courses within my dept. 3 times and I think it just notified Student Finance automatically. i got my conditional offer in October of Y13 and applied for Student Finance the following March before starting Royal Holloway in September.

I changed my course in the second week and my course changed on my Student Finance account a few weeks later. I assume its the same if you change unis, when you enrol in the course they'll get notified.

You can! You're allowed to work up to 20 hours a week max if you're studying full-time. There are jobs available on campus (student ambassadors, cafe/bar/SU staff, etc) and off-campus too, so you should be able to find something quite easily if you want a job. ☺️

It really depends on where you want to work. There are some City firms which recruit heavily from Russell Group unis - however, there are trainees who don't come from Russell Groups (as long as you make the most of your degree and get the relevant work experience).

https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities is research done by a website to show what kind of unis are most commonly found. However, they used a small sample size etc.

My experience on work experience at a City firm was that most people tend to go to Oxford / Cambridge / Durham / KCL / UCL / LSE and then Warwick. If you look up law firms on linkedin (if you know what type of firm you like) , you can actually see where trainees / partners / associates studied.

Someone mentioned to me at a City firm that they like Southampton (it specialises in maritime law - not many people specialise in that so it's well paid). Southampton do require AAA but if you did the EPQ, it's AAB plus A in the EPQ. They're on clearing & adjustment this year so might accept lower grades on results day when it comes?

Below is an image of a law spreadsheet I made with uni

Thank you! So would you not suggest Royal Holloway? It not being a Russel group, will that put law firms off?

I don't want to say anything definitively as I am going on what I've heard from trainees and associates. But, Russell Group doesn't automatically mean a uni is better - if you love RHUL and the course and the location etc, go for it. Use unistats to get info on student satisfaction and career prospects.

Personally, if RHUL and Southampton asked for the same grades e.g. AAB - I would personally choose Southampton. Go to open days, talk to people and don't let the term Russell Group heavily influence your decision.

There are unis which aren't Russell Group that are just as good - but law is a competitive career, especially if you want to be a barrister, so bare in mind that you'll be competing with a lot of people (had a careers panel at a summer school from someone who is a trainee at Slaughter and May - and they have 4,500 applicants for 80 traineeships). Certain universities will have reputations e.g. Southampton for shipping & maritime law. Dundee is reputed for offering English and NI Law along with Scots Law.

Also look at the modules universities offer - these can change, but they'll give you an inkling as to what a uni might specialise in. RHUL started offering Law back in 2015 so it is fairly new - so I'd recommend researching further

I don't want to say anything definitively as I am going on what I've heard from trainees and associates. But, Russell Group doesn't automatically mean a uni is better - if you love RHUL and the course and the location etc, go for it. Use unistats to get info on student satisfaction and career prospects.

Personally, if RHUL and Southampton asked for the same grades e.g. AAB - I would personally choose Southampton. Go to open days, talk to people and don't let the term Russell Group heavily influence your decision.

There are unis which aren't Russell Group that are just as good - but law is a competitive career, especially if you want to be a barrister, so bear that in mind as you'll be competing with a lot of people (had a careers panel at a summer school from someone who is a trainee at Slaughter and May - and they have 4,500 applicants for 80 traineeships). Certain universities will have reputations e.g. Southampton for shipping & maritime law. Dundee is reputed for offering English and NI Law along with Scots Law.

I'd recommend researching into firms you might want to work at post-uni.

Thank you!

It's okay , if you want to PM me if you have any questions go ahead.

UCL, Bristol & Edinburgh & Leeds do contextual offers.

Google UCL & Bristol & Edinburgh contextual offer to check if you are eligible. UCL's & Bristol's requirements go down to AAB from A*AA. Edinburgh give out offers from A*AA - ABB (ABB is called the access threshold). Leeds have a scheme called Access to Leeds which means that their offer goes from AAA for Law to ABB.

Thank you! Are contextual offers, offers based on income/background?

Yep - however, there are some based on your school - the one I'm eligible for (Bristol) is because I did a summer school at Bristol & if I didn't do so, I'd be eligible through my school

Damn. Thank you! So I wouldn’t have a successful law career going to RHUL?