Hi everyone,
I am going to study the BCL at Oxford this year and I would be really interested to hear from other students who have been accepted! I am from Scotland and I am currently studying the LLM at Harvard. I will be attending Balliol College. Looking forward to meeting you all in person!
Anna

Hey Anna, congrats on the offer. Last week by e-mail and snail mail, I also received the offer to study for the BCL next year. I have yet to hear back about a college though. When and how did you hear?

Hey Catullus,
Which country are you from? I got a place at Balliol last year and deferred to this year so I've known for a while. I think the college decisions came out about 2-4 weeks after the university acceptances last year, but it depended on the college applied to. Which college did you choose?
Anna

Oh, and meant to say, the college places were by snail mail last year but so were the university acceptances so maybe you will hear by e-mail as well this year.

Hey Anna,

I'm located in the U.S.; Washington, D.C. to be exact. I believe that I placed New College as my top choice. Do you know how likely it is for your chosen college to accept you given the Faculty of Law's decision. I imagine, as with most things, it depends on the college.

What made you choose Baililol? That's a nice college in the city center, right on Broad Street if I remember correctly.

Hey Catullus,
Sorry, I don't know how likely it is to be accepted to your first choice college. Balliol was my first choice. Most of my friends who applied to the BCL were accepted to their first choice college but I guess it depends a lot on how competitive each college is every year, how many places they have for BCL students etc.
I chose Balliol mainly for its reputation, particularly for law and graduate studies. The location also attracted me because it seemed to be very central.
I hope to visit DC sometime before I return to the UK.
Are you definitely accepting the BCL place or have you applied to any other universities?
Anna

I receipt an offer to the MJur and I applied to the Harris Manchester College. What do you think about this college?

Anna,

So you deferred for a year? Was it difficult to obtain a deferral? I was thinking about that route.

I also have an offer from the LSE, but prefer Oxford's BCL over the LSE's LLM -- though living in London for a year would be great as well. So, yes, as far as my offers go, Oxford is at the top of list, probably regardless of whatever college offers me a spot.

i take it you're in Boston, Anna? You should visit DC before heading back to the UK. You should take a week or so and could do it on the cheap by taking the Chinatown bus from Boston to NY, spending a few days in NY, then the chinatown bus from NY to DC. The weather's great right now!

Forever,

Hmmm... I don't know much about Harris Manchester at all, except that it's known for a more mature student body. Is Harris Manchester different from Manchester? I think it is, right?

Hi AnnaC

I have also been accepted into the Oxford BCL this year but due to unforseen circumstances (a random job offer) I have to defer until next year. You mentioned you'd deferred - how did you go about it and what reason did you give (if not too personal)? I've heard they don't accept deferrals except in certain circumstances so I'm wondering what those circumstances are.

Thanks for your help - wish I was coming this year too!

Hi everyone,

Forever - where are you from? Congratulations on the MJur place! I look forward to meeting you in Oxford if you decide to accept the offer. I don't know anything about Harris Manchester so I wouldn't be in a position to advise you about that.

Cattalus and IPCT - I have replied to your deferral queries by PM.

Anna

Hi Anna,
Just a question about the route you've taken - Harvard LLM then Ox BCL. Is this common do you know? Can you not skip the BCL if you've got a Harvard LLM (or any other in fact), if, as I am presuming (perhaps wrongly) you are aiming at doctorates etc? Or are they very different? I ask this mainly out of interest as to the nature of the class on the BCL (I've got a conditional offer for next year). I must also say I am mightily impressed by your getting into both!

I know that question wasn't directed at me but my understanding is that they are pretty much the same in terms of level of degree but the focus is different eg: the BCL focuses on British law with a heavy emphasis on legal theory. The BCL is also more of a graduate degree whereas with US LLMs you are largely in with the JDs.
I have an LLM from Columbia and the Director of Graduate Legal Studies at Oxford (Endicott) told me not to apply for the BCL. Instead, I am doing a MSt as foundation for the DPhil (if I accept that is - I am still deciding between Oxford and Cambridge).
Anyway, in short, I don't think the route Anna is taking is that common since Oxford actively discourages it as unnecessary. That being said, I did meet ppl. at Columbia (mainly from Asia) who had done the BCL and were going on to do an American LLM presumably so they could work in the US legal market.

anyone has any idea what lincoln college is like?? i didn't have a clue which college is reputable and which is not when i applied. so, i blindly picked the ones that sounded ok...so foolish of me...

I think it is pretty good. My mentor at Columbia and all-round brilliant scholar went there.

Any info on Peter's ??

On another note, you've gotta wonder why Oxford, with all its stunning buildings, chose to promote this one on the law faculty website:

http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/

Presumably it is the law school.

perhaps it was the only candid archived photo they could find with all the criteria requisite in a prospectus: blue sky, green grass, bicycle, and tri-racial?

True! You have to use any photo you have of England on a sunny day.
I was disappointed the bicycle didn't have a basket though.

Hey Jarndyce,
I dont think its very common to do Harvard LLM then Ox BCL but I am doing the BCL just because I have had a fabulous year at Harvard and I believe the BCL will be very interesting and challenging. I plan to practice litigation and Im not really interested in academia so Im not aiming to do a doctorate. You can go straight into the DPhil program at Oxford after the Harvard LLM but I wanted to do a taught course rather than research degree because it suits me better. I believe the BCL and LLM are different enough to make both worthwhile. Also, as I am from the UK, the BCL will be extremely useful for me in practice. Im doing the BCL more for the experience at Oxford rather than for CV progression purposes.
Anna