Does doing a Law degree mean no Social Life?

Reply 60

4

Death

Can you please tell me whether you had enough spare time in order to undertake any form of a part-time job? By what you have described, I would imagine that was an impossibility however, many students must have found some way to cope with all that and a part-time job. Also does the workload vary between institutions. Would you end up working harder in Oxbridge than anywhere else?

Sorting out my part time work to suit the requirements of my course has been the bane of my life for the past year or so. In first year I struggled through working four shifts a week, around 4 hours each. However, I was spreading myself far too thinly and exhausting myself. By the start of 2nd year, I had changed department and was working 2 nights during the week from 5-8 and a shift on a Saturday. Since this was less hours than before it worked at first, but of course the demands of second year are substancially greater than first and I encountered the same problems ten fold. (Having the mumps and the flu within a month of each other is a danger sign if ever I've known one) I know it seems like 5-8 is a little shift, but that's two week days that I couldn't stay in the library beyond 2 o'clock, and invariably the work has to be fitted in at some point - usually one at an anti social hour.

I handed my resignation in and was quite prepared to just have to be skint for a while to pick myself back up. Luckily, my work place sympathised with the posistion I was in and offered to cut my hours back to one shift on a Saturday which has been manageable.

As for the workload question, I would think that it's obviously comes down to the individual. You will work as hard as you are prepared to do. For some people this will mean staying in the library at all hours, reading as many journals, cases, advanced reading lists as they can. For others it will be making sure they've covered what's necessary.

Reply 61

Death

That doesn't sound too encouraging! Does anybody know whether it will be easy for an undergrad to find part-time work in Cambridge or Oxford?

Reply 62

Phonicsdude

19

The college at Oxford or Cambrdge will pay you until you stop working. they are quite clear about it: NO part-time work!

Reply 63

Death

Huh? What do you mean? They don't allow part-time work???

Reply 64

OldMan

Death

Huh? What do you mean? They don't allow part-time work???

Yes that is the basic position. Apart from some limited work in college - serving in hall, bar work etc - you are generally not permirtted to work during term, and only with your tutor's permission during the vacations.
In practise, many people do work during the vacs.

Reply 65

Death

Aha I see. So what if foreign students cannot pay for their living expenses etc...I heard student loans are not provided to any foreign student who has not lived in the UK for at least 3 years. They offer other financial benefits right?

Reply 66

OldMan

Death

Aha I see. So what if foreign students cannot pay for their living expenses etc...I heard student loans are not provided to any foreign student who has not lived in the UK for at least 3 years. They offer other financial benefits right?

Afraid I don't know what is available for non-UK students, but I fear it may be limited.

You will need to do your research carefully as the Universities will want to see that you have arranged all your funding for the entire course before you are allowed to start

from the Oxford website (http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/finance/)

As in other universities, a person accepting admission to a college thereby accepts an obligation to obey the rules of the college and of the University, and to pay such fees, dues and charges as the University or the college may lawfully determine. Colleges may therefore ask candidates, to whom offers have been made, for details of their proposed funding some months before the start of the academic year in October, and may require guarantees. It is not possible to work your way through college.

Reply 67

jurisprudence

Colly

It's all lost on me anyway. I'm from Newry; is there anyone in your class from the Abbey CBS do you know, out of interest.

There are loads of Abbey students doing law at Queen's... All the good Newry schools are represented in Law - Sacred Heart, Our Lady's etc.

Reply 68

Colly

1

jurisprudence

There are loads of Abbey students doing law at Queen's... All the good Newry schools are represented in Law - Sacred Heart, Our Lady's etc.

Yea that's what I would have thought, there always seems to be loads out of my school heading up to Queens to do law, not as many this year though for some reason.

Reply 69

Not a Lawyer

jurisprudence

At the other end of the spectrum there are universities that do offer an easier degree. In my neck of the woods there is the University of Ulster whose law degree is a complete waste of time. Yet again I can qualify this by saying that when it comes to get onto our version of the LPC, UU students tend to do better in the entrance exam (you have to get in on merit - there are very few places).

Jordanstown gears its course towards practical legal skills because that is what it's good at. Land Law is a pretty good example of this - the classes are problem solving and nothing else. We skipped the history and rationale behind Land Law entirely and were told to read 8 cases at our first lecture for a discussion group three days later. The UU degree certainly isn't a brain buster but considering that most law students want a place at the institute and that Jordanstown prepares them for the exam better than Queen's, I don't see how you can call it a waste of time. I'm currently reading one of Dworkin's books but I don't think diving into legal theory would even be useful for someone who just wants to be a solicitor and has no ambition to become a great legal thinker. If they were that enthusiastic, they probably wouldn't have ended up at Jordanstown in the first place.

