Saint Olave's Law Society Journal ; Issue 01 (Autumn 2013) | Page 27

Saint
 Olave’s
 Law
 Society
 Journal

say
 listen
 to
 your
 referees!
 If
 they
 say
  you've
 written
 too
 much
 about
 your
 pet
  owl,
 or
 you
 should
 really
 split
 your
  unbroken
 47
 lines
 of
 text
 into
  paragraphs,
 the
 likelihood
 is
 that
 they
  know
 what
 they're
 talking
 about!
  However,
 do
 realise
 that
 the
 universities
  want
 to
 know
 about
 you.
 That's
 what
  they're
 interested
 in
 finding
 out!
 Whilst
  you
 should
 take
 advice
 from
  teachers/referees,
 remember
 not
 to
  change
 your
 statement
 so
 much
 so
 that
  it's
 as
 if
 you
 didn't
 write
 it.
 Originality
 is
  always
 a
 positive!

  My
 best
 advice
 in
 this
 section
 is
 to
  remember
 that
 the
 admissions
 staff
 are
  people
 too.
 They
 will
 be
 reading
 a
 LOT
  of
 personal
 statements,
 and
 if
 they
 all
  start
 with
 "From
 a
 young
 age,
 I
 have
  been
 interested
 in
 Law",
 I
 can't
 imagine
  them
 particularly
 compelled
 to
 read
 on.
  Get
 this
 section
 right
 then
 it's
 15
 points
  to
 Gryffindor.

  Interviews

  Not
 all
 universities
 do
 interviews
 (find
  out
 if
 your
 one
 does!)
 but
 Oxbridge
 do.
 If
  you've
 applied
 to
 Cambridge
 with
 a
  good
 set
 of
 AS
 and
 predicted
 grades,
 the
  likelihood
 is
 that
 you
 will
 be
  interviewed.
 I
 wish
 I
 could
 help
 you
  here,
 but
 I
 have
 no
 first
 hand
 account
 of
  the
 Cambridge
 interviews.
  So
 my
 advice
 and
 outlook
 on
 interviews
  here
 is
 purely
 based
 on
 the
 two
 I
 had
 at
  Oxford.
 Every
 college
 is
 different
 though
  and
 I
 was
 interviewed
 at
 Queen's
  College
 so
 do
 bear
 that
 in
 mind
 as
 you're
  reading
 this!

  My
 first
 interview
 basically
 went
 like
  this:
 I
 was
 taken
 to
 a
 room
 by
 one
 of
 the
  student
 helpers
 and
 given
 an
 article
  type
 thing
 to
 read
 in
 ten
 minutes
 whilst
  taking
 notes
 on
 blank
 paper
 to
 take
 into
  my
 interview.
 The
 article
 was
 some
 sort
  of
 statement
 by
 a
 judge
 that
  differentiated
 lodgers
 from
 tenants
 and
  then
 the
 last
 two
 pages
 (which
 I
 didn't
  manage
 to
 read
 in
 time)
 was
 a
 case
  study
 with
 the
 interview
 questions
 on
  the
 last
 page!
 When
 the
 time
 was
 up,
 I
  had
 to
 take
 my
 notes
 and
 myself
 up
 to
  the
 interview
 room
 and
 wait
 until
 it
 was
  my
 turn.
 The
 interviewers
 were
 SO
  lovely;
 nothing
 like
 Professor
 Snape,
 and
  I
 must
 say
 that
 was
 quite
 unexpected
 for
  me
 (especially
 after
 reading
 those
 myths
  about
 Oxbridge
 interviews!).
 They
 asked
  me
 all
 the
 questions
 that
 they
 had
  prepared,
 but
 when
 it
 got
 to
 questions
  to
 do
 with
 the
 case
 study,
 I
 couldn't
  answer
 any
 further.
 This
 is
 when
 I
 had
  to
 decide,
 should
 I
 be
 honest
 or
 should
 I
  try
 and
 fluke
 it?
 I
 chose
 to
 be
 honest
 and
  I
 think
 they
 were
 quite
 taken
 aback
  when
 I
 said
 "I'm
 going
 to
 be
 honest,
 I
  didn't
 finish
 reading
 the
 whole
 thing"
  because
 that's
 when
 they
 decided
 to
  give
 me
 their
 copy
 of
 the
 case
 study
 and
  tell
 me
 to
 read
 it
 right
 there.
 Yeah,
 that
  wasn't
 so
 great,
 nothing
 actually
 went
 in
  my
 head,
 I
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