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Original poster

Daughter has law offers - which should she choose?

90 replies

scattysue · 13/04/2025 02:47

My daughter applied to Bristol, Warwick, King's, UCL and Nottingham for law. She got 34 in the LNAT which is apparently great (state school student with no help). 8.2 in essay. She has got offers from all 5 unis but her school now suggest she should turn them all down and apply next year to Oxford (NB: she did not apply to Oxbridge this year). What do you think?

OP posts:
OneRealRosePlayer · 13/04/2025 03:20

thats amazing. I would not wait a year just to see if you might get into oxford. The school probably get advertisement for students who go to oxbridge.

If you can, i would take her to the different unis. Not to see the uni (as my mum said when i was looking at law unis, "its a room") but to look at the city. Where can she see herself living. I loved nottingham, i hated warwick.

OneRealRosePlayer · 13/04/2025 03:20

thats amazing. I would not wait a year just to see if you might get into oxford. The school probably get advertisement for students who go to oxbridge.

If you can, i would take her to the different unis. Not to see the uni (as my mum said when i was looking at law unis, "its a room") but to look at the city. Where can she see herself living. I loved nottingham, i hated warwick.

BooneyBeautiful · 13/04/2025 03:31

OneRealRosePlayer · 13/04/2025 03:20

thats amazing. I would not wait a year just to see if you might get into oxford. The school probably get advertisement for students who go to oxbridge.

If you can, i would take her to the different unis. Not to see the uni (as my mum said when i was looking at law unis, "its a room") but to look at the city. Where can she see herself living. I loved nottingham, i hated warwick.

That's interesting. My DS went to Nottingham Trent a few years ago and he absolutely loved the city. He got a first in Computer Science. My NDN's DS plans to go to Warwick in September (depending on his grades) to study Economics and Politics. What did you dislike about Warwick?

Gundogday · 13/04/2025 03:50

Does she want to wait, or have any desire to go to Oxford?

If not, choose the uni she likes the course and the place the best.

Not sure if it’s relevant, but Kings and UCL have announced that they are going to merge. Not sure how this will pan out in reality.

KittenPause · 13/04/2025 03:55

The school are idiots

thats bad advice

Bristol and Warwick would be my top choices

Warwick is a lovely campus with accommodation for every first year student whether they firm or insure

RedHelenB · 13/04/2025 04:00

Wouldn't she have to redo the LNAT if she waits a year? She might not score so highly next time round.

CuriousGeorge80 · 13/04/2025 04:36

You should take her to the different universities and let her pick. For example, my sister hated Warwick as she was totally bored by the location set up. London is so different as a uni experience (and expensive) you need to really want it.

All are great universities and will look great on her CV. I wouldn’t risk a year out on the chance of Oxbridge. She presumably wasn’t that driven to go there in the first place or she would have applied.

BlackBean2023 · 13/04/2025 06:15

Of those, for law, I’d go with UCL then Kings. Law is one subject where university ranking still counts for a lot.

Bristol would be third.

Warwick is quite a different experience to other universities because of the campus/location set up.

Pottingup · 13/04/2025 06:16

I did law at Warwick ages ago. I liked the course as I loved the law in context aspect and I think I would have probably hated law at Oxford or Cambridge as being too dry. Do get her to think about whether she’d enjoy the context approach.
I liked the campus aspect as well and generally had a lovely time there. DC have also gone there recently. Not to do law - but have had a really positive experience of the Uni. It does depend on whether she’d like a campus setting.

Ragamuffin8 · 13/04/2025 06:50

Gundogday · 13/04/2025 03:50

Does she want to wait, or have any desire to go to Oxford?

If not, choose the uni she likes the course and the place the best.

Not sure if it’s relevant, but Kings and UCL have announced that they are going to merge. Not sure how this will pan out in reality.

The “merger” story was an April Fool’s prank, not real.

FoxedByACat · 13/04/2025 06:58

UCL consistently is ranked higher than the others.

NotDonna · 13/04/2025 07:06

She has amazing offers! What are her thoughts? Does she want to wait a year? Why was it not considered in yr12? Does she want to go to Oxford? Does the course and way of learning there appeal?

Do her current (amazing) offers appeal? In particular the London offers?

I’m not impressed with school at all. If they’re now saying she’s a strong oxbridge candidate then why the heck didn’t school suggest it in yr12?

