Firstly, congratulations on your decision to pursue a law degree. Regardless of the route you decide to go down after University, law certainly remains a well-respected degree providing a strong foundation for a variety of career options. Secondly, as you are probably aware, the next three (or four depending on your degree structure) years are going to be some of the most difficult and trying years. Law is by no means an easy course, you will read more during this time than you probably have ever read in your whole life. It will be challenging at times and you will definitely question your decision to study law a few times. You will probably meet someone at the start of the course who will drop out by the end of first year. I say all these things not to scare you, but to prepare you for the journey ahead. Despite all these things, here’s the good news – you’ve chosen an extremely interesting and enjoyable course. If you are genuinely interested in learning about the legal system in the UK and the different strands of law you will certainly do so. As I said, it’s not all doom and gloom, I’m here to help, so I’ve compiled a short list of useful tips that may or may not come in handy for you as you embark on your law degree.
1.
The learning curve is huge – but don’t panic.
Everything from what is expected of you to the grade boundaries at degree level
are different from what you’re used to. Upon receiving my grade back for my
first essay, I was in complete shock to discover all my hard work had earned me
a mere 65! For A-Levels, that would be the equivalent to a C grade but at
University, it’s a 2.1. Although it’s not a great score, for a first essay,
it’s actually not bad either. Don’t be too hard on yourself at the beginning.
It might take a while to adjust and for the first 3 months you might feel like
you don’t understand anything and are struggling to keep up. That’s okay and
you are not alone. I don’t think I really got the hang of the course until
about April during revision time. By that point, I was able to see how the
different topics worked together to form some kind of meaningful pattern. As
long as you keep on top of the work, you will probably experience the same
thing yourself. And that brings me to my next point…
2.
First year does count. In most Universities,
first year grades don’t count towards your final degree classification. For
many, this is an opportunity to faff around and slack off in the first year. Do
not make that mistake. Although the year doesn’t count, you’d be doing yourself
a huge favour to stay on top of your work and actually put in effort for
assignments. Here’s why - if you’re a keen bean, you’ll be thinking about career
paths and jobs right from first year, for everyone else, it’ll be from second
year onwards. Most companies will ask for your first year grades when making
applications and they are looking for students with 1sts and 2.1’s. In my
experience, it’s better to get in early with applications, and you don’t want
to knock yourself out of applying by having less than a 2.1 average.
Furthermore, you’ll find that the workload increases as you move into second
and third year, put yourself in the best position to cope with this by staying
on top of right from the beginning. It will save you a LOT of time and
avoidable stress. The course will be stressful enough on its own, why add to
that by being lazy?
3.
Make lots and lots of friends! Law is definitely
a group course and I mean this in the sense that no man is an island. As clever
as you might be, you cannot know everything. You’ll need friends who have
strengths in areas that you don’t to help you through seminar work and
assignments. So make friends with people in lectures and in your seminars,
getting to know your lecturers and seminar leaders won’t hurt either. As I’ve
mentioned before, you’re in for a challenging couple of years and I can tell
you from experience that you’d rather be panicking in the library with a group
of course friends than trying to ride out the storm of assignments on your own.
Also, you never know when someone might prove helpful particularly as you move
through the course over the years and change modules.
4.
Join a society, a sports team, campus club, it
doesn’t matter, but get involved! Your first year is the perfect time to get
involved in as much extra curricular activity as you can handle. Your workload
is manageable (even though it may not seem like it at first) and you will
definitely have enough free time to do things outside your studies. University
is the perfect place to meet people from around the world and try out new
things you’ve always wanted to or never even considered. Extra curricular
activities are essential when applying for jobs, they are the perfect examples
to display key competencies like team work, communication and attention to
detail. You do not have to get involved in mooting or the debate society just
because you are a law student. If these are areas that genuinely interest you,
then feel free, but otherwise, my advice is to join societies and activities
that you think you will enjoy whether it be yoga, dancing or the food society.
5.
I touched on this earlier before but I think it
deserves its own separate point and that is to get to know your tutors and
seminar leaders! Again, when it comes to applying for jobs, you will need to
put down references. It’s a LOT easier to ask a tutor who actually knows you to
be your referee than having someone who doesn’t. I think it will reflect in the
quality and depth of the reference they provide to your potential employer.
This might be the person who tutors your favourite module/ module you’re doing
really well in or the tutor you are assigned by the University. Note that your
referee will also change as your progress through your degree. By third year, you will most likely need a
more current referee than your first year contract law tutor. Aside from
references, a good tutor can also make a huge difference throughout your degree
in encouraging you and offering sound feedback in your assignments. So even if
you’re not focused on applying for jobs or internships, I’d still recommend
getting to know one or two tutors really well in each academic year.
As you begin your law degree, remember
that thousands of students before you have gone through this process
successfully. You will be fine, stay on top of your work and don’t forget to
have fun along the way. The three (or four) years go by very quickly and you’ll
probably never have another experience like this so make the most of it.
AUTHOR PROFILE
Ayomide Akin-Oteniya
Ayomide is a law graduate from the University of Kent. She is pursuing her goal of becoming a commercial solicitor. Ayomide recently organised an event exploring diversity and the use of technology in the legal industry at Hogan Lovells LLP. She will be launching a buddy scheme in October 2016 to pair students and graduates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts with mentors who have successfully secured both.
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