Results Day - Reapply or take my offer?

Hi Student Room, currently in a bit of a dilemma regarding results day.

I've made a plan for all possible grade combinations I could get, but i'm stuck on what to do if I get A*AA. For context, I'm hoping to study Law and I have an offer from Leeds, but I'd rather go to the choices I got rejected from such as Durham or UCL. However, both of those unis have an entry requirement of A*AA, so if I re-applied I would barely meet these requirements and i'm afraid i'll just get rejected again and have taken a gap year for no reason.

So, would it be better just to go to Leeds (not that it's a bad school, its still very good for Law and has nice accomodation!), or take a risk and sacrifice my place there and re-apply next year if I get A*AA?

Most of the unis I would be re-applying to would have A*AA as the minimal entry requirements, so i'm unsure of my chance at getting accepted and am afraid of ending up with no offers.

Hi Student Room, currently in a bit of a dilemma regarding results day.

I've made a plan for all possible grade combinations I could get, but i'm stuck on what to do if I get A*AA. For context, I'm hoping to study Law and I have an offer from Leeds, but I'd rather go to the choices I got rejected from such as Durham or UCL. However, both of those unis have an entry requirement of A*AA, so if I re-applied I would barely meet these requirements and i'm afraid i'll just get rejected again and have taken a gap year for no reason.

So, would it be better just to go to Leeds (not that it's a bad school, its still very good for Law and has nice accomodation!), or take a risk and sacrifice my place there and re-apply next year if I get A*AA?

Most of the unis I would be re-applying to would have A*AA as the minimal entry requirements, so i'm unsure of my chance at getting accepted and am afraid of ending up with no offers.

The first question is whether Durham or UCL would have Law in clearing. Considering neither entered clearing for any subject in 2021 or 2022 that is highly unlikely. These 2 unis dont enter clearing. Even if they did you would have to give your Leeds offer up to apply. It really isnt worth it. Any university that has rejected you wont accept you again. If they felt they wanted you then they could have made you an offer and rejected you on results day if you didnt reach it. The fact hey didnt should tell you that you are not going to get in

I think OP is talking about applying again in 2023/24, but the question for OP (@KingDem2020) is what is it about Durham or UCL that means you'd rather go there than Leeds? Is it just the prestige of them asking for a slightly higher set of grades?

The first question is whether Durham or UCL would have Law in clearing. Considering neither entered clearing for any subject in 2021 or 2022 that is highly unlikely. These 2 unis dont enter clearing. Even if they did you would have to give your Leeds offer up to apply. It really isnt worth it. Any university that has rejected you wont accept you again. If they felt they wanted you then they could have made you an offer and rejected you on results day if you didnt reach it. The fact hey didnt should tell you that you are not going to get in

Yep, talking about re-applying!

Nope to the second statement though, in fact they both ask for A*AA! I found, however, that on open days I personally preferred the quieter vibes of Durham to louder areas like UCL and Leeds. And UCL, as it is in London, is much more convenient for getting placements at the best Law firms in the UK (all of which are based in London).

Of course academics is part of it, both Durham and UCL fare better in rankings and employment in magic circle firms, but they also have other mertis over Leeds for me.

@KingDem2020 Hi there!

I studied LLB Law with French Law from 2017 to 2021 at Leeds, and I too applied to and received an offer from Durham. I had previously debated applying for London unis but in the end ruled it out as London is expensive and I didn't want to live in such a large city. I liked that Leeds and Durham were both very walkable.

As you can probably tell, I chose Leeds over Durham in the end, and there were many factors in that decision. One of my worries about Durham was the higher offer requirements (A*AA vs AAA). I did end up achieving A*AA but never regretted not choosing Durham as my firm.

You've mentioned a few things in this thread already which are influencing your decision-making here, and I'll briefly offer some thoughts on each:

1. Noise/liveliness of the cities
If you like the quieter vibe of Durham, then it sounds like London - the busy capital city of 8 million people - will not be for you. Leeds can be busy (I personally enjoy its vibrancy), but the areas outside the city centre are quieter and the campus itself has plenty of spaces you can find peace and quiet in (e.g. St George's Fields which is nice for a picnic if you can look past the fact it's an old graveyard!).

2. Careers
I would not say that studying at UCL is the best place for getting placements at top law firms. You can apply to London firms no matter where you study, and indeed a lot of those large national firms have a regional office in Leeds. Leeds has a massive legal scene, and at one point was acclaimed the fastest-growing legal market in the country (outpacing London). Durham can hardly be described as a hive of legal activity, but of course employers will visit and again students can apply to firms anywhere in the country.

3. Academics
The hard truth is that academics matter only so much these days. Employers will check you have a 2:1, and once that is met they don't really care where you got it. As long as you have that 2:1, what matters is your extracurriculars, your soft skills, your commercial awareness, etc. That is really what differentiates candidates in the legal sector.

Please don't choose one uni over another purely because it is more 'prestigious' than another, as there are so many more factors to consider which will have a big impact on your university experience (e.g. course content, student satisfaction, accommodation availability and cost, general cost of living in the uni town/city, etc. etc.).

If you have any questions about Leeds or about any of my thoughts above then do feel free to ask!

What a brilliant post

Thanks Muttley, that feedback just made my day

It is entirely up to you but your thinking seems muddled. On one hand you prefer the quieter vibes of Duham and on the other you want to work in London which will involve living in London.

