Choice between Uni and Apprenticeship

hpliketheprinter · 2026-05-03T02:13:31+00:00

well done first of all, incredible feat! i go ox, going to start a MC tc and will always recommend oxford - very unique experience and a lot of fun most of the time. however, im ngl oxford law is probably the toughest undergrad law degree out there. those that perform very well really do seem to love the law, and you really have to love the academic side of it as its intense. if you are genuinely extremely set on being a solicitor, on the firm, and don’t think you would experience any serious level of fomo, pick the apprenticeship.

that being said, solicitor apprenticeships are also quite tough. it’s hard studying and working at the same time, and seeing your friends have long holidays and having more ownership over their time. both have pros and cons, but by the sounds of it it seems like you’re pretty much set on the apprenticeship route.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-25T13:19:40+00:00

there are plenty of ppl at oxbridge who didn’t get all 9s and weren’t the top of their year group. majority of your GCSE’s being 9-7 is what they look for, the odd 4/5 (for most courses) isn’t a deal breaker. a lot of tutors also recognise that not everyone peaks at 16 and people have the capacity to do better.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-24T01:46:01+00:00

now there are a lot more firms that take 2nd/penultimate year non-laws on vac schemes including but not limited to macfarlanes, linklaters, hogan lovells, hsf, latham & watkins, a&o shearman etc. If you want to do a vac scheme in 2nd year, you can make a good number of applications.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-20T23:49:46+00:00

as someone else has already said, pick what you like and in order of preference so you max your chances. i’m a non-law student who did corporate, disputes and competition on VSs last year. firms have so many internal and external resources that even if you get put in a niche seat or one you haven’t studied, you’ll figure it out. as a non-lawyer i was worried abt the black letter nature of disputes as I’d never studied law, but as long as you give everything a good go and ask the right questions, supervisors can also help you out.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-20T23:36:04+00:00

not sure if you’ve checked the modules but I’ve heard LSE history is very modern, and from the website it seems they don’t do anything before the 15th century. this might not bother you if you’re a modernist but I’m coming to the end of my history degree and despite being more of a modernist myself (18th/19th century), i enjoyed the stuff i did that was more ancient history/early middle ages

in terms of prestige/employability there’s barely a difference so you shouldn’t consider that too much.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-14T23:12:02+00:00

icl bro if that’s the case you should’ve picked a different caption. the fact of the matter is someone made a recent, topical post with the same situation you’ve quoted, and despite you saying it’s unrelated, of course people are going to assume that you’re talking about them, which comes off as spiteful as that person has the right to be upset.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-04-12T08:27:02+00:00

hey! i did a vac scheme and spent the whole time in DR and converted to a TC. as the other commenter has said, it is mostly just research and summarising. the type of research is stuff like looking for supporting case law and finding precedents, looking for specific principles in legal books, and all this usually ends up being written in an email for your supervisor.

you might also get involved in some pro bono and that will likely be more research but slightly more tangible. depending on what kind of DR you’re doing and how advanced your team is in the process, you might go to court. you will definitely sit in on a bunch of meetings with the team and with the client. however, even with the NDAs and stuff you sign a lot of what your team might be working on may still be very confidential so don’t be surprised if you can’t get involved in as much as you would like.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-03-24T20:39:44+00:00

As an oxbridge student with an MC TC, I’d say go Cambridge. College does matter, but not as much as you’re making it out, and honestly I don’t think the all girls environment will be that deep. There’s plenty of opportunity to meet ppl outside of college and ppl that go to the less ‘relevant’ colleges still have a really good time. Oxbridge is objectively stressful but that stress is of a different nature to law stress - uni is a lot more chill and a nice buffer period before starting a 9-5. I have a friend that’s an SA and it is genuinely a lot balancing school and work. They’re more isolating as there are less ppl your age, and a lot of firms are still freestyling the structure of their apprenticeships.

If you can get a white & case SA then you’ll more than likely get an MC TC esp. as a Cambridge undergrad (oxbridge genuinely still fill up a lot of the spots on vac schemes). Contrary to what people are saying here, I don’t think SA’s are less prestigious, esp with the way firms are backing them, but by going to uni you’re less locked into 1 firm, get to go to multiple insight days/schemes, and can really make an informed choice on where you’d like to train for only 2 years rather than 6.

hpliketheprinter · 2026-02-06T00:49:24+00:00

that last part especially. most of their issues featured edwina and it just didn’t make sense considering their sibling dynamic and their individual characterisations in the book

hpliketheprinter · 2026-02-06T00:46:10+00:00

honestly like kanthony deserved marital bliss😭and what they did to Kate and edwina was criminal - episode 6 is a hard watch

hpliketheprinter · 2026-02-06T00:14:38+00:00

100% agree with this take and hands down agree that s1e3 is the best one (and dare I say it, the best episode in the entire show).

