Was I right to accept Glasgow for Law

OP

A.R.E

I go to a private school too, but I am aiming for Edinburgh Uni, or Dundee, so then I can do the English LLB

Btw, did you need to do advanced highers? Did you get the unconditional before doing your AH exams?

thanks.

Yeah, im doing 2 a levels and 2 higher exams. I applied before my levels, but i think they are taken into considreation by the unis anyway.

Reply 4

Allthewayhome

10

L i b

Do you want to practice in Scotland or England is the obvious question?

Within Scotland, Glasgow is perfectly respectable. UK-wide, it's probably better than Manchester really, but I doubt the majority would acknowledge that.

From what I've been told, the faculty at Glasgow is quite poorly organised though.

I always thought you went to Glasgae?

Reply 5

OP

L i b

Do you want to practice in Scotland or England is the obvious question?

Within Scotland, Glasgow is perfectly respectable. UK-wide, it's probably better than Manchester really, but I doubt the majority would acknowledge that.

From what I've been told, the faculty at Glasgow is quite poorly organised though.

Ideally i want to do corporate law in London, but i am doing a llm anyway, but i havent decided where yet. It will probably be in the US or England. Would i still need to sit the diploma in legal practice?

Reply 6

A.R.E

electrix

Yeah, im doing 2 a levels and 2 higher exams. I applied before my levels, but i think they are taken into considreation by the unis anyway.

I see, so do you think if I got like, 4 A's and a B or 3 A's and 2 B's at Scottish Highers

Do you think I would need to do Advanced Highers, or could I get an unconditional, because I really want to go to uni and I don't want to waste my time doing AH if I can just work hard at highers and go to uni from there.

What do you think?

Reply 7

OP

A.R.E

I see, so do you think if I got like, 4 A's and a B or 3 A's and 2 B's at Scottish Highers

Do you think I would need to do Advanced Highers, or could I get an unconditional, because I really want to go to uni and I don't want to waste my time doing AH if I can just work hard at highers and go to uni from there.

What do you think?

Depends. Edinburgh are quite strange in my opinion. All those in our school who didnt get 5as were rejected immediately. I got 4as and 1b and was rejected, though i know a friend in Edinburgh who got 2as and 2bs and got an unconditional. Ive heard Edinburgh discriminate against private schools, particularly the well known ones eg: George Watson, Hutchie... I would always plump for doing AHs tbh, they add more to your chances of getting in i think, but dont take my word on this.

Reply 8

A.R.E

electrix

Depends. Edinburgh are quite strange in my opinion. All those in our school who didnt get 5as were rejected immediately. I got 4as and 1b and was rejected, though i know a friend in Edinburgh who got 2as and 2bs and got an unconditional. Ive heard Edinburgh discriminate against private schools, particularly the well known ones eg: George Watson, Hutchie... I would always plump for doing AHs tbh, they add more to your chances of getting in i think, but dont take my word on this.

I see, well I go to Clifton Hall so it's not well known, it just became a senior school this year, only had a junior school...

I'll aim for 5 A's, probably get 4 A's and a B, I wouldn't mind other unis, e.g Aberdeen, Dundee etc.

Anyway, thanks for your response :smile:

Reply 9

OP

A.R.E

I see, well I go to Clifton Hall so it's not well known, it just became a senior school this year, only had a junior school...

I'll aim for 5 A's, probably get 4 A's and a B, I wouldn't mind other unis, e.g Aberdeen, Dundee etc.

Anyway, thanks for your response :smile:

The only thing is, i cant really be bothered staying at home for Uni- what a drag!!

Reply 10

Picnic1

19

Guardian: Glasgow: 10th for Law / 17th best university
Manchester: Joint 17th for Law / Joint 32nd best university

Times: Glasgow: 14th for Law / 19th best university
Manchester: 27th for Law / 24th best university

So both papers feel that Glasgow is a better university and better for Law at the moment than Manchester.

But that's just a starting point as there are other universities that would ask for similar grades (and I have learnt that you should consider putting at least 1 university that is above the grades you are expecting too as well as at least 1 below) and do you want to study in your home city? Glasgow is an 'ancient' university and Manchester is a 'red brick' but age certainly doesn't necessarily dictate prestige as shown by the high ranking of some 60s campus universities. But environment is important so I suggest visiting several universities that you would consider as alternatives, even if you are set on a university. I've visited both cities but not visited either university.

