Help please (1 Viewer)

[Annick98]

Hi guys,

I want to get into law when I finish school. I have a few questions:

1) is it harder to get into law in postgrad or undergrad?
2) does the uni you graduate from really matter. so will a person who graduates from usyd will be at an advantage over someone who graduated from uts?
3) Is there an interview you have to do like med?

btw I do english extension 1, advanced english, legal studies, business studies, french contineurs, modern history and economics if that helps...

many thanks,
Annick

 

[Trans4M]

1) I believe postgrad (JD Programme) law might be a bit easier than the undergrad (LLB Programme) to get into. In saying that, you can always apply to transfer into law after studying another degree for a year.

The JD Programme is a bit more intense than the LLB Programme. With the LLB Programme you settle into law whereas with the JD Programme you are thrown straight into the deep end.

2) Unfortunately it does to a slight extent. However, going to USYD does not guarantee you will get a graduate position if you have poor communication skills. I know a lot of law students who went to UTS and Macquarie and are now working at the Big 6.

3) Nope. As it stands, it is purely ATAR.

TBH everyone starts law on an even playing field. Courses like legal studies does not help you when you study law. However, your writing skills may be more refined than students who do purely science and maths.

 

[Squar3root]

I wanted to do law when i finished school. I am doing eng/sci now and I've never looked back

 

[wannaspoon]

I wanted to do law when i finished school. I am doing eng/sci now and I've never looked back

I wanted to do law; found myself doing law; keep telling myself I should have done engineering... Look back in hindsight constantly

as for your questions:

- In order to do a JD (Post graduate law) you have to have completed an undergraduate degree... LLB (undergrad law) is probably easier to do because there is a smaller mountain to climb (if you are a year 12 school leaver)... HOWEVER, in terms of getting in to a JD, if you have done an undergrad degree (other than an LLB); they will probably let you accept you in a heartbeat... JD programs are normally insanely expensive, quicker to complete and are a massive cash cow for universities... they will let you in simply because of the fact they view you as a dollar sign, rather than a student... Honestly, they are both the same course... one is just tailored to school leavers, the other, mature aged students... I had a chance to do an JD, I did LLB instead (simply because it is much cheaper and they are both the same)

- The school you go to does play a part in you obtaining a high end grad position... However, not as much as many on here would make you believe... Good grades; volunteer activities; extracurricular activities and a host of other details play a much more important role... When you are doing an LLB or JD, you are getting taught by lecturers from a broad range of universities (good and bad, in my honest opinion, all universities have got pretty bad)...
Getting a job after graduating is more about how you stand out from the 200 other plebs applying for that job... obviously you are not going to stand out much if you all have good grades or if you all went Melbourne University... However, if that was the case, and you have gone the extra mile... you will trump those other applicants... so, yes and no, the uni you go to matters, in a way...

- Interviews, depends on the university you are applying for and a host of other things (eg: are you year 12; a mature aged applicant; etc)... I did not have to do one, however, it is a very ad hoc thing...

 

[Squar3root]

but mechatronics and engineering ftw > law & everything else

 

[Futuremedstudent]

Hi guys,

I want to get into law when I finish school. I have a few questions:

1) is it harder to get into law in postgrad or undergrad?
2) does the uni you graduate from really matter. so will a person who graduates from usyd will be at an advantage over someone who graduated from uts?
3) Is there an interview you have to do like med?

btw I do english extension 1, advanced english, legal studies, business studies, french contineurs, modern history and economics if that helps...

many thanks,
Annick

They don't care what subjects you do, someone who does all the maths and sciences can still get into law.

 

[Squar3root]

They don't care what subjects you do, someone who does all the maths and sciences can still get into law.

Unfortunately yes. I know many people who purely did high levels of maths, did all sciences and "high scaling subjects" just to get into law, commerce, med, etc

 

[Futuremedstudent]

Unfortunately yes. I know many people who purely did high levels of maths, did all sciences and "high scaling subjects" just to get into law, commerce, med, etc

people do the asian 5 to get a higher atar...

 

[obliviousninja]

I wanted to do law, but commerce is where the party lyf is at.

 

[wannaspoon]

I wanted to do law, but commerce is where the party lyf is at.

 

[Futuremedstudent]

hey op, i know this is random but do u go to sydney girls high?

 

[enoilgam]

1) Depends on the uni and their selection criteria. As Trans4M has pointed out, the JD program is a little more intense because you dont have a chance to settle into Law like you would in a combined degree. I found Law to be significantly harder than Commerce and it would have been a much more difficult transition if I started out with a semester full of Law subjects.

2) It does to some extent. Recruitment in Law is still quite old fashioned (a mate of mine had to mail in his CV), meaning that partners still have significant input into the selection process and policy (in contrast to most businesses where HR has more input). Essentially, a lot of these partners are out of touch with recruitment and place value on uni prestige (as opposed to HR people, who know that uni prestige is really worthless when it comes to selecting people). That being said, it isnt a significant factor especially compared to your grades and other experiences.

3) For most unis, ATAR/GPA/WAM is the sole criteria. Notre Dame utilises an interview, but given the number of applications they receive, it really is a formality.

 

[Futuremedstudent]

1. It would depend. For UNSW and USYD it would be more difficult to get into undergraduate law than a JD but at the same time it's pretty difficult maintaining a D average in undergrad which is what they usually require. Definitely don't get discouraged if you don't get into undergraduate law because I know plenty of people that have been successful in getting into JD's and had pretty bad ATARs. They worked hard during their degree and were rewarded. Uni is nothing like high school anyway.

2. Everyone asks this question. I think there definitely is a difference when you're coming straight out of uni but after a few years experience it won't matter as much as how well you actually perform on the job. USYD and UNSW will open the doors to a lot of top-tier firms straight out of uni but this is also conditional on how well you do during uni otherwise you're in the same boat as a UTS or Macquarie graduate, maybe even worse off than a good UTS graduate.

3. There's no interview.

Just make sure law is what you want to do. It's not like the tv shows I got accepted into UNSW and Macquarie combined law. I chose UNSW because it's a great law school. I didn't put USYD as my preference because I preferred the teaching style of UNSW. In the end I withdrew from the course because I realised I didn't want to be a lawyer.
Your subjects are a reflection of your interests and though they may be closely related to law they won't give you any advantage when actually applying to law. I placed 6th in state in Legal Studies and although I did find the subject interesting, it's very different to law at university.

what do u mean by bad atar? like 98