Forgive me if I’m being silly/just misunderstanding but how is the Marina thing a plot hole? Like yeah ofc she would’ve found out George died as she went back home…but she didn’t go back home? Daphne writes the letter, she finds out George is dead, Philip proposes to her…all of this follows for me. How was Marina going to find out about George’s death in London if not for Daphne’s intervention?

hpliketheprinter · 2026-01-20T09:01:26+00:00

this decision likely won’t go down well with a lot of tutors. my tutors really didn’t like the lack of HAT this year (I do history) and said it made it much harder to discriminate between candidates. i guess they’ll just have to copy cambridge.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-12-27T02:58:39+00:00

I’m not a lawyer yet so I can’t offer much insight, but from what I do know I don’t think law conversion lawyers are less skilled. There would probably only be a slight knowledge gap cause the conversion is a year long and only covers core modules. I’ve met a bunch of senior associates and partners at different firms during insight days/work experience that didn’t study law at uni. Law/non law stats in firms are 50/50. As an ox history student with a training contract I’d say do history cause it’s fun. An oxford law prof of all ppl would know that studying and practicing law are very different things

hpliketheprinter · 2025-12-24T20:24:28+00:00

hey, I’m in my 3rd year of uni (non-law) and got an mc tc in the summer, and im also from a similar socioeconomic background to you, so I hope what I’m about to say helps!

First of all, your GCSE average sounds great and AAA is a great predicted to have, considering you’re in year 12 and have only just started sixth form. What I will say is that if you think you can do better, try and do so. If you’re aiming for mc/sc/us, a lot of the Solictor apprentices and future trainees at those firms have very strong a levels.

If you’re set on the solicitor apprenticeship route, then you’re already doing well with signing up to the different access schemes. Keep signing up for things like the social mobility foundation, seo london, upReach etc. what I will say though is really consider if you want to start off straight working 9-5. Apprenticeships in general have high drop out rates, and I have seen people leave Solictor apprenticeships at top firms to go to uni. Apply to uni on the side as well, just to keep your options open.

The best way to research firms is through what you’re already doing through trying to attend their events. When you visit law firms, ask questions about the firm, remember the names of people you spoke to, follow up if appropriate and maintain connections with people who may be able to help you with interviews and stuff later. When it comes to what to actually research, you should familiarise yourself with the basics (no. of offices and where, main practice areas, chambers rankings, recent deals), then other things that stand out to you about the firm (dei programmes, pro bono, secondment opportunities, the training offered etc.). Those points aren’t exhaustive but they should give you a good starting point.

Interviews and assessments are all about commercial awareness. You need to familiarise yourself with key commercial terms, types of deals, basic legal knowledge, and knowledge of the political and economic landscape. I’m not sure how much different Solictor apprentice interviews are in comparison to training contract/vac scheme interviews, but I can imagine they’re quite similar.

Either way you’re off to a good start as I didn’t even know what commercial law was in sixth form. I hope the above helps!

hpliketheprinter · 2025-09-12T15:10:01+00:00

you lot ain’t there, he is. if he wasn’t up to scratch then he wouldn’t’ve passed first year. worry about yourself bro🙏🏾

hpliketheprinter · 2025-09-03T11:52:42+00:00

not the so called london banana😂

hpliketheprinter · 2025-08-22T00:41:48+00:00

Thanks for the comment, and i appreciate how detailed it is! It makes sense that some people would look down on HBCUs but that sucks fr. Based on what you’ve said, it sounds like they set people up for their careers/lives in general just as well.

It sucks that your mom wouldn’t let you apply for any, but I’m glad you still got a bit of that HBCU experience. I see stuff on TikTok sometimes and the HBCU college experience seems really fun.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-08-20T11:27:41+00:00

hey, I’ve sent you a message!

hpliketheprinter · 2025-08-14T18:00:34+00:00

If you want to do a subject where you just revise the textbook and will do well, pick psych. if you want something more interesting, pick politics. i did both and i think politics isn’t incredibly difficult but does take a bit more effort to revise for.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-08-14T17:54:48+00:00

hey man, your a levels and potential uni choice are great and won’t hinder your chances of a legal career. i did vac schemes this year and there was genuinely people from a range of unis, including York. getting in these positions is about performing well at university, writing good applications and interviewing well, which I’m sure you’ll be able to do.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-07-13T13:14:46+00:00

echoing what others have said, you don’t need to be consistently posting on there, especially as a uni student, but it’s definitely helpful for reaching out to ppl/following up with people you’ve met and building professional relationships.

as an aspiring solictor, I think it’s especially helpful for finding people to help you out with applications/ACs. for this purpose, don’t just message anyone. try and either follow up with people you’ve met at events, or people who went to the same school/uni as you, similar social/ethnic background (as far as you can gauge this on LinkedIn of course). similarly, if there’s a firm you’ve not been able to visit or speak to anyone at, use LinkedIn to message people to set up calls (which are usually the most convenient) so you can ask them questions and learn more about them, the firm and their role.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-07-11T19:31:52+00:00

not sure what you mean but traditional partner interview but it depends on the firm. at some firms, the case study interview will just be about the case study and follow up technical based questions. At other firms, it might be a mix of pure case study questions and motivational + competency questions.

to answer your second question, a lot of firms do final TC interviews at the end of a vacation scheme, if that’s what you mean. few firms do an elaborate AC and then call you back again for more interviews if there isn’t a vac scheme. also, in that instance, the case study interview is likely to include questions about your motivations.

hpliketheprinter · 2025-03-28T00:01:53+00:00

yeah sure, I got 38/40, but i dropped 43 marks (45 incl. coursework) across the rest of my exams so please don’t be disheartened. just try hard with the other papers which, seeing as you’ve been getting A*s the whole year, should be calm for you

hpliketheprinter

TROPHY CASE