Law degree or Philosophy degree?!

Hello,

I am starting to go through the Uni application process and I originally wanted to do a Law LLB, but I'm also interested in doing a Philosophy degree, but I'm not sure which one to choose. I'm not 100% certain I definitely want to go into Law after my degree, but it's definitely a possibility!

Would a Law degree benefit me more than a Philosophy degree in terms of employability, whether it be a law or non law industry? Also, does the University matter to future employers? Since I am undecided on which degree to choose, should I apply to both and decide closer to the time?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and opinions, thank you!

Reply 1

9299292

I would say that there are pro's and con's to going for law or philosophy. The competition for law has been absolutely insane especially in recent years so you could potentially bypass that if you went for philosophy and then do a law conversion course afterwards if you decide you wanted to be a lawyer later on. However doing a law degree could be a good idea since you won't have to convert later on if you wanted to be a lawyer but you could still into a philosophy-related job especially because there is a lot of philosophical thinking within the study of law.

For universities I would say that look at league tables for the subjects you're interested in. For law, there are some uni's that are known to be very good (kcl, ucl, lse, oxbridge, bristol etc) but ultimately the most important thing will be links that firms have with uni's and yourself which you can have at lower ranked uni's too. In regards to applying I would decide before you apply or maybe apply to four law one philosophy course just so you can focus your efforts in the midst of the high competiton. You could also look at joint degrees that are still qualifying for law (LLB's) like Philosophy, politics and law offered by Warwick and Kings. However. the competition for those will usually be more intense in comparison to singular subject courses.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Milkshake!!

You can become a lawyer with any degree and 50% of solicitors and barristers did a non-law degree. Outside of those areas neither is specifically relevant or better than the other.

Just pick whatever you'll find more intellectually stimulating.

Reply 3

gjd800

As above.

I work with some lawyers at my place and most of them didn't do a bachelor's in law. A bunch did philosophy. There are a ton of phil grads in law.