Should she bother applying to Cambridge law?

[dinomirror]

Dd could apply to Cambridge with A star AA. If she doesn’t then she could potentially apply to other ultra competitive unis with A star A star A or even 3 a stars. She is heavily contextual, but weaker gcses. Needs to tell college

Why not? She gets 4 other choices so why not aim high and see what happens?

Im basing this on chance of getting an interview

Im thinking that it might be better to have a more competitive profile for her for the other unis ( london ones) . She really loves london and may well choose a london uni over Cambridge on the minuscule chance she would get in to both

Has she been to any open days to see if she likes any of the places that appeal on paper?

OP i don't know the UCAS system but about to go through it
Id also say go for it unless it disadvantages her somehow

She needs to check course content of each she applies to. Course focus may differ and the Oxbridge teaching structure suits some more than others. She could have up to five choices so nothing lost by going for a mixture. Not sure why the rush to tell school though, the earlier deadline won’t be until October although she may need to prepare for entrance tests and interviews for Oxbridge.

https://lnat.ac.uk/ is the entry assessment

and the unis don’t see where else is on the application.

I don’t understand what you mean about her (predicted?) grades and overall profile being better if she didn’t apply to Cambridge. Is it because the college has said she hasn’t got time to improve her predictions before 15 October, but would do if she didn’t have to meet that deadline?

Hi, OP -

The LNAT that @LIZS linked to is the national law admissions test. Many of the top law schools require it and those that do weight it heavily. If you apply to Cambridge Law you must take the LNAT by mid October and Cambridge say they weight it much more heavily than your GCSE grades.

DD needs to see what she thinks of Cambridge: not everyone likes it, and that’s obviously fine. If she does like it, it is a wonderful choice. The PGs you list match the minimum Law offer from most Colleges so given the contextual circumstances you mention it sounds a reasonable choice. And as PP say, she has four more!

@dinomirrorshe should apply if she wants as she meets their criteria. We were at Oxford last weekend and they do consider contextualised GSCE’s. It’s only a part of their assessment and the offer is for 3A’s.
Cambridge does not place that much of an emphasis on GCSE’s from what I have read.
We went to some of the London universities open days, I can see why a young person wants to be in London and the vibe in London universities was completely different but not necessarily less competitive for Law.
Have you been to any of the open days ?

Yes this is it

Frankly, your reasoning doesn’t make sense. She has up to 5 choices, and one of those could be Cambridge.

The choice here is between Oxford and Cambridge. She can’t apply for both.

So she could chose 4 London universities, plus Cambridge.

Okay so,
she could apply to Cambridge plus london unis with A star A A
or apply to london unis with A star A star A or even 3 A stars
would her application not be more competitive with the second?

If the college thinks she is capable of getting three A stars can't they predict her that now? Ds's grammar will predict based on the end of term exams they have just done but some predictions are A/A star - this means based on current performance it is an A but the school recognises the student may through hard work be able to achieve A star and that is what they officially predict so that's what the students use for their application.
So Ds is predicted four A* but actually got an A and three A stars in his end of term exams

It really does not matter as long as her pg meet or exceed the standard offer. With contextual the offer grades may be lowered. She needs to make her UCAS choices based on where she wants to go and available course options she wants to study. For Law careers you can choose a degree subject she enjoys and will do well then specialise in Law afterwards.

Hi, OP -

Many Cambridge applicants will have predicted grades exceeding the entry requirements. This is never a problem, at Cambridge or anywhere else. It is always a good thing.

The requirements are minimums. At least, they are supposed to be. Many universities lower down the rankings will make offers to applicants who have PGs one away from the entry requirement when they aren’t getting enough applications.

Sorry, I did not see the post from @LIZS just above mine.

Hi again, OP -

Writing as a former admissions tutor:

the universities where your DD applies will review her application independently. Of those that make her an offer, she will Firm her top choice and Insure one choice, releasing the others.

Your Insurance is not your second preference. It s the choice where you could get in if you do moderately badly on your exams. I and some experts in the high schools on this Forum advise that the Insurance be two grades below the PGs. So if predicted A star, A A

the Insurance should have a requirement of
AAB.

Sadly, I must emphasise that in a competitive field like Law, meeting the PGs is very far from a guarantee that you will be made an offer.

So I would suggest two aspirational eg Cambridge plus a top London uni or two top London unis, two less competitive London unis or one in London and one elsewhere, and, assuming A star A A predictions. an AAB Insurance offer.

As PP suggested, another good route into Law is to do a different subject at Undergraduate and then a Law Conversion cost. Others will be more expert than me on the pros and cons of that approach.

Very best wishes to you and your very intelligent DD. This will be exciting.

Do you know for certain that these are her likely predictions?

You seem very certain that her predicted grades will inevitably be higher later. This isn’t necessarily the case.

As @LIZS says, applicants need to meet the requirements, not necessarily exceed them. For programmes which interview, such as Cambridge, there will be other considerations.

Your DD should apply for the degrees she wants to do, at the universities she could see herself studying at.

If she doesn't want to do the LNAT do remember 50% of solicitors do not do law as a first degree, including in top firms, so she coudl do a different subject first and convert to law the year after graduating (although if she does not obtain a sponsored law firm training contract that then has financial implications - extra year to fund) and after that conversion year then do the SQE post grad year/ exams.

All my children 4 of whom are solicitors (as am I) did not want to go to university in London probably because we live in outer London and 3 went to Bristol. This is a reasonably good list of popular universities for law firms - https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities and do be aware not all the London ones are as good as each other. Although the maintenance loan paritcularly if you have a low income is relatively high for London London accommodation is very expensive (Oxbridge is one of the cheapest places to go by the way due to short terms etc) and also student can be a bit spread out in outer London in years 2 and 3 so it is not always quite the normal university experience it can be at other places.