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Third class with Honors.

I just got a third class with honors from Brunel in Business Computing and missed a 2:2 by just one mark. I was wondering if ULaw will accept me with a third for their GDL course?
Also, is it possible to get onto Bar courses with a third?
If I apply for an exemption to the BSB (as I have some mitigating circumstances), what are the chances theyll accept?

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by amooR108

Their GDL-specific page, here, says "An undergraduate degree at 2:2 or above in any discipline (or equivalent)." Following the link to the full entry requirements, here says, for GDL, "Students are required to possess a 2:2 or above from an undergraduate degree in any discipline, or an equivalent qualification."

Have you exhausted all options to appeal the third-class decision and "find" that extra mark from somewhere?

With regards to the BSB exemption, that's impossible to tell based solely on the fact that you "have some mitigating circumstances". I would suggest that you take a look the Exercise of Discretion guidelines, here, which cover "Application by a student who has obtained an undergraduate degree below the required minimum standard of a lower second class honours (2:2)." They says, "Students failing to achieve this minimum standard as a result of exceptional mitigating circumstances may be allowed to proceed to the vocational component of training (ie a vocational component Bar Training Course/Bar Practice Course) through the exercise of discretion by the Bar Standards Board."

(Sorry, I don't know with respect to bar courses accepting a third.)

Reply 2

Trinculo

Don't do it. There is a fair chance that they will accept you on some kind of course. They just want to be paid, and you have no realistic chance of practising law.

I can tell you that now for free. You do not need to pay University of Law (or BPP) £25,000 to learn this lesson.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Something to bear in mind is even if you do get onto the GDL, and then the BPC, that still wouldn't guarantee you pupillage, even with a 1st. With a 3rd I gather the chances are virtually non-existent, so I'm not sure trying to get onto those prior courses is worthwhile if your chance of securing pupillage is not realistic in the first instance.

Of course it may depend somewhat on the context of your mitigating circumstances, although equally they may simply have expected your uni to have made the appropriate adjustments and will just assume your final result reflects your ability as it would have taken into account the circumstances already?

@Crazy Jamie might be able to advise more on how sets look at pupillage applications with mitigating circumstances to explain lower than typical academic results.

Don't do it.

Original post by artful_lounger

@Crazy Jamie might be able to advise more on how sets look at pupillage applications with mitigating circumstances to explain lower than typical academic results.

Mitigation is for people who have a 2:1 in History from Sheffield, not people with a Richard in Business Computing from Brunel.

My advice to the OP is - ultimately you have a a degree in an IT subject. Go and get yourself the best job you can in that sector and be satisfied with that. Clearly, something didn't go according to plan at university, but you still have something which can work for you. Don't try and switch to one of the most competitive fields of a completely different discipline. Nothing is going your way and you are playing to your weaknesses, not your strengths.

Reply 6

amooR108

I am only looking forward to doing the GDL and BPTC and going back to my countryyy. I will probably not do a pupillage.
As for mitigating circumstances, I intend to apply for exercise of discretion to the BSB. Will the BSB not grant me one looking at the credentials or do you think I have a chance there. I just need that exercise to get a place on the BPTC not puppillage.
Thank you for your reply

Reply 7

Trinculo

Original post by amooR108

If you don't need pupillage, it's only a matter of money. I half expect someone from College of Law or BPP to come on this thread and tell you how you can do an MA Law with them which will wipe out your undergrad degree, and then do the BPC, and become "a barrister".

All you will need is £30,000 and a pen.

And they will give you the pen.

Reply 8

amooR108

Original post by Trinculo

Hahahah My G not coming slowww😂
But as far as I know it is impossible to get onto the BPTC with a third.
Heres hoping the bar grants me an extension!

Reply 9

Trinculo

Original post by amooR108

Hahahah My G not coming slowww😂
But as far as I know it is impossible to get onto the BPTC with a third.
Heres hoping the bar grants me an extension!

Serious question tho - do you actually know anything about law?

If your undergrad didn't go great, how do you know the GDL won't be similarly challenging?

Reply 10

amooR108

Original post by Trinculo

Serious question tho - do you actually know anything about law?

If your undergrad didn't go great, how do you know the GDL won't be similarly challenging?

