The university that you choose will probably depend on your grades and your funding. In regard to grades, all universities set minimum grade requirements for entrance and usually, unless you achieve these, you will not be offered a place at that university. Regarding funding, more and more students are finding that their choice of location is to some extent influenced by the level of funding available to them. Put bluntly, higher education is now extremely expensive and unless you are fortunate enough to have parents who can finance the cost of that education, then it will be cheaper for you to continue to live at home than to move away to a university where you have to pay the additional cost of accommodation for halls of residence or privately shared accommodation with other students. Undoubtedly this affects the "student experience", as living away from home with all the freedom that entails has traditionally been part and parcel of what being a student means. That said, it does no harm to take your studies seriously and my experience as an adviser of studies to students is that many regret the "wasted" first year settling in as a student if it costs them poor results that have to be paid for later.
For mature students (defined for university purposes as anyone over the age of 21) the choice of university may also be restricted by other commitments. If you are a mature student you may have a mortgage, partner, children or other dependants, or you may simply like where you live and not want to move. If so, you will be confined to a university within your home town or within easy travelling distance.
There may be other reasons that determine your choice of university, not least the type of course that you want to study, vacation work, existing work (which you may be hoping to combine with your study) and job opportunities after graduation. All these considerations have to be carefully weighed up before making a final decision, and at the end of the day you have to feel good about your choice. To assist with your final decision, certain investigations should be followed up with the possible universities of your choice.
These include:
(a) Schools liaison visits
These are held at your school. Most schools run careers ventures that might involve visits from university representatives (often former pupils now studying at university) or hold careers evenings when various educational or employment opportunities are presented. Always make a point of going to these-you can never get enough information and the more you have the better informed you are to make the correct decision for you. Bear in mind that the brief of the university representatives that visit you will be to give general advice about all courses offered at their university. They may not be able to offer specific advice or be particularly knowledgeable about law courses. If you therefore have specific questions about the kind of degrees offered at their university you should ask them to pass your questions on to the member of staff at their institution allocated to deal with law.
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(b) Open days
These are held at universities. Most universities run several of these each year, generally timed to coincide with the period prior to when you need to apply to become a student, and then timed at a period after you have applied but may not have finally decided where you want to study. Universities will vary a little in how they approach their open days, but it is likely that at the pre-application stage the invitation to come to an open day will be issued to the careers adviser or guidance teacher at your school. On the other hand, once you have actually made an application to a university and they have made you an offer, then that is known as the post-application stage and the invitation will be issued directly to you, the potential student, and not to the school representative. These visits, whether pre- or post-application are invaluable and you miss them at your peril. You can judge much about what it would be like to study at a university by the kind of reception you get at an open day. Is the staff friendly, informative, helpful, approachable and professional? You ought to have a chance to speak to current undergraduates. Do they seem happy? What do they find most positive and most negative about the place? What are the results like? How many people drop out? How many achieve good degrees? How many have jobs lined up by the time they graduate? These are hard-hitting questions and you should ask them. It will reveal plenty about the institution if they cannot answer them. If for some good reason you are unable to attend the open day arranged through your school or offered to you directly, then it may be possible for you to visit the university individually. You can arrange this by speaking to the university's Student Recruitment Office and/or the Department of Law where you would wish to study. Most universities will do their best to accommodate you, but obviously, to make best use of resources, you will appreciate that universities prefer if you make an effort to meet the specific arrangements that they have made for your benefit.
(c) Prospectus
All universities publish a prospectus as well as other literature about their location, accommodation and courses. This is almost certainly also available on their website, and if they do not have one think seriously about going to that university. Poor internet facilities may reflect under-funding in I.T. generally and in other resources vital to your study.
Studying abroad: the Erasmus/Socrates program
Many United Kingdom law schools offer the chance to study in Europe for a year in a scheme known previously as Erasmus but presently undergoing a name change to Socrates. The scheme is basically an exchange system for those taking the honors degree, whereby in your penultimate year you study abroad for a normal academic session, selecting courses in the usual way and with your examination results counting towards the final degree awarded by your home university. Your choice of European university will be determined by those with which your home university has links and by your linguistic ability. If you can only speak English, then obviously your choice will be limited, mainly to the Netherlands. If therefore you would like to study in Spain for a year you need to get to grips with Spanish from the start of your degree. This does not necessarily mean you will have to take Spanish as part of your degree subjects, but it will at least mean you have to take Spanish classes in your spare time. It may well though be a worthwhile sacrifice for a year in the sun! Moreover your career options will be greatly enhanced if you are able to speak another language, and in regard to some jobs in the European Union, a second language may be essential.
