What is more prestigious for Law - Bristol or Exeter?

Hi all,

so I am settling a debate and would be interested in which is the more prestigious university for Law? Most objective metrics place Bristol ahead and in my experience in the legal industry Bristol Law is particularly notable. I was curious if anyone else had other opinions with evidence to support their claims

To caveat I am not saying Exeter is bad at all, merely Bristol is a tier above it from a law perspective.

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

Who cares? There are in any event no objective measures of prestige.

Reply 2

RustyMoon

Not much between them. Both are excellent for law. Bristol is at the lower end of those that require LNAT and there's not much of a gulf between it and the better unis that don't ask for LNAT - Exeter, Nottingham, Warwick.

Exeter's offer rate is higher because of geography - because it is so far away from most of the country a lot of students have it as their insurance choice. The admissions team know this and so make more offers to compensate. So it's not really fair to judge them by offer rate. I have visited both in the past year and my personal preference would be for Exeter just because it is such a lovely campus and town. I think the student experience would be great there.

Reply 3

username7590940

Original post

by RustyMoon

Not much between them. Both are excellent for law. Bristol is at the lower end of those that require LNAT and there's not much of a gulf between it and the better unis that don't ask for LNAT - Exeter, Nottingham, Warwick.
Exeter's offer rate is higher because of geography - because it is so far away from most of the country a lot of students have it as their insurance choice. The admissions team know this and so make more offers to compensate. So it's not really fair to judge them by offer rate. I have visited both in the past year and my personal preference would be for Exeter just because it is such a lovely campus and town. I think the student experience would be great there.

I would disgaree, data puts Bristol comfortably alongside Durham and KCL for Law. The quality of the average Bristol student is closer to that at Oxford than at Exeter according to UCAS data.

Also Notts asks for the LNAT I am fairly sure.

Reply 4

RustyMoon

Original post

by funded-lapel

Nottingham has stopped using the LNAT.

I think you're overstating Bristol's rep a little. Perhaps you're a former student?
Not doubting it's a top law school but the gap between it and Exeter isn't really significant. If a student has offers from both I'd advise them to go to whichever they like best and feel happiest at rather than worry about ranking and reputation as they are so close.

The research by Chambers Student is relevant here and ranked Bristol 4th and Exeter 5th when it comes to supplying legal trainees - both behind Oxbridge and Durham but ahead of KCL / UCL / Nottingham / Warwick etc.

You can read the research here: https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019

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