I had alot of issues going on in Undergrad ALOT some of which I probably wont even be able to mention on the exemption application.
These issues are mostly resolved now had to take a year off to do that after uni too.
But apart from that I have always been an A* studentt till my A levelss. Its only now in uni that i slacked big timeee but I know GDL and BPTC both will be a piece of cake for me i just need to get a place thooo😂 but once I do I am pretty sure I have what it takes plus much more.

Reply 11

Other_Owl

I got a third class in my degree. I realised university wasn't for me and plan to do a level 4 apprenticeship.

Reply 12

amooR108

Original post by Other_Owl

I got a third class in my degree. I realised university wasn't forwis me and plan to do a level 4 apprenticeship.

Wish you all the bestttt!!!

Reply 13

Trinculo

Original post by amooR108

So your A-levels weren't great. Your undergrad isn't great. You don't know anything about law. But you're confident that the GDL and BPC will be a piece of cake?

Reply 14

amooR108

Original post by Trinculo

So your A-levels weren't great. Your undergrad isn't great. You don't know anything about law. But you're confident that the GDL and BPC will be a piece of cake?

Only my Undergrad wasnt greatt, honey and that too missed a 2:2 by just a mark. Go and learn english before discouraging people.

Reply 15

Crazy Jamie

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by artful_lounger

@Crazy Jamie might be able to advise more on how sets look at pupillage applications with mitigating circumstances to explain lower than typical academic results.

I know the OP has clarified that they don't intend to apply for pupillage, but I thought I would reply just in case someone in future with a Third finds this thread and does want to pursue pupillage. The first barrier is that the minimum requirement for the bar course is a 2:2. I do entirely acknowledge the point that has been made that these sorts of course are all about money, and with enough tenacity and a bit of luck anybody with a Third could (or perhaps) should be able to get onto the bar course. I would by no means see that as a given though. Even back when I did the bar course (when things like this were less stringent), there was a story about one person who got onto the course with a Third essentially through brute force of will (they asked and asked until the course director relented). They did well, but did not secure pupillage. In today's world even if it's possible, I wouldn't expect it to be easy.

But in the event that you do the bar course with a Third, that path to pupillage will be less of an uphill struggle and more of a hike up Everest. Broadly mitigating circumstances are relevant where one set of academic results are low, there are mitigating circumstances that credibly explain that, and other results are all of a much higher level. Even then, just as a matter of practicality your other results will need to be very, very good and your application will otherwise need to be very, very strong. The relevant questions become not just whether you can put together such an application, but whether you are actually as good a candidate as you think you are. That last question is really one that seriously needs to be considered by candidates in this position before automatically reaching for mitigating circumstances.

But all of that applies to bad A-Levels, or a 2:2, or (more rarely) a bad BPTC grade. The problem with a Third is that it isn't often mitigating circumstances territory. All of the other examples need short term mitigating circumstances during exam periods in one academic year. A Third realistically requires that over two years, because even with devastating circumstances that cause you to significantly under achieve throughout one year of exams, if you're of the required level you should be able to pull your overall grade to a 2:2 with the other year. Even with mitigating circumstances in one year, a Third says to me that your real level (because that is what I am interested in with mitigating circumstances) is a 2:2, and that's not good enough.

The long and short of it is that I am sure there is a practising barrister somewhere who got a Third. But I have never interviewed a pupillage candidate who got a Third. In my years sifting pupillage applications I can count the number of candidates with a Third on one hand, and I don't believe any of them got close to an interview. I try not to be definitive about anything in this process because people can always surprise you. But getting a Third, even with mitigating circumstances, is about as close to me saying "no chance" as anything can be. It would require the most exceptional mitigating circumstances and the most exceptional application beyond the Third for me to even consider saying that a person should push on, and of course at the degree stage deciding you can construct an exceptional application is a matter of projection and not reality, because you're still early on in the process. For that reason alone, my advice will basically always be to go in a different direction if you get a Third.

Reply 16

mishieru07

Original post by amooR108

I hope you have looked into the qualification requirements for your home jurisdiction and are confident that you will meet said requirements. In my home country, there's a surplus of Law students so it would be extremely difficult/ borderline impossible for someone who graduated with a third to get a training contract (which is a requirement for bar qualification).