Portsmouth or Bournemouth

[HerstoryInTheMaking]

DD is looking at studying law at these institutions.

She has had one hell of a day being downgraded to CDD. She is not keen on the idea of retaking or a foundation year.

Does anyone have any experience with these institutions. I appreciate they are not the greatest but DD is limited by grades.

I have friends with DC at both. I would say Portsmouth is a great place to be a student, Bournemouth a bit more sedate as a town.

I wouldn't call Bournemouth sedate, it has a very lively scene for students and youngsters and a great beach, it gets v.v. busy.

What about the reputation of these unis. Would DD be able to get into a graduate scheme for example.

Have you looked at the league tables and applied through clearing to see where she could study.
www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/law

What course does she want to study as that can make a difference as to which is better? Bournemouth sedate?! 😂.

Of course they get on graduate schemes . Friend who went to BU as a mature student is now on the NHS grad scheme.

Does anyone have any experience with these institutions. I appreciate they are not the greatest but DD is limited by grades

I know you're stressed op, but your post in insulting.

Sorry completely misread the OP regarding law.

I think that is trickier and may need nore tailored advice. We used to advice students to do a subject based degree and convert after unless at a v good uni. But this is put of date advice!

Advice advise 🤦‍♀️.

I live in Bournemouth and my Brother loves in Portsmouth. Neither could be called sedate 😂😂

The unis are a much of a muchness. Nightlife probably more at Bournemouth but Portsmouth will have a lot of naval personnel out celebrating on a weekend (or any night to be honest!)

Have you done open days or virtual open days at either?

I do know (without being too outing) that Bournemouth students do get offers for some great law placements. I don't have knowledge of the Portsmouth ones.

@ballsdeep
I don't see how saying the Unis are not the greatest is insulting. I didn't say they were bad but they are post 92 unis.

It seems that Bournemouth grads have better graduate prospects.

I know at least a couple of Bournemouth educated lawyers, including one who is fairly recent. Plus someone who fairly senior in the City who read finance at Bournemouth.

I know less about Portsmouth, but Bournemouth/BCP is an economically thriving town. About the eleventh largest conservation in the UK, with a strong finance sector. Sedate is an odd description.

[quote HerstoryInTheMaking]@ballsdeep
I don't see how saying the Unis are not the greatest is insulting. I didn't say they were bad but they are post 92 unis.

It seems that Bournemouth grads have better graduate prospects.[/quote]
It is to the people who go there!

Not conservation...conurbation.

The population is not that far short of, say, Bristol.

Ah, I might out of date. My ExH lived in Portsmouth and his brother in Bournemouth in the 1990s. Lots of pensioners in Bournemouth was how I remembered it!

She needs to decide which town she likes best look online virtual visits
And go with the attitude this will be tge right choice and she will work hard and be top of the class aNd extend herself eg with dissertations and have posiitive attitude
If you tell her both places are rubbish it s not a great start ...or if you go with idea they take lower grades therefore the studies will be easier or less valid.

Bournemouth looks to provide great opportunoties to go beyond and excel publish in BU review etc. Doesnt look "not great" ...may in fact have great practical aspects
www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/bournemouth-university/courses/law#

Ranks relatively high here too
thetab.com/uk/2019/11/07/these-are-the-unis-to-study-law-at-if-you-want-to-be-minted-131104

Start bigging it up for dd
Stop telling her it s "not great"
Tell her she s got a fantastic opportunity despite her grades not being as expectred

I think there are a couple of issues here.

Firstly with these A level grades, I do honestly think she will find getting a training contract to be a solicitor extremely difficult. So university choice might not matter greatly because there will be many students with higher grades and even if she gets a first it is possible it won’t alter employers view of the grades and she might not be shortlisted. This is because law is highly competitive and even smaller firms get a great choice of highly qualified applicants from the top flight universities.

The link above rates the starting salaries but doesn’t state if these are training contracts salaries. I think both these universities are better suited to people who are looking for an in house role or paralegal but I would ask what percentage actually get training contracts even with much higher A level grades. The grad salaries quoted suggest few. Many solicitors are looking for AAB minimum and of course law grads will be competing with grads of many other disciplines from top ranking universities who are converting to law as poster above alludes to.

On balance I would choose Bournemouth. I would encourage her to do her very best. I would also ensure she makes the best use possible of the careers advice at university. I do think she would need to be realistic with job applications and don’t rule out other jobs in industry or local government when the time comes to apply. Also make sure she understands it will be a very good idea to do as much work experience as possible. Apply to local solicitors for holiday schemes. Big London law firms might be out of reach but the university might have links to industry too so advise her to take anything going to put on her cv. Doing volunteering in law centres and for the CAB can be useful. She needs to do as much as possible to put her A level grades in the shade so employers look at her university outcome and relevant work experience/volunteering.

Good luck.

I am not a lawyer, but was running my mother's affairs for the past decade and had dealings with several departments of her local law firm, plus some litigation using a specialist London firm.

Degrees came from all sorts of places. The ones I looked up including two newish graduates: UWE and Bournemouth; slightly older graduates from: Bournemouth, Aberystwyth and Kent. And a couple at least, from an older generation, with no degrees at all.

Some were very good, some not so. Thing is that a lot of the work is relatively routine, and other skills come into play. One had picked up expertise in sheltered housing leases, and was brilliant with my mother who was, naturally, unhappy about having to leave her previous home. Another was able to give me lots of good general advice about employing a carer directly, based on long experience with the problems local small employers had faced. Its not just about what the law says, it is about finding solutions. Ditto with a tenant issue, and currently with my mother's probate. In many areas of law, especially in local practices, it is as much about communication, common sense, wisdom and experience.

Getting your foot in the door might be that much tougher if you don't have a name degree. However if someone makes a real effort to gain complementary skills via volunteering or internships, they might find themselves well up the queue when it comes to the regional firms.

Having said all that, local law firms face challenges. Conveyancing has become hugely competitive and it is difficult to make a living from it. When my mother died, the helpline attached to her employer insurance were very good at "frustration" of contracts, far better than her own lawyers. Ditto my home insurance and recent advice on party walls. There will always be the more personal areas such as divorce that don't lend themselves easily to legal helplines. But other areas do, and solicitor jobs are presumably going.

The profession is not as secure as it was.