applying for history and politics to two unis and law to the three other unis

hey guys, im currently working on my personal statement for uni. i plan to apply to Cambridge,ucl, Bristol, warwick and birmingham but i don't want to apply to law for all of them(especially Cambridge and ucl) because of how difficult it is but i can only write one personal statement to all five. How do i show passion for my courses in my personal statement when applying ?

I don’t want to apply to Cambridge and ucl for how hard it is to get in but then again I don’t want to do history and politics at the other unis. I met someone at the open day at Cambridge and she does history and politics there and she inspired me to do it. Hope I’ve made it a bit clearer

If you're put off by how hard it is to get into Law, it will be equally hard to get into for History and Politics. They're very competitive universities.

And you have 100% chance of not being accepted if you don't apply in the first place.

What are the entry requirements for Law at each of the 5 you're applying to?

Sorry if this sounds blunt, but surely you either want to do law or you don't?

I don't really see how you can you want to law at Bristol but not at Cambridge. The fact that Cambridge and UCL have high rejection rates for law shouldn't deter you if you really wanted to do the subject, you'd just apply anyway.

What is your priority here - to study law at university level, or to get into Cambridge/UCL to study anything?

True!! But at the same time, I feel more connected to history and politics-since I can also do a law conversion course and become a lawyer-and law was something I wanted to study for the longest but of recent, I’m just not as passionate.

The requirement for Cambridge and ucl is A*AA and for bristol A*AA-AAB. I’m predicted three A*s in my A-levels

Studying law at Cambridge, we can't deny, is much more competitive and difficult compared to the other Universities. My main issue is that i've not been able to determine what course i really want to study between the two and so it made me want to just apply for both courses but to different unis-H&P to cambridge and UCL and Law to Bristol,warwick and Birmingham- and since i have just one personal statement to write, its difficult showing passion for the courses as history and politics is fairly different from law. Hope this helps

Then apply to history and politics at all the unis.
@fedora34 was spot on with the advice.
You need to choose 1 course here.

You missed 2 unis from the list so:

Law
Cambridge - A*AA
UCL - A*AA
Bristol - A*AA
Birmingham - A*AA
Warwick - A*AA

History and Politics
Warwick - AAA
Birmingham - AAB
Cambridge - A*AA (unless you apply to Churchill or Selwyn where it's more)
UCL - don't offer it, Hist & Pol of the americas [AAB], or Hist, Pol Econ [AAA]
Bristol - don't offer it


All your choices for Law have the same offer requirements. Practically speaking there'd be little point in you having an insurance choice with these applicants. There's no safety net. If you miss the grades on results day you're in clearing straight away.

For history and politics you need to rethink at least 1 of your options, but you have a fairer range of grades there. If you were to get 5 offers, you could have Cambridge firmed and Birmingham insured - that way if you miss the grades on results day there's a decent chance you're placed with your insurance.


In summary, I think you need to go back to the drawing board a little bit before you start a PS. I'm here to help if you have more questions.

If you can only write one personal statement for all five, I would really, really, really encourage you to pick just one subject and shape your personal statement around that. Universities want to see passion and a committed interest to the subject. If you're handling applications for law at Bristol (or History+Politics at Cambridge) and you read through a personal statement that starts mentioning another subject entirely, you would inevitably have reservations about the applicant's enthusiasm.

The subject you pick is obviously up to you. If law has been your longstanding aspiration, then you should apply to law at all five universities, and if you don't get into Cambridge and UCL, then you'll still at least be studying it at one of the other excellent three.

If you're mainly interested in getting into Cambridge and believe that History and Politics is somehow easier to get into than law (which I don't think is true, incidentally), then apply for that subject at all five and do a law conversion later.

But if the thought of studying history and politics at Bristol/Warwick/Birmingham doesn't appeal to you, then I think you have your answer: pick law.

Thanks a lot!! This has been super helpful! I think I'm going to knock birmingham off the list and replace it with another safety net university. What do you think?