Reply 11

Icy_Mikki

13

L i b

From what I've been told, the faculty at Glasgow is quite poorly organised though.

Interesting... could you expand on that? Where did you hear that from?

Reply 12

Student satisfaction for law here is quite low, but I don't think that affects rep. In Scotland, it has more to do with where the partners of the firm you applied to study, so Gla and Edin still dominate. In England, its broadly accepted, or at least from what I gather, that those two are amongst the best, but the perception of Glasgow as a bit of a rough place usually puts people off applying there from England, if not the reputation of their grads. The dept did take an age to get their results out, but Im sure they teach things the right way, as they have plenty of famous names among the faculty- so you won't be at a disadvantage academically, although you may feel the method of teaching is over theoretical, compared to a more practical course at Strath, as thats what recent grads have been saying.

Reply 13

Edinburgh, as far as my dealings with them have ever went, have a bizarre admissions policy, which probably keeps this notion of eliteness they try to project going. What they say is, meeting the entry requirements (BBBB for them) will allow you to proceed to the selection phase, where everything will be looked at, and your app will be considered on its merits, not just grades. As a result, its perfectly plausible that AABB students that were rejected from Glasgow get into Edinburgh, but its also possible that AAAAA students are rejected from Edinburgh. They have a policy of favouring the locals, which makes people on TSR down south think they're super elite ('my AAB friend was rejected from Edinburgh but accepted at Glasgow, they must be second rate'), but much of this has to do with the inordinate amount of English applicants Edinburgh and St Andrews get. I'm sure I saw a statistic a couple of years back where it said that more Scottish students in the top 10% of their classes went to Glasgow than anywhere else in Scotland- which is explained perhaps by the fact Edinburgh do draw from lots of private schools where AABBB probably isn't anything special- just because you have an anecdote of a couple of high attaining students who were rejected means very little.

Back to point- I agree with Foxo, if you were wanting to go to an English law school, you should- because its going to consume your time and money if you go the long way round. Like Scottish medical schools, I wouldn't say any of the big five in Scotland for Law are any better or worse than each other, as arbitrary non-academic factors such as where the partners of your prospective firm went to can be more important. Entry requirements are no measure of quality either- Edinburgh keep theirs low to keep application numbers high, St Andrews get lots (for general courses) for the few places they have, and can get picky. Glasgow in this sense is probably closer to the truth- if you exceed what they print in the prospectus, theres a high chance you'll be made an offer of sorts.

And didn't Lib go to Aberdeen as well?

Reply 14

pamelaa

Your friends are weird. I know plenty of people who'd chop off their right arm to be in your position. Relax, you made the right choice as far as I can see... unless you want to study English law that is.

Reply 15

Becky_S

I completely disagree. I did my LLB there and, like most of the students who were on my course, loved it! :yep:

I know plenty of LL.B graduates from there who loved it- but for whatever reason, the satisfaction score hasn't been great. Perhaps these people aren't filling in the survey? I know there's been a few complaints about the organisation recently (time taken to get marks back, feedback etc), but generally none of them have too many big issues with the place- yet this hasn't translated into a high satisfaction score.

Reply 16

The Hatman

9

Becky_S

I completely disagree. I did my LLB there and, like most of the students who were on my course, loved it! :yep:

Haha, that's certainly a relief. I'm looking forward to it and the course seems fun, but the low satisfaction makes me somewhat wary.

Reply 17

jmac9

A.R.E

I see, well I go to Clifton Hall so it's not well known, it just became a senior school this year, only had a junior school...

I'll aim for 5 A's, probably get 4 A's and a B, I wouldn't mind other unis, e.g Aberdeen, Dundee etc.

Anyway, thanks for your response :smile:

Edinburgh really do have an odd admissions policy. I went to one of the very well known English private schools and quite a lot of us applied to Edinburgh, for Law aswell as other subjects. It was so random those of us who got offers and who didn't. Our grades, or predicted grades, were virtually the same and it seemed like a lottery who got an offer and who was rejected. I mean we were taught how to do the personal statement but it was so strange. I guess they work on a quota system and either you're in or out.

For the record I got an offer from Edinburgh which I met last year. AAA at A-level, however I plumped for Aberdeen as I preferred it at the Open Day over Edinburgh, and it's the top law school in Scotland (8th in the UK). As for Glasgow I think it is over-rated and badly managed and Lorna Brown is a hideous creature (she manages admissions).

Reply 18