Hello, I will graduate high school in 2020. I go to high school in California but was interested in studying at Oxford for undergraduate studies because of the three-year graduation. Finances are not a problem. I am interested in Law. Which three AP courses should I submit and take? Any advice or tips??
You’d have to know what you want to study first. Unlike American colleges, there’s very little flexibility in the English system.
And considering that you’re a HS freshman, you really have the cart before the horse.
Figure out what subjects you like in HS and do well academically first.
Oxford Law is competitive (especially for internationals). Alongside top grades, you’d want/need work experience and demonstrated interest, and even with that nobody can truly predict whether or not you’d get in. If you like the idea of the three year graduation then why not look into other UK universities?
Just as a side note - if you wanted to study law in the UK you would still need to do a grad degree in the US to be qualified to practise there.
(I’m a UK student who applied to Oxford and I’ve looked into law, so feel free to message me with any questions)
Oh, I missed the law part.
If you’re an American, where would you practice?
The whole scheme doesn’t seem practical. Do a search on CC to see why.
A law undergraduate degree isn’t enough to qualify someone as a lawyer anywhere, but it’s as good as any other subject as a first degree.
OP: what are your ultimate objectives? Do you want to be a lawyer, and if so where, and what kind? Or are you just interested in law and figure it would be an interesting subject to study before embarking on some other career?
Also, are you interested in any other UK universities?
Law doesn’t ask for any specific subjects, but anything involving analysis and a lot of reading will be good. History and English are always good choices, but really, pick what you’re good at, as long as they’re the more challenging AP subjects. The LSE list of preferred APs should give you an idea as to what is regarded acceptable:
You’ll also need a strong SAT or ACT score (currently they want 1470/32, but this may change by the time you apply.)
Oxford also has its own exam for law applicants, to be taken in the October you apply: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/international-students/test-arrangements-international-students?wssl=1
If you want to increase your chances for getting an unconditional, plan your high schools classes so that you will have taken the required APs by the end of your junior year. When you apply in Oct of your senior year, you will be able to submit your test AP scores.
And do some homework about the course: Oxford law (undergrad) is very theoretical. UK students then go on to do the practical bits in the cleverly named “legal practice course” and an apprenticeship (it takes 3 years after graduating with an undergraduate degree in law to fully qualify as a solicitor)
If you want to practice law in the US, then you could either get a law degree or some other degree from Oxford and then apply to US law schools. You still would get out in 6 years rather than 7.
You could also get an Oxford LLB and then an LLM in the US. You could practice in some US states with just a British law degree, but it would probably take you like a year studying for the bar exam.