FoxedByACat · 13/04/2025 07:24

And I agree that even decent results doesn’t mean an offer from Oxbridge. A year ago Dd had an interview for Cambridge, which seemed to go well. She didn’t get an offer and had some feedback which seemed positive. So she took a year out and applied again and didn’t even get an interview! 🤷‍♀️

categorychaos · 13/04/2025 07:30

There’s no guarantee that she would get accepted at Oxford and the offers she has are good. Personally I’d choose Bristol as it is a good university city with lots to do including other cities on doorstep (Bath). I have friends who went there and have stayed after graduating. As others have said go for the area that best suits her. How close are you to these places? How far from home does she want to be? I’d encourage her to visit all and see how she feels. Also remember that sometimes if you take a year away from academia/study then you can lose your momentum a bit and it can be harder to maintain. There’s nothing stopping her going to Oxford as a postgraduate if she wants to either.

Pipsquiggle · 13/04/2025 07:38

All of them are great unis. She needs to go to visit them. She needs to work out whether she'd like a city or campus uni set up.

Not sure I would have wanted to go to uni in London - just so expensive. But that's me.

Probably wouldn't apply for Oxbridge unless she really wants to, it sounds like it is more about the school wanting her to do it than the other way round.

BeeandG · 13/04/2025 07:42

There may be some offer holder days coming up. Can she get to those to see how she finds each one? Chance to talk to some current students might help too.

PrincessofLiechtenstein · 13/04/2025 08:02

Gundogday · 13/04/2025 03:50

Does she want to wait, or have any desire to go to Oxford?

If not, choose the uni she likes the course and the place the best.

Not sure if it’s relevant, but Kings and UCL have announced that they are going to merge. Not sure how this will pan out in reality.

The Kings and UCL merger was an April Fools joke!

Gundogday · 13/04/2025 08:05

Ragamuffin8 · 13/04/2025 06:50

The “merger” story was an April Fool’s prank, not real.

Show quote history

Oops! With so many unis in financial trouble, I thought it was true, and unis have been known to merge.

QuillBill · 13/04/2025 08:07

The school are off their heads. I can hardly believe they said that! Shock

She should look at the modules and the opportunities that each offer. I’d also consider the costs.

BlackBean2023 · 13/04/2025 08:08

Ragamuffin8 · 13/04/2025 06:50

The “merger” story was an April Fool’s prank, not real.

Show quote history

Given the timing of April Fools day and firming up offers this is a pretty mean fool- the phones at Kings and UCL must have rung off the hook.

or perhaps it weeds out those with stronger critical thinking skills…! Wink

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 13/04/2025 08:14

DD didn’t get into Oxford. Got 4 A* at A level. Plus loads of other stuff. Considered taking a year out and reapplying. Her tutor said that unless you have a really positive plan as to how you are going to spend that year out and know what you want to get out of it (Vs I’m waiting a year to try for Oxford) then don’t do it as it is a waste of time. She didn’t take the year out and went to another red brick and is very happy.

howrudeforme · 13/04/2025 08:15

She should go view the unis.

we viewed Warwick and Nottingham. I loved Warwick and didn’t like Nottingham.

However also view the environment as DS is now at Warwick and is finding the campus set up boring and isolating (he finds the social events a bit twee so hangs out in Birmingham).

your DD will be spending a few years at uni so also take into account the environment.

user1471548941 · 13/04/2025 08:19

Definitely stupid advice from the school.
Those unis are very very different in terms of uni experience. I’d start by the following:

London- do you know how much the extra costs are and can you/she afford it? Do you also know how different the uni experience is in London and does she want it? They are close to all the top firms for work experience however and will have good links if what she wants is to be a lawyer specifically. That splits you down to 2-3.

If not London, how does she feel about campus vs in town or wanting other things to do around. Has she visited and got a feel for them? Do any have unique course features that she wants to benefit from. What do the uni’s offer that make her feel like it’s her vibe? Sports/socities etc. That should help you rank the other 3!

Ultimately she needs to he happy and that’s not just about the course/ranking but if she’s unhappy/skint/struggling to find her tribe it will mean she settles less. Unhappiness does impact on grades!

3amamama · 13/04/2025 08:30

If she wants to try for Oxford she should go for it. It’s a degree that can open doors. But only if she wants to - not because school want her to! She should read up about what it’s like - very different to other unis - short intense terms, small intense tutorials, ‘just for the sake of it’ exams at start of each term, degree rests entirely two weeks of finals. Great social and sports scenes but the energy required is +++. It’s not chill.

3amamama · 13/04/2025 08:33

Also yes of course there is absolutely no guarantee of a place and it’s insanely competitive, but if you don’t try you don’t know! The others will still be there next year too and she could spend a year working for £ and maybe doing a little travelling / volunteering.