Applying for Law degree - need some advice re UCAS application, essay, University choice?

Question

Hi everyone, I am preparing now to apply to UCAS for a LLB in couple of Unis around England, was wondering if some of you are doing law already and can advise me on couple of issues I have. Major problem is a ‘personal statement’; don’t know what to write, and how to write. I went on to American websites (www.essayedge.com) and they recommend talking about your personality, what you have done in life to make you different, special, unique, not about why you want to study law. Nevertheless UCAS says I should mention reasons as to why I chose law. Also can I write in casual style, make it into a story?

Maybe some of you could recommend good Universities (of course we know Oxbridge is best, but I wouldn’t want to go there, something more down to earth and fun).

I will really appreciate all your responses!!
Thank you

Answer 1

Don't pay any attention to US advice for application essays, US university admissions essays are completely different from a UCAS statement (trust me, I've written both successfully).

I wouldn't advise being too casual in your statement, it might work but I've *never* heard of anyone doing that.

You should write about what attracts you to law, definitely. Do write about yourself, show them why you'd be good at law and also what other qualities you have to offer the university. You might want to mention what you're hoping to get out of university, but focus on selling yourself as a hot prospects.

Some of the top universities for Law are UCL, KCL, LSE, Birmingham, Warwick, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Glasgow and Bristol - they're fairly different from Oxford and Cambridge and might appeal to you more.

If you check out the Guardian University Guide (see link below), you can also search for rankings according to your predicted UCAS tariff, and check out student satisfaction ratings and university profiles for the places that interest you.

Answer 2

A personal Statement is about you and what your likes and dislikes are. What you have achieved and want to achieve. My Daughter has just gone to UNI in Preston (UCLAN) and apparently I have been told that if you want fun and work hard this is the University to go to, but just don't take my word for it , go to an open day. Also in your personal statement put down why you want to studey law, and sya thta you want to make a difference.

Good Luck

Answer 3

I am currently in my second year studying law with german law down in Exeter, and to be honest the best thing with a personal statement is to be onest, i wrote mine almost as if it was a long version of the aboiut me section of mypace or something like that. just talk about the things you do that you think might be of interest to the unis and show you have extra curricular activities e.g if you dance or are in a sports team or band, talk about why you want to study law, as they are interested, but dont use the whole statement talking about it, about 25% is more than enough
if you have a local connexions office or there is a careers aviser, talk to them as they will be able to help you as well as they probably know best what to put in there as well
As for universities, Exeter is really good for law, it jhas one of the best scores for research in the country and is in the top 20 in the times charts, the lectures are relatively easy to understand and if you have any problems it is easy to fiind a lecturer or go talk to your tutor about it,, my friend is studying law at Queen m arys in london and he is really enjoying it and says it is very interesting, from what i gather the assessments are more spread ouit there, but it depends on what you want and what interests you the most. i think the best advice i was given when looking to see what uniersities i wanted to apply to was to look at the unofficial guides of the places you are interested in to see what they are really like, and look on websites like www.ukcoursefinder.co.uk to see what unis bes suit you
Good luck in your application

Answer 4

The advise given to me was to make it personal but to include in your interests something related to the area you wish to study...

For example...you could say that you like to watch TV and find yourself facinated by a certain programme that has some connection...

or even something like you enjoy socialising with friends and like to try and solve their problems or something along those line..