Hello everyone,

I shall, God willing, be attending the BCL course this coming academic year. Having been accepted at both the university and college and arranged for accomodation i am still at a loss as to what happens from here.

Will i definitley be taking the courses or modules i highlighted in my personal statement or is there some chance i will not be doing the course i have expressed an interest in?

What sort of independent prep are we talking about here to be on good footing to begin the course?

Hope you are all enjoying summers or work or both...

Cheers

Hi Westlaw,

I am told that sometime soon we should be receiving a password for the Oxford intranet which should give us access to reading lists and materials.

I don't think you are required to stick to the subjects you mentioned in your SOP.

Hi...I have just completed my BCL at Oxford, and currently I am packing and will be leaving very soon.. I have a whole lot of notes and photocopies lying around which are invaluable but which I cannot take back because of luggage restrictions.. I dont have the heart to throw them away:(( ..please let me know if anyone is interested in getting notes on the following subjects
1)International Economic Law
2)Global Comparative Financial Laws
3)International Dispute Settlement
4)Corporate Finance

Let me know asap. On the positive side, its going to save anyone interested a lot of expense especially when photocopying costs are 7p per page.

keep it in mind

bye

Hi, would be happy to take the notes/photocopies re: Int Dispute Settlement and Global Comparative Financial Laws. Sent you a PM. Cheers

As far as subject choice is concerned, you don't have to stick to what you proposed when you applied. Also, there is a very small chance that you might not be able to do one of the courses you want to do, eg if it is significantly oversubscribed (though this is very rare).

As to preparing before the course, it's entirely up to you. Some people (like me) felt happy not really doing any, but then I was doing subjects that I already had some background in. It would definitely be worth doing some reading in subjects that are completely new to you. There are always some people who seem to have read everything on the reading lists before October - but whether they do better in the end, or have less work to do during the year, I really don't know. Overall, I'd say that most people do some reading before they start (perhaps some relevant textbook chapters, probably not detailed reading of cases) but you definitely don't need to worry about it. Most courses don't assume prior knowledge of the specific subject area.

One exception would be if you are intending to take a course which clearly requires certain background knowledge which you are not confident about. For example, if your knowledge of basic principles of EU was rusty, it would definitely be worth brushing up on in before starting one of the very specific EU law courses, which will assume such knowledge.