LAW

RuehlTheWorld

Because of the 1 or 2 new Law degrees on offer for CAO 09, anybody think points will go down a bit for just Law?

YogiBoy

Depends how many places on the new courses, and if the same number of places is maintained on existing courses. I don't know. I guess points could fall a tad. Impact at best marginal, I would think

Thirdfox

The lecturers and students are all highly concerned about the changes to be brought in next year as a result of semesterisation... might be worth considering other colleges with more established courses.

One change - 3 subjects in both semesters, but the exams are all held together in summer - 5 month gap between studying a subject and having an exam on it. Also, lecturers are concerned about coping with the workload it seems. Exams reduced from 3 to 2 hours in duration.

Then again - a first year might not have these problems (they'll probably iron themselves out eventually) - 75% of my degree depends on them getting next year right :pac:

Jim_Are_Great

I know for a fact that both the new Law and Politics and Law and Business courses have twenty places each, and when I was working on the law school stand during the open day, there were at least a hundred people asking about the Law and Business course, so I imagine the points for that will be pretty big.

As there's no change in the total number of places available for pure law, I imagine any change in points will be tiny.

SarcasticFairy

My friend was at a shadowing day the other week and she was saying that someone (so could've been student speculation, could've been someone wwho actually knew what they were talking about ) said that the points were likely to drop to about 500 in the next two years. So I'd say there will be a small drop this year.
But like I said, I don't know how credible that actually is

english4490

and DCU are starting a Bcl in 2009, so that will take another few:cool:

Jonathan

Where are ye all gonna get jobs?

Thirdfox

Very true - we have a legal discussion forum on boards too, check there to see all the people who have been unable to find legal jobs after graduating.

Think long and hard before going into law...make sure you know the realities and not just the glamorous image the law society/tv portrays.

Myself, I'm thinking of emigrating after law school - better prospects abroad than here.

Crania

I completely agree with jmccrohan. There are simply too many law degrees in our universities at the moment. Every year, more law degrees are started and thus the points keep on going down. Every two-bit college in the country is getting in on the act giving out Law degrees like there is no tomorrow. The reason for this because law degrees (like Arts degrees) are comparatively cheap, all you need is a lecture hall and a few books in comparison to the very high costs of any degree down the Science end. The value of a law degree is being reduced further and further with every extra place that is offered.

There are simply too many people in Ireland studying Law. People are going in thinking that they will be a high-flying barrister or solicitor but the reality is that there is already an excessive amount of people in both of those professions. If there are already no jobs in the legal sector as it is, what the hell are the hundreds in law courses around the country going to do as they graduate over the next few years?

As a Law student in Trinity, I'm really concerned about the two new degrees being introduced. Initially, I thought that with 25 extra places on both the Law and Political Science course and the Law and Business course that the numbers on the pure Law course(LLB) would be reduced accordingly. But they're supposedly not being reduced at all, in fact they will probably be increased. I fear that the points are going to slide even further resulting in an increasing amount of students who are lowering the quality of the Trinity Law degree.

I know I probably sound very elitist there but there is high points for a reason, it's supposed to be for some of the best young minds in the country. Law in Trinity was always one of the most respected degree courses in the country for the quality of its lecturers and students alike along with its small class environment. But I fear for its future with more and more students being allowed in which is going to lower teaching standards, ruin the close-knit class community(which is already probably too high) and lead to a further erosion of its reputation as the best Law School in the country.

Call me an elitist, Trinity head all you like but it's the truth. Law Schools across the country, and I include Blackhall Place and the Kings Inns there, are giving too many students a false sense of security. Students are simply not aware that there are too many Law students for too few jobs.

scruttocks

Crania wrote: »

I fear that the points are going to slide even further resulting in an increasing amount of students who are lowering the quality of the Trinity Law degree.

If they reach the standard expected in Trinity, then I don't see how the fact that they got lower points makes your degree worth any less. The only thing that would dilute the quality of the Trinity degree is grade inflation within the degree. If someone comes in on lower points and isn't up to the standard necessary, then they will fail, if they're up to it, then they're up to it, no matter what points they got.

EGaffney

Sorry, that's nonsense. The low numbers of law graduates are symptomatic of an attempt by the law profession to maintain a cartel. Unlike the medical profession, they have been unsuccessful at university level at keeping up this barrier to entry. Most law graduates don't get called to the Irish Bar and many barristers didn't come from a legal undergraduate degree, so supply of law degrees at third level has little to do with the poverty of pupil barristers. I suspect the same is true for the big solicitors' firms and their exams. A law degree is valuable, like an Arts degree, because it is an indicator of critical thinking. If you know that places in legal careers are limited, why do you assume that nobody else does? Maybe they believe they will be good enough, and maybe they will. Getting high CAO points doesn't always correlate with the skills needed to do well in a Law degree - I'd say Law is one of the least similar courses to Leaving Cert (and the associated cramming), from what I know of it, so maybe the CAO ration system isn't optimal.

If you're so worried about the quality of your degree, work for a I or a high II.1. If you're right about people who got fewer CAO points than you being stupider than you, surely they will get a II.2.