If you want to work in London rather than provinces then you may as well apply to university there. Howeer even if you reapply there is no guarantee you will get into UCL or Durham anyway. My gut feeling is you would be better accepting what you have.

@KingDem2020 Hi there!

I studied LLB Law with French Law from 2017 to 2021 at Leeds, and I too applied to and received an offer from Durham. I had previously debated applying for London unis but in the end ruled it out as London is expensive and I didn't want to live in such a large city. I liked that Leeds and Durham were both very walkable.

As you can probably tell, I chose Leeds over Durham in the end, and there were many factors in that decision. One of my worries about Durham was the higher offer requirements (A*AA vs AAA). I did end up achieving A*AA but never regretted not choosing Durham as my firm.

You've mentioned a few things in this thread already which are influencing your decision-making here, and I'll briefly offer some thoughts on each:

1. Noise/liveliness of the cities
If you like the quieter vibe of Durham, then it sounds like London - the busy capital city of 8 million people - will not be for you. Leeds can be busy (I personally enjoy its vibrancy), but the areas outside the city centre are quieter and the campus itself has plenty of spaces you can find peace and quiet in (e.g. St George's Fields which is nice for a picnic if you can look past the fact it's an old graveyard!).

2. Careers
I would not say that studying at UCL is the best place for getting placements at top law firms. You can apply to London firms no matter where you study, and indeed a lot of those large national firms have a regional office in Leeds. Leeds has a massive legal scene, and at one point was acclaimed the fastest-growing legal market in the country (outpacing London). Durham can hardly be described as a hive of legal activity, but of course employers will visit and again students can apply to firms anywhere in the country.

3. Academics
The hard truth is that academics matter only so much these days. Employers will check you have a 2:1, and once that is met they don't really care where you got it. As long as you have that 2:1, what matters is your extracurriculars, your soft skills, your commercial awareness, etc. That is really what differentiates candidates in the legal sector.

Please don't choose one uni over another purely because it is more 'prestigious' than another, as there are so many more factors to consider which will have a big impact on your university experience (e.g. course content, student satisfaction, accommodation availability and cost, general cost of living in the uni town/city, etc. etc.).

If you have any questions about Leeds or about any of my thoughts above then do feel free to ask!

Wow, thank you so much! This is super in depth and honestly really helpful in making my decision. I do have some other questions about your experience, if its ok:

1) How did you find getting work experience at good legal firms during uni, and then getting a job at them after uni? Would you say that Leeds was a good selection in terms of finding a solid job in the legal profession?

2) Could you tell me a couple of reasons as to why you picked Leeds over Durham? I'm super curious as everyone has really different viewpoints on the matter of university selection, and I think if I can focus on the positives Leeds has over Durham I might be able to make a more informed choice

3) Would you say most people go to clubs and party in Leeds? One of my biggest worries is that, since Leeds is so renowned for its party lifestyle at university, a lot of people are going to hang out at clubs which isn't personally my vibe. You've mentioned there are some quieter places to relax (which is awesome!), but would you say people tend to party and go to clubs a lot at Leeds?

1. The first thing to note is that law is *highly* competitive. Getting work experience (known as a vacation scheme in the legal sector) requires you to go through a multi-stage application process, usually consisting of: an online application form, an online assessment (generally situational judgement or the Watson Glazer test, sometimes a bespoke mix of assessments), sometimes a recorded video interview and finally the assessment centre. Other things - such as open days and first-year schemes - will also have some form of application process but are not quite as involved. This is because generally if you perform well on the vacation scheme you will receive an offer to train with that firm. A lot of firms now recruit solely from their vacation schemes and do not allow you to apply for their training contract/graduate solicitor apprenticeship without attending a vacation scheme.

I was accepted onto three first-year schemes with London firms and attended two of them in the end (due to scheduling conflicts). I also had an open day at a different London firm and an open evening at the Leeds office of a national firm. However, I later had a bit of an epiphany and realised I didn't want to go to London anymore. I therefore only applied for firms with a Leeds office from my fourth year onwards. Last year I got my training offer and will be starting in three weeks' time!

As I've said before, the uni you go to does not generally matter to employers. What might make a difference is the careers support offered by the uni you go to. I can't speak for Durham or UCL but I can tell you that the careers centre at Leeds is really good, and the School of Law actually has its own careers support on top. Marika was really helpful to me and many of my peers - you can book an appointment with her for pretty much anything you need, e.g. to go through your CV/applications, to talk to her about how to decide which firms to apply for, etc.

2. I made a side-by-side pros and cons list for both unis to make my decisions. Leeds edged it due to the course content (particularly the guaranteed year abroad my course entailed), the city feel, the fact that there is a strong legal sector in the city (meaning regular careers events such as meals out with firms, open evenings, etc.), the ease of getting to Leeds from where my family live, and a couple of other reasons that were quite specific to my circumstances.

3. As I've said to many people on this site, if you want to go to clubs and party then you will meet plenty of people who want to do that. Equally, if you want to have film nights in or enjoy playing board games or whatever your thing may be, then you will meet plenty of people who want to do that. Being a party animal is not my vibe either, and I made friends with people who were very happy with an evening in watching The Great British Bake Off with a pot of tea and a slice of cake, as an example Whichever uni you end up choosing, really do make the most of clubs and societies as that will help you find people who share your interests!

Thanks once again for the information, definitely a great help! Could I private message you some more questions if that's ok?