This does make it a more vocational degree than an academic one but let's face it - most people are at university to get a job, not to think. This is particularly true of the many pretentious idiots who are drawn to law courses.

This seems to offer UU students an adavantage, however I've heard that for the Bar exam and at the top end of the spectrum Queen's students do better.

Heh, I noticed that once while trawling through the barrister directory. Queen's, Queen's, Queen's. Still, the institute exam exposes that most Queen's students (like their Jordanstown counterparts) aren't particularly smart and blow it when faced with anything other than a memory exam. Showing your knowledge instead of your legal skills is such a fundamental error that anyone who does it should be kept as far away from paying clients as possible.

Reply 70

jurisprudence

As you say, the UU degree is fine if you want to be a solicitor in Northern Ireland. If you want to work in London or at the Bar anywhere you will find it to be extremely difficult with a UU degree, hence, for me, and for a lot of the people here I wouldn't recommend it.

Reply 71

Not a Lawyer

Neither would I. If I was planning on being a lawyer I would probably be annoyed about the complete lack of enthusiasm among the staff for anything other than grinding through cases.

Reply 72

themesong

I turned down Queen's for Manchester University.

But I did attend an evening course on my gap year titled "Introduction to the Legal System" by Dr. J....

Was great!

Reply 73

LaDiDah

Curious-which university did you go to and what A-levels did you do?

Reply 74

hk_1_kinobi

I hope not!! Coz that's one of my options :frown:

What about economics?? I want to know how difficult that is at university level. :smile:

Reply 75

chriswhit

1

Nina166

I am about to do a law degree next year. But I am really scard now as all my friends to change courses, or to at least combine it with another degree. Is it really that hard...and do you find yourself doing more work than most other people, with little time for social life, esp in 2nd &3rd year?
I want to do a Law degree, but I also want to live my life to the full and have a great social life at university.

How do you guys that do Law find it???
And will becoming a lawyer also mean work work work??(Just in case u know any lawyers).
What am I getting myself into?!!

Lots of good stuff in this thread. On a general level, its a degree and it certainly is a step up in terms of the demands it makes on an interlectual and emotional level. Law does have the reputation of being a harder degree relative to other subjects yeah. That is however part of the territory and is reflected in the increased competition for offers and the high grades required to meet them. As others have said too, its certainly something to get used to in a professional career in law, if thats what you want.

Its challenging yeah, but its also doable, as the thousands of law students who get degrees every year will tell you. In the first year I was told a figure of 40 hours a weeks including lectures and thats quite reasonable maybe not so much in the first year, but certainly in the second and third year. One important thing you will have to learn, and which will cetainly help you with your time is good organisation and management of time. Make a plan and stick to it, building in free time and breaks.

I would agree that a work/life balance is not just healthy, but imperative! If you work all the time you will a) miss out on a lot of what uni is about and b) get stressed and ill. I certainly managed to go out once or twice a week and do my sport. Its important to be realistic - you aren't going to be chained to your desk 24/7 but its not going to be put on a plate for you either :smile:

The first few weeks might be tough, but if you want it, you will find your own way to manage and do what you need to do in order to come out with a good result.

Reply 76

Lady Narcissus

14

Make sure you get some social life, it helps you work!

Reply 77

acey10

1

40 hour week doesn't sound too bad, it's mostly reading's yeh? Do you take notes whilst you read?

Reply 78

chriswhit

1

acey10

40 hour week doesn't sound too bad, it's mostly reading's yeh? Do you take notes whilst you read?

I read and then took notes so as to get an overview of the topic, and to make sure I understood it before I took any notes. This can take a while though, and on those occasions when I was in a hurry, yeah, I took notes and read at the same time.

Reply 79

Not a Lawyer

acey10

40 hour week doesn't sound too bad, it's mostly reading's yeh? Do you take notes whilst you read?

Does anyone actually do 40 hours a week? Considering you can read most textbooks cover to cover in less than two days, how would it be possible to maintain such a heavy schedule for an entire semester without reading the same material ad nauseum? Even 15 hours a week would be pushing it.

Does doing a Law degree mean no Social Life?

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