1520 SAT (770 verbal, 750 math)
5’s:
- Art History
- US History
- Environmental Science
- Language and Composition
4’s:
- Biology ):
This year (predicted 5s):
- English Literature
- Psychology
- Chemistry
- Calculus AB
- Computer Science Principles
- Maybe: self-study AP Government? Wouldn’t be too hard I think considering my APUSH knowledge.
Personal statement:
I talk about following a supreme court case in the US, the lack of female representation on the judiciary (and a particular book I read about a similar issue in the UK), taking online courses related to law (both UK & American). Also tying in how the law is closely connected to ethics and philosophy (have activities in these areas) and volunteering in ‘teen court’ (basically court for small offenses committed by minors).
Also, I hope this isn’t too braggy but I feel pretty confident about the LNAT, and the Cambridge Law Test (I keep up to date on international issues, I read a lot and am generally good at essays).
Looking at:
Edinburgh, UCL, Kings, Glasgow, Cambridge or Durham
I would back you for most of those except Cambridge, which is always a wild card. Personal view, I would take Durham over one of UCL or Kings.
Keep in mind that the Cambridge Law Test is an analytical assessment, not a measure of how au fait you are with international issues. Nor would I assume that getting good marks on US essays will translate into good results on essays for the UK.
Remember that Cambridge wants 5 ‘5s’ on APs, and they get to pick the 5 from all of your completed and predicted tests.
But: your biggest challenge will be convincing Cambridge that 1) the law is what you truly, deeply want to study; 2) that their course is a good fit for you & and you are a good fit for their course; and 3) you really will come if offered a place. I wouldn’t be sanguine about any of those points.
Finally, be clear that the 3 year UK undergraduate law course is NOT a “law degree”: it is a BA in Law, and will not make you eligible to practice law anywhere in the world. To practice in the UK requires another year of study + an apprenticeship (for which you might need a work visa) + testing; to practice in the US will require getting an LLM (TX, LA, TN, CA, NY) OR a JD (most other states) + the bar exam.
Thanks for your helpful comments! What I meant by “keeping up to date on issues” and being a generally good writer is that I’m very engaged in political discourse (thanks to my family’s background) which I think will help prepare me to the sort of intellectual/reasoning standards (or as Cambridge says “aptitude”) for studying law.
I would definitely choose Cambridge over any other US institution, I really don’t think it can be topped for me, personally. I’m not applying to the top 10s in the US, anyway. Hopefully, I’ll be shortlisted to interview (which is apparently 75% of applicants are) and can shine there.
I think I’ll drop Kings (apparently there’s low student satisfaction) and replace it with Durham.
One other question: for schools with the January 15th deadline, is there any advantage in submitting an application and taking the LNAT earlier?
Most of them are on rolling admissions, so you could hear back earlier.
If you’re aplying to Cambridge you have to get your UCAS application in by 15 October, so you need to get cracking. It’s a common application for five university choices.