Stuck on what to do next…

Hi,

Following my A Level results, i missed out on my placement for Law at the University of Nottingham by one grade, however they offered me a change of course to criminology. Although it wasn’t in my plans, I’m now stuck on whether to take a gap year and resit and reapply for Law or whether to go ahead with criminology and then take a law conversion route instead as my goal is to work in the legal field rather than any prospects that criminology directly provides. I know this is quite a personal decision but I’m quite stuck so I thought I’d reach out for opinions.

Thanks.

Do you have an Insurance choice uni?

It's not that uncommon for Notts to offer an alternative course, but you need to look hard at the Criminology course to see whether it genuinely interests you or not. Unless it sounds very interesting to you, it might be better to ask if they have a more general course they could offer you - like Sociology for example or one of your A level subjects. Or choose to go to your insurance uni instead for Law, or phone other unis or take a gap year.

I do have my insurance but I do like the idea of being at Nottingham although I understand the course is the most important thing. With regards to criminology, I don’t mind the subject at all and I do find it interesting but I am looking for an outcome in Law so my only worry is if taking a law conversion course then an LLM with an undergrad in Criminology will be weaker than going to a “worse” ranked uni and doing an undergrad in Law LLB. Thanks for the reply

Criminology is obviously a very different course to law so I think you need to consider how well you can sustain your motivation for doing it. The GDL is competitive and difficult so they look to take graduates with good degrees. Criminology itself will be absolutely fine for applying to the conversion, but if you're not interested in the subject then that might affect your results and your eligibility.

I guess you've got a deadline to decide by, but spend as long as you can researching the course and thinking about whether it's what you really want. The worst thing would be to accept it, find you don't like it, get a bad 2:2 and discount yourself from ever applying to the GDL.

There's nothing wrong with taking a gap year and reapplying to law at different unis, and the gap year could give you a good opportunity to get some work experience.

The course is the most important thing but if Criminology interests you as a subject, it won't disadvantage you to have a non Law degree and then convert to Law at a later stage if the career still interests you. About 50% of people getting training contracts to train as solicitors have a non Law degree.

https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/law/becoming-solicitor-without-law-degree

Yeh I don’t mind the subject at all I’m just conscious it’s not exactly the most academic subject and my worry is that if that’ll hurt me in the future during a law conversion and then when applying for an LLM or if it would be better to just go to a non-RG Uni and go for Law as the undergrad.

What is the non RG uni under consideration?

I have a couple offers as I wanted to be safe through clearing but there’s leicester, Surrey, notts trent and Aberdeen (Aberdeen is honestly just too far though)

I do feel as though I’d be able to get a strong result in Criminology as I do find the subject interesting I just don’t see it as a long term prospect hence wanting to convert to law. I’ve looked into resitting but a lot of the RG uni’s that have the course I like don’t accept resits or judge them harsher. I guess the predicament is whether to go to an RG Uni in Notts and do Criminology then go through a law conversion or to go to a Non-RG Uni for Law and continue like I would’ve before. I know it’s my decision at the end of the day but what would you think in the scenario?
Thanks for the help.

I don't think I would bother doing a Criminology degree and then a full Law degree on top of that. The conversion is a better path if you are planning to take the Criminology route.

People do the conversion course from all manner of subjects. History and Philosophy are often popular choices, but you can have studied anything and still be eligible.With a really good 2:1 or First in Criminology, you should be well in the running to get on whichever conversion course you want.

If you like the look of the Criminology course and Nottingham as a university, I would probably take that option and then do the conversion.

In your own opinion, would you say a criminology degree at UoN then a law conversion and LLM at UoN would be stronger than a Law LLB at like Nottingham Trent and a LLM and UoN after that?

In my opinion, it doesn't matter. "Stronger" is a completely relative term that depends on who's judging it, and when you're applying for training contracts and jobs they will be looking at so much more than the university that you went to. Some people with a law degree from Oxbridge struggle to get a training contract.

The main question you have to ask yourself is: do you actually want to study Criminology as a degree? Not just "can I put up with it for three years so that I can get onto a conversion course" but "do I really find this subject interesting enough in its own right that I'll throw myself wholeheartedly into the work?"

Criminology won't discount you from the conversion, and it won't discount you from getting summer internships or mini-pupillages. Like I said, the only question is, do you actually want to study it instead of Law?

Hi,

Following my A Level results, i missed out on my placement for Law at the University of Nottingham by one grade, however they offered me a change of course to criminology. Although it wasn’t in my plans, I’m now stuck on whether to take a gap year and resit and reapply for Law or whether to go ahead with criminology and then take a law conversion route instead as my goal is to work in the legal field rather than any prospects that criminology directly provides. I know this is quite a personal decision but I’m quite stuck so I thought I’d reach out for opinions.

Thanks.

In the same situation got AAB, 2% of the third A and got rejected so i get your pain. also got offered criminology and i know its a bit different since i have a good insurance to fall back on, but i just found criminology unappealing tbh. if i were you id try and ask for a different subject you like more if you dont like criminology or im sure there would be some good unis for law on clearing.

I have a couple offers as I wanted to be safe through clearing but there’s leicester, Surrey, notts trent and Aberdeen (Aberdeen is honestly just too far though)

Hi,

Following my A Level results, i missed out on my placement for Law at the University of Nottingham by one grade, however they offered me a change of course to criminology. Although it wasn’t in my plans, I’m now stuck on whether to take a gap year and resit and reapply for Law or whether to go ahead with criminology and then take a law conversion route instead as my goal is to work in the legal field rather than any prospects that criminology directly provides. I know this is quite a personal decision but I’m quite stuck so I thought I’d reach out for opinions.

Thanks.