Hi everyone,

I'm sure you're all tired of seeing posts like this but I truly cannot find any information on this out there...

I'm currently going into the third year of my law degree at Oxford and am interested in comparative public law. While I am not a 'bad student' at Oxford, my collections (mock exams cuz we don't have finals until third year) so far have not been great as I did not take them seriously, and I do not believe I will get into the BCL. I want to apply for the LLM in International and Comparative Law at TCD but have no idea how competitive it really is getting in. Is it similar to Oxbridge? Has anyone from Oxford had experience with applying before having concrete grades on hand? I don't think I should be worried about getting a 2.2, but has anyone gotten in with one?

Thank you very much in advance!

I haven't done an Irish postgrad but I am Irish and did an Irish undergrad so I know the system reasonably well.  TCD is nowhere near as competitive as Oxbridge.  I don't think you'll have any difficulties at all unless you end up with a 2:2 and the course is very competitive that year for whatever reason.  The Oxford mention alone will get your application looked at so I'd take advantage of that and write a really good application and try to get good references - I imagine you'll be fine.

Mandatory heads up that it's extraordinarily difficult (and expensive) to find accommodation in Dublin at the moment even for people who are working full time jobs, let alone students - don't want to turn you off but it's something you should be aware of.  You may have better luck on that front with University College Dublin (UCD), my undergrad university, as the campus is a lot bigger and they have more accommodation - but I know TCD has the prestige factor for a lot of people.  I also graduated four years ago so take anything I say with a pinch of salt!

tl;dr I think you'll be fine as long as you write a good application and have good references to make up for whatever deficiencies there are in your grades, but you should have a plan for accommodation asap