UCL International, Social & Political Studies (ISPS) or Queen Mary Law
Hello. I got AstarAA for my results and I’m quite pleased with this. I had an offer from Queen Mary of AAA for law but I’m not sure I want to go there. Mainly due to the reputation of the uni and the fact it is in East London. I was looking through clearing courses and found International, Social & Political Studies (ISPS) for AstarAA and applied through clearing and got a place. I’m now unsure where to accept UCL ISPS and want some advice. I think I want to be a lawyer when I’m older or go into something like diplomacy/international relations. (I’m more tending towards being a lawyer but that diplomacy idea is an option.) If I did the course at Queen Mary it would just be 3 years then my SQE or Bar course, whichever I decide to pursue. But if I go to UCL I will have to do 4 year degree + a conversion course for one year before I get to the stage of an SQE or Bar course. This puts me 2 years behind compared to if I did law at QM and I will also £20k more in debt. Thing is I prefer UCL and it was a dream when I was first applying and tbh I actually don’t mind the course ISPS it sounds interesting and unique. Ive also heard the law degree can be kind of dry so I do feel this isn’t a bad option. I’m leaning more towards UCL because of its reputation and prestige to employers compared to Queen Mary and I feel I will have more fun there. I also feel if I do go into law it would most likely be in international law/human rights law which ISPS can help direct me towards making me have more knowledge in this field (potentially). I’m just not sure about the ‘loss’ of 2 years and the extra debt but yet again is it really a ‘loss’ when I’m learning a good selection of things in those 2 years. Ive also heard the law degree can be kind of dry/boring. In ISPS I’ll have to take up a language which I actually don’t mind but it’s definetly like something that I wouldn’t have expected. I don’t mind this tho coz I get to study at that country in my 3rd year and feel this will be a good travel experience, something I like to do. I do feel at UCL I acc don’t mind telling people which uni I go to like when ppl asked me which uni am I going to I wouldn’t really want to say Queen Mary. Also, I think the atmosphere at Queen Mary will be more studious due to the nature of the uni and the ppl that go there. Adding onto that, the fact the clearing grades required for UCL ISPS were AstarAA whereas Queen Mary it was taking clearing grades of like BBC or something (I might be wrong about that tho).
This is in a really jumbled up order of me wanting to go to UCL and me not wanting to go so please like note the bits that you think matter the most in ur reply (ps. Thank you)
Is it an objectively ‘good’ choice of choosing UCL ISPS over Queen Mary Law based on my personal reasoning on where I would prefer and actual facts about prestige etc. Please help and thank you too. Any questions let me know. Thank you for reading.