UCL Acceptance

Hi! I recently received my acceptance offer letter from UCL as an international student from the United States and I'm really excited about it!! I applied to study law and am not positive whether or not I will commit to UCL yet, as I'm still waiting on a few American universities, but wanted to reach out on here to see if there was anyone else in my shoes, whether it be just as a UCL law admitted student or a UCL admitted student from the US. I'm especially interested in speaking to alumni who were American students who received an LLB from any UK university, just to hear what they were able to do with that degree after returning to the US, in terms of pursuing a JD or LLM and what career that led to?
Overall, interested to hear from anyone pursuing law at UCL or as an American student in the UK!!

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

There is a megathread for applicants here where you can talk to other applicants and potentially offer holders: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7400245

In terms of law after UCL in the US, bear in mind law is necessarily jurisidictional and thus too are law degrees. You would be learning English law in an LLB at UCL, not American law - and they are different. I think there are only a couple places in the US where you can take the Bar exam and be admitted to the Bar without taking any kind of legal qualification in the US from an accredited college there (I think DC and California do). There are quite a few which will allow you to take the Bar exam and be admitted to the Bar after doing some kind of equivalence/conversion scheme (exact details seem to vary state to state), this is usually less than a full JD in the US. Although I think a few states do require a US JD in any event. You'll really need to see what the requirements are for the state you wish to be admitted to the Bar in. Obviously plenty of non-legal options as well.

I gather also the style of teaching in UK LLB programmes and US JD programmes is different although I can't comment on that personally - I think I read something a few years ago saying that in the UK it's much less discussion based/less socratic method type teaching. But this may be historic or just specific to one or two programmes on either side!

Reply 2

ayezashxh

OP

6

Original post by artful_lounger

There is a megathread for applicants here where you can talk to other applicants and potentially offer holders: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7400245

In terms of law after UCL in the US, bear in mind law is necessarily jurisidictional and thus too are law degrees. You would be learning English law in an LLB at UCL, not American law - and they are different. I think there are only a couple places in the US where you can take the Bar exam and be admitted to the Bar without taking any kind of legal qualification in the US from an accredited college there (I think DC and California do). There are quite a few which will allow you to take the Bar exam and be admitted to the Bar after doing some kind of equivalence/conversion scheme (exact details seem to vary state to state), this is usually less than a full JD in the US. Although I think a few states do require a US JD in any event. You'll really need to see what the requirements are for the state you wish to be admitted to the Bar in. Obviously plenty of non-legal options as well.

I gather also the style of teaching in UK LLB programmes and US JD programmes is different although I can't comment on that personally - I think I read something a few years ago saying that in the UK it's much less discussion based/less socratic method type teaching. But this may be historic or just specific to one or two programmes on either side!

Thank you so much!! Ultimately, I am looking to pursuing a career in international law but am aware that getting to that point requires a lot of experience. Would an LLB from UCL prepare me for international law, beyond just English law? Or at least, would an LLB degree from UCL help me in gaining admission to a prestigious law school in the US where I can pursue a JD (such as Harvard, Columbia, Yale etc)? I know I have no desire as of now to permanently relocate to the UK but was hoping I can still gain benefits from a law degree from UCL in my American education.
At the very least, I hope that I can speed up the process of practicing law through a 3 year LLB and 3 year JD before taking the BAR as opposed to a 4 year bachelors degree in the US prior to a 3 year JD. Thanks so much for any advice you have, it's so difficult to find someone to ask about such a specific topic like this one!!

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by ayezashxh

Thank you so much!! Ultimately, I am looking to pursuing a career in international law but am aware that getting to that point requires a lot of experience. Would an LLB from UCL prepare me for international law, beyond just English law? Or at least, would an LLB degree from UCL help me in gaining admission to a prestigious law school in the US where I can pursue a JD (such as Harvard, Columbia, Yale etc)? I know I have no desire as of now to permanently relocate to the UK but was hoping I can still gain benefits from a law degree from UCL in my American education.
At the very least, I hope that I can speed up the process of practicing law through a 3 year LLB and 3 year JD before taking the BAR as opposed to a 4 year bachelors degree in the US prior to a 3 year JD. Thanks so much for any advice you have, it's so difficult to find someone to ask about such a specific topic like this one!!

My limited understanding is that international law is it's own separate set of laws - you can study topics in it at many major universities though. Whether the English law background will subsequently be useful working in the US I'm not sure; probably depends on what your scope of practice ends up being?

UCL is pretty well regarded in the UK, not sure how well known it is in the US. That said it does have some exchange agreements with e.g. Berkeley, CalTech and so on so evidently there is some bilateral recognition.

It's a fair point that it's a shorter degree. That said doing a 4 year degree at a state college you have in state tuition for may be cheaper than UCL (between the international fees and the costs of living in London) so it may not be quite the slam dunk it seems. May be something worth exploring :smile:

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