Oxbridge application

[a***@btinternet.com]

I want to apply to Oxford for Law, but my Sixth Form Head has warned
me that my chances for entry would decrease significantly due to
competition and I should try for a less popular degree like Classics,
History, or Oriental Studies. The problem is that I am not sure about
how useful those degrees would be for employment, as I don't want to
leave Oxford struggling to find a job. Any advice about whether I
should risk applying for the Law course?

[Dr A. N. Walker]

Post by a***@btinternet.com
I want to apply to Oxford for Law,

Then *do* it!

Post by a***@btinternet.com
but my Sixth Form Head has warned
me that my chances for entry would decrease significantly due to
competition and I should try for a less popular degree like Classics,
History, or Oriental Studies.

(a) Schools rarely have more than the vaguest knowledge of
what happens at university entry. (b) If you actually *want* to do
Oriental Studies but are worried about jobs, that's different; but
it's absurd to suppose that you should do something you don't want
to do merely to get in. (c) If you aren't *good enough* to get to
Oxford on merit, then you are going to have a miserable time there
[esp doing a subject you aren't interested in] being the stupidest
person in your group. If you *are* good enough, then stop worrying.
(d) Oxford isn't the only university. There are at least a dozen
UK universities with excellent reputations in Law, just as there
are in all important/popular disciplines.

Post by a***@btinternet.com
The problem is that I am not sure about
how useful those degrees would be for employment, as I don't want to
leave Oxford struggling to find a job.

Doing degrees in order to get a job is one of the banes of
modern life. If you do intend to get a law degree from Oxford and
take it up as a career, then you are currently 5 1/2 years, even
without a "gap", away from even the lowest-paid rungs of the ladder.
If you already don't even know whether you want to do law or any of
half a dozen other subjects, then you're in no position to know now
what you will be wanting to do when you are 22+. No-one apart from
pushy parents and similar ["So what *do* you want to do?"] expects
you to know. Follow your nose; apply to the universities you want
to go to for the courses that interest you. If you are clever, you
will be able to wave a good degree at any employers who might be
interested in you, and let them worry about your job -- they will
*want* to employ you.

[Ian Ford]

Post by Dr A. N. Walker
Then *do* it!

Agree entirely with Andy - if you're good enough then it's worth a
punt. If you're not good enough then don't do it :-)

Hi Andy btw. Nice to hear you're still here. How's Nottingham...

Ian

[Dr A. N. Walker]

Post by Ian Ford
Hi Andy btw. Nice to hear you're still here. How's Nottingham...

Much the same as ever. Sunshine, lake, trees, grass, ....
New "atrium" being built. "They" also decided to replace the main
doors, and *then* found that the old door frame was holding the
building up. Um. Haven't actually been [much] away, it's just
that traffic in this group is now so low that I have something to
say only once a year or so ...!

Hope all well in deepest Suffolk. I see it's taken you
ten days to reply, so I assume the carrier pigeons that implement
the WWW/etc your way are down with bird 'flu?

[Ian Ford]

Post by Dr A. N. Walker

Post by Ian Ford
Hi Andy btw. Nice to hear you're still here. How's Nottingham...

Much the same as ever. Sunshine, lake, trees, grass, ....
New "atrium" being built. "They" also decided to replace the main
doors, and *then* found that the old door frame was holding the
building up. Um. Haven't actually been [much] away, it's just
that traffic in this group is now so low that I have something to
say only once a year or so ...!
Hope all well in deepest Suffolk. I see it's taken you
ten days to reply, so I assume the carrier pigeons that implement
the WWW/etc your way are down with bird 'flu?

LOL - I drive very near Holton every day - tis between the big one's
school and the little one's nursery. All good fun :-)

I just don't pass this way often enough - even when I go and get my
calendar from the nice google people I usually forget to check here -
there's just so little noise these days. Darned message boards I
guess.

Suffolk is still Suffolky. I'm teaching computers much more now which
is different but interesting and gives me a chance to be a geek. I may
have to take an OU course in it though - which would mean Maths :-(

Ian