A Day In The Life of a Law Student (2 Viewers)

[Aerath]

not very good at public speaking though, would that be a major problem?

I'm not that confident a public speaker, but I get by now, both in terms of participation in the classroom, and at work whenever I'm in court. There's heaps of room for development in University.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

I'm thinking about Law as a back up IF and only if if if if if if if maybe I don't get into medicine. Is there really nothing interesting in law? Im sure there are people who absolutely love the course, right? is it competitive?

Yeah, it's competitive.

2000 words is nothing. its about the same ive done in the HSC.

How about you do a law essay, and get back to me on that? It's -slightly- different to a HSC essay.

 

[enoilgam]

How about you do a law essay, and get back to me on that? It's -slightly- different to a HSC essay.

Amen - 2000 words on Police liability for criminal law was a freaking nightmare.

 

[izzy88]

2000 words is nothing. its about the same ive done in the HSC.

It's not the word limit that makes essays difficult. Generally you could write about 3,000 to 4,000 answering the essay question - one difficult aspect is to cut that into 2,000 words - to be concise! And that's for any subject, not just law. I generally always wrote essays over the word limit in my arts subjects, but you wouldn't get penalised. In Law, if you write 2,001 words for a 2,000 word essay you 10% deducted.

You will find that many university essays are between 2,000 to 3,000 words - not many subjects require essays larger than that unless you are doing higher level subjects/honours - that's when you suddenly jump to a 20,000 word thesis. You find the content, and the theory and analysis required for university essays will be a much higher level than HSC essays.

 

[Aerath]

9.10am, September 3, 2011

Thank fucking god I finished that Crim essay. I hate drunks. I hate them even more now that they wasted my week. And what's worse is that I defended you lot in saying that NSW law was way too harsh. Ergh.

Anyways, clean up this weekend. Woooo. My study room looks like a bomb went off in here.

 

[izzy88]

Anyways, clean up this weekend. Woooo. My study room looks like a bomb went off in here.

haha i understand that problem! I've given up studying in my room - its too messy to do anything in, and I can't be bothered to tidy it. I've now spread out on the kitchen table. Will deal with room after my last exam on wednesday!

 

[izzy88]

Yay. Exam today. Closed book, 1 hour, worth 30%. Fun, fun looking forward to the end of this week!

 

[Aerath]

Equity?

 

[izzy88]

Equity?

Yep. Wasn't that bad in the end (I don't think), saying that after all the law assessments I've done, I still can't manage to ever accurately figure out how I've gone (ie. I think I did terribly, and do well, or think I did really well and only went mediocre). I guess I'll see what happens

Real Property on wednesday - 50 minutes + 10 minutes reading time, but at least this one is open book!

ps. is it just my settings or is the timing on the forums all messed up (ie. it says I posted at 8:50pm)...

 

[Omnipotence]

Yes, the time is screwed up.

 

[misericordia]

i had an essay due on mon, presentation and interview today, an exam tomorrow and an assignment due on fri. F.M.L. wasn't expecting the assignment due on fri bcoz the convenor changed unit outline but didn't make an announcement about it. d-y-i-n-g.

 

[d3st1nyLiang]

Pros/Cons of doing law anyone?
Why are you guys sticking it out though you find it boring?

 

[izzy88]

Pros/Cons of doing law anyone?
Why are you guys sticking it out though you find it boring?

I actually don't find it that boring. I find it stressful, and difficult, but it is interesting. I can also now see myself as being a lawyer (well at least for the first couple of years outside uni), and one thing to note, is that university law and real life law can be very different things - law at uni can tend to be very conceptual - it can also take you until some of the later compulsory subjects in later years to really see the relevance, and everything starts to get drawn together (ie. make sense!).

Also, not really to do with the subject matter, but law as a degree is very social - a good student law society on campus, parties, and people stick together (ie. basically all stressing about work together). Because a lot of subjects are compulsory you also get to know people a lot better then if you are doing a broader degree with less compulsory subjects.

 

[Trans4M]

the content is probs interesting and fun to learn but the assessments are hell! I enjoyed learning torts but when the assignment came, torts was the last thing I wanted to look at...

 

[trevhk]

Mm, I think it's my turn to procrastinate, really sick of research atm... lol Aerath you should see my room, I (no joke), slipped over a bunch of papers lying on the floor and couldn't get up for about a minute... Safety hazard? I think so.

Personally, I find law really interesting, it really depends what you are in it for. As aforementioned, if you are just in it for money, prestige, have the marks or whatever then you will most likely find it boring. I expected the study of law to be technical and challenging, in an abstract way that is, and it's turned out to be that way which I really enjoy, notwithstanding that some areas of law are a bit too straightforward in comparison to what I like...

Also in terms of competition, it depends on what university you go to. You'll find sandstone university's more challenging. I went to UTS in my first year and it was pretty laid back in comparison. Also, merely passing your subjects won't really get you anywhere for law... Sure it's not hard to pass, but it is definitely hard achieving goods marks which are pretty much necessary in finding a well paid graduate job.

Did no one here like Contract Law as much as I did? So much better than criminal or tort law... I think I'm a robot...

 

[Azure]

I'm still thinking about whether I want to try and transfer into law (transferring in is 100x harder than I imagined). Just need to workout how motivated I am do actually do it.

I'm fairly certain that I'll be looking to apply to get into law. Have absolutely no idea how I'm going to do it since MQ only allows 50 people per year to transfer (based on GPA). Has anyone had any experience with alternative methods of entry?

 

[Aerath]

UNSW is by far and away the easiest to transfer. You need a 95 ATAR and a 70 WAM. Or, a 98 ATAR and a 65 WAM.

USyd is a little bit harder, but I'm not sure about the exact requirements. trevhk or izzy88 might know.

 

[izzy88]

UNSW is by far and away the easiest to transfer. You need a 95 ATAR and a 70 WAM. Or, a 98 ATAR and a 65 WAM.

USyd is a little bit harder, but I'm not sure about the exact requirements. trevhk or izzy88 might know.

USYD depends on how many people are trying to transfer in - they say you need a 95 ATAR and a distinction average - however basically they use some system to give everyone a rank based on the atar and wam and then however many spots they have (say 20), the top 20 get in.

There is an old transfer thread somewhere around here for people who attempted to transfer last year - they gave their ATAR's/UAI's and averages - you could see how they went. I think however in likelihood you need about at least a 98 UAI unless you have a very high wam.

 

[Azure]

Damn that doesn't look too good. I'll probably need to get my marks up then.

Is transferring (directly) the only way in? Are there any other schemes I can use as a backup?

 

[Aerath]

You can transfer externally. I have a friend who transferred from UTS to USyd.

 

[Azure]

I'll probably make an application to USYD and UNSW alongside applying for an internal transfer at MQ. Although admittedly I'm not too optimistic about my chances.

MQ makes it surprisingly difficult. You need to apply to the non-law quota in which the dean needs to personally approve your application. GPA must be over 3.00/4.00 and only the top 50 people with the highest GPAs will be accepted. Once you get into the non-law quota you simply complete two law subjects and if you pass you get a spot. A GPA of 3.00/4.00 is easily attainable but I know for sure that there will be people with perfect GPAs applying.

An external transfer is probably easier.