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Should I apply for Law or Theology?

I'm in Year 12/Lower Sixth, doing my first year of A-Levels.

I recently had a talk with my careers and university advisor about applying to Cambridge. What I walked out with is that I should not apply to Law there, because I wouldn't get in.

I've always thought I'd do Law as a degree simply because I have no idea what else to do with the confusing mix of humanities I do for A-Levels. It seems employable, and suitably academic for my taste - and most importantly, interesting.

However I also want to apply to Oxbridge, because I want to go to one of the best institutions in the world to be taught by world-leading academics. I really like the supervision system as well.

I'm not horrifyingly intelligent - predicted A*A*A in my A-Levels and an A in my EPQ - and my GCSEs were relatively sub-par when compared to most Oxbridge candidates: 9998887665. (Obviously these results are all good but when up against Cambridge Law applicants, they wither in comparison).

My university advisor basically recommended I apply for Theology at Cambridge because Law is so oversubscribed (and extremely, extremely competitive). However this would mean I'd have to apply for Theology everywhere else; even though I would have liked to do Law at Durham or Manchester. I also want to avoid applying to different universities for different courses, as I cannot alter my personal statement.

Obviously I still really enjoy Theology, and it would be a dream come true to study it at Cambridge (the course looks amazing) - however if I didn't get in, I'd risk not enjoying my course as much at a different university.

Is it realistic at all for me to apply to the Law course at Cambridge (and then apply for Law everywhere else)?

Or should I stick with Theology, with a higher chance of getting into Cambridge, but a chance of not enjoying my degree if I went anywhere else?

Sorry if this was hard to follow, and thanks very much for your help!

Reply 1

stereotypeasian

Everything is competitive at Oxbridge....there is no easier course to apply to there.....
apply to law at Cambridge if that's what you want to do - its your life the careers adviser already finished this stage of their life
work really hard in the coming years and study for the LNAT and score highly (dedicate your life to it lol), research the course to prove you love at during the interview also prepare backup plans just incase something unpredictable happens
talk to past and current students

Reply 2

redmeercat

You get 5 choices on your UCAS form, meaning that you should apply to an aspirational, 3 relatively realistic and a very realistic one. I got into languages at camb with basically the same grades predictions (just got to actually get the grades), and GCSEs are only a very small part of the system - if you perform well at interview, there's no reason at all why you wouldn't get in. You should always choose the subject that you enjoy most for uni to ensure that you won't hate your life for 3 years, basically. May as well give it a shot... do some reading or work experience or something over the summer so that you have lots to discuss on your personal statement (I was told to have 5 categories of things to talk about, e.g. books, films, work experience, EPQ and history) but basically you just have to make it your own and show them that you want to study law there more than anyone else, and that you're the best candidate for it. You might not get in, but it's worth a try, right?