Law degree help?

Hi! I’m currently in year 12 and looking for options of degrees to study at university. Recently I’ve been thinking about law but my a levels are biology, chem and psychology so I’m not sure if these are the right ones for law/if they would put me at a disadvantage compared to others who are doing essay based subjects. Also the work experience/extra curricular stuff I’ve done isn’t law related as I was interested in psychology/medicine before so it’s mostly to do with that. I got 8x 9s and 1x 7 at gcse which I think is good enough. Would anyone be able to give me some advice about wether applying to law would be a good option- I am also very shy/anxious with additional learning difficulties so I don’t think I would perform very well in a interview with I’ve heard you need for law at uni. Thank you :smile:

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

There are no subject requirements for law, and studying STEM subjects at A level would place you at no disadvantage. You would only be interviewed for a place to study law if you applied to and were shortlisted by either Oxford or Cambridge. If you apply to read law at either of those universities and some others including UCL, LSE, KCL, Bristol, and Durham you will need to take the LNAT, a test of your critical reasoning skills.

The main super-curricular activity to consider is reading about the law in general, and perhaps taking part in debating and similar activities. You are not expected to obtain work experience, although if you could find any there would be no harm in doing so. Court hearings are usually open to the public, so maybe visit a criminal and a civil court.

Obvious reading suggestions include The Rule of Law by Tom Bingham, one of the greatest judges of the last fifty years (sadly now dead), and Letters to a Law Student by Nick McBride, who is a Cambridge Law Don.

Why do you wish to study law? It's worth thinking carefully through the pros and cons of this.

I add that, if you are thinking of becoming a lawyer, that isn't an easy career option for a shy or anxious person, although it may be that your shyness and anxiety will reduce as you get older.

Reply 2

nwar

Study Forum Helper

Original post by disloyal-bolt

Hi : )
I'm a Y13 law applicant and we have some things in common so I hope this helps.

Firstly, STEM subjects will not disadvantage you at all. I do physics, maths, further maths and music at A level, and have faced no difficulties in essay-writing (for the LNAT) nor at any other point in my admissions processes. If you don't feel confident in your essay skills, enter some law essay competitions; hopefully, that should boost your confidence!

Secondly, you're in Y12 - you have lots of time to research a law degree and see if it is right for you. I only started thinking about it in February, and it was perfectly fine. Work experience isn't needed for law, but if you want to get some, there are lots of options. Cambridge and Oxford host lots of free outreach courses, taster days, etc. for aspiring law applicants in Y12 and you have plenty of time to sign up to those. If you end up falling in love with the degree, great! If not, you know it isn't right for you (and the free lunch is incredible).

Lastly, being shy/introverted - this wasn't as big of a problem as I thought it was. You're not applying to be a solicitor or a barrister, you're applying to study law as an academic discipline. You don't have to be the most confident speaker or a natural extrovert. But if you are self-conscious about it (as I was!), see if you can get yourself involved in debating at school. If it doesn't exist, form a debating club. It works wonders.

Best of luck with Y12 :smile: