Law or social policy

Ugh I wish I could do both. I am really interested in both, with law I’d say human rights would be specific area I’d really enjoy but with social policy I would love it all.. I’m worried about future careers. I’ve looked at social policy careers and they don’t really hit my interest. I’m not quite sure what I want to do yet and I have to choose either humanities or law as an option. Which 1?

it’s worth knowing with a law degree if it’s LLB there are six or seven specific modules you HAVE to cover so if your main interest is human rights law you would have to be comfortable doing modules you aren’t as interested in. but the upshot is that an LLB degree allows you to then qualify as a solicitor or barrister- meaning you can qualify with a firm that focuses on that and pretty much go straight into working in the specific area of law you enjoy. law degrees also usually get those compulsory modules out the way in your first year so your last two years are 100% optional modules (think human rights, immigration law, employment law, equality and the law are examples of modules these can include- if you’re interested in the human rights side of things criminology modules are often offered to law students and i have a feeling you would enjoy them). human rights specifically is a good interest to have bc most unis offer a special project/pro bono module on their course where you can work pro bono on a real case under the supervision of a practicing solicitor in that area. they’re a bit selective bc they’re very popular modules but if you get good grades consistently they’re usually more likely to choose you for the module. if you wanted to work in human rights law as a solicitor or barrister and you did a social policy degree you would likely have to do a one year conversion course to sort of “convert” your degree to a law degree for the purposes of doing your solicitors qualifying exam or bar training course. so doing a law degree would let you go straight into working in the area you want but social policy would need you to do a conversion course. i don’t know much about social policy but if you would be really miserable with the non-human rights law modules in a law degree then i don’t suggest doing it- doing ANY degree you aren’t super interested in every bit of is gonna make it harder to do that degree, get good grades and just enjoy the uni experience so don’t completely disregard enjoyment because realistically you won’t do well on a degree if you don’t enjoy it. also, human rights will only really make up two ish modules of your degree but i wojld keep an open mind in regards to other modules like family law, equality, criminology modules, immigration law, eu/international law etc these areas have a lot of overlap with human rights law and they’re areas a lot of people think sound boring but they end up really enjoying. sorry if that was a bit aimless and long but i hope it was slightly helpful at least? if you have any more questions i’d be happy to answer

Hi thank you so much for your reply.. I ended up choosing law as the answer haha I’d say im quite interested in social issues and so i think I would enjoy employment, immigration, and criminology as modules.. ur reply was extremely useful.. it sort of validated everything since my parents also thought that social policy (a great degree) is a bit risky in terms of careers. I think I am just gonna go with the flow lol cuz I end up changing what I want to do ever so often but yeah I think ur reply gave me more insight. Also omg York uni was literally on my list and they do human rights wow!!!!1 ok maybe this is a sign haha… I have a few questions about law itself. I’ve heard there is a conversion course for law, which takes 1 year. I’ve considered this option but 1 year of law is that not demanding? and just out of curiosity are you studying law and what areas interest u if you are thanks by the way, bye

Hi thank you so much for your reply.. I ended up choosing law as the answer haha I’d say im quite interested in social issues and so i think I would enjoy employment, immigration, and criminology as modules.. ur reply was extremely useful.. it sort of validated everything since my parents also thought that social policy (a great degree) is a bit risky in terms of careers. I think I am just gonna go with the flow lol cuz I end up changing what I want to do ever so often but yeah I think ur reply gave me more insight. Also omg York uni was literally on my list and they do human rights wow!!!!1 ok maybe this is a sign haha… I have a few questions about law itself. I’ve heard there is a conversion course for law, which takes 1 year. I’ve considered this option but 1 year of law is that not demanding? and just out of curiosity are you studying law and what areas interest u if you are thanks by the way, bye

Also with the conversion course, how would u qualify to do that.. do you need certain grades?any info would be very appreciated.

i don’t know too much about how demanding the conversion course is for law but the main reasons someone would choose not to do that is because the sqe involves the exam itself and two years of qualifying work experience so most people would rather avoid having to do the extra year of a conversion course before even starting the two year process for the sqe. it’s a good option for people who only realise they want to get into law AFTER a non law degree or people who just aren’t too bothered about the extra year it takes. i havent heard anyone take issue with it being demanding so i wouldnt worry about jt being difficult- it’s more a decision about time and whether you want to do the sqe and stuff like that
considering the human rights law degree seems to appeal to you so much, i think youd appreciate not having to do the law conversion but if you did a non law degree you would have to do it. realistically if you still want to work in law after your degree regardless of whether it’s law or non law the sqe process is the same- it’s just a case of whether there will be a conversion course before it or not
there also are other legal careers like paralegals or other pathways like solicitor apprenticeship types of things but they’re a bit harder to find but still good options.
me personally i love the politics side of law- evaluating law, how laws are made, international/eu law, immigration law that sort of thing and human rights law as well.
i’ve done a lot of research on different pathways to being a solicitor, alternative legal careers, all that sort of thing bc i’m hoping to be a legal translator eventually and it’s a bit niche so you really need to do your homework with it haha.

Oh wowww a legal translator sounds interesting i am guessing you would have to be very fluent at another language. I speak punjabi but I’m not a. Professional lol. Also thanks for the reply, I wasn’t really sure what the GDL was all about so thanks for the clarification. In terms of th eGDL i dont think it appeals to me that much but im just a bit nervous for my predicted grade results as im not sure if I would meet certain entry requirements so i think social policy or a law conversion may be a backup option. I am just curious are you in uni or year 13? What unis did u apply for and did u do the LNAT?

i’m in year 13 rn, i applied to uni of leeds, uni of sheffield and uni of hull (three courses at hull tho bc i’m indecisive and the courses were all cool, law/law w politics/law w legislative studies) but none of those require the lnat. there aren’t actually that many that do require the lnat but i’m assuming some of the other unis you’re looking at do require it. what stage are you at with the whole ucas application process so far?