Thanks for replying. At least I know I am not the only one...

Maybe you would want to e-mail your 1st and 2nd choice colleges and ask. At least you would know, even if you are being pooled.

I am still waiting for a college place, although i was admitted in March by the Faculty. I have decided to e-mail my 1st and 2nd choice colleges in line with Alvin's advise.

Hey, Alvin. How's life, and what's your college?

Awojc, hope you'll hear soon. I'm struggling with a stupid exam, but once that's over, I'll be rising towards heaven (Oxford) :P{-<

I got into Queen's. Which were your 1st and 2nd preference colleges?

Awojc, hope you'll hear soon. I'm struggling with a stupid exam, but once that's over, I'll be rising towards heaven (Oxford) :P{-<

I got into Queen's. Which were your 1st and 2nd preference colleges?

Hi. I guess if, like me, you've received a conditional offer, you'll receive your college offer pretty soon. I only received my place at Pembroke last week, so I'm simply waiting for my results to be published within the next few days in order to find out whether my place is assured.

Thanks MCB. Was Pembroke your first or second preference, or did you get randomly allocated it? Also, how did you find out - post or email? Cheers

I received my offer of a college place by post, and although I completed my BCL application before Christmas, I vaguely remember the confirmation email stating that that is how they normally, if not always, reply. When did you receive your offer from Oxford? My first choice was actually Trinity, although as a well-known college it clearly received too many applicants and I didn't quite cut the mustard. I'd never really considered Pembroke, but it's one of the old colleges and looks pretty nice. The teaching will be centralised anyway, so I'm not going to quibble about which Oxford college I'm allocated! I'm just happy to have a place.

I would tend to agree with you 'MCB' except for the accomodation issue. I have an offer from St. Anne's, which I got towards the end of May and they are not guaranteeing my accomodation!! So its going to be quite a pain if you get a late college offer.

Are the both of you on the facebook group?

I'm hoping to secure college accommodation, although I'm resigned to the fact that I may have to seek other forms of accommodation, considering the sparsity of provisions. Which Facebook group is this? I'm a member of the college/uni group, but are there any others you would recommend?

This group is called the Oxford BCL/Mjur Group for 2009. You could try and search it on FB. Else you could add me on FB (Anuj Berry/facebook.com/anuj.berry) and find the group through my profile.

MCB, I was offered a place at Oxford a number of months ago. I can't recall the exact timing now, but it was part of the first tranche of offers. I put Balliol first and Lincoln second. I have nothing from either, or from anywhere else. I am not yet a member of the facebook group, because I still don't know whether I am going to accept my place. This will largely come down to funding. At present, I have a limited scholarship for Oxford, and a much more generous scholarship for Cambridge. I am waiting to hear about College placement and funding before making a final decision.

Greetings all. I will be reading for a research degree in law; just received an offer from Hertford College, Oxford (my second choice college.) No guarantee of housing was given, but the admissions officer (who is very helpful) indicated that they aren't yet fully booked, so I think my chances of college accomodation are good.

I'm very pleased with my experiences of the administration at Hertford thus far, hopefully some of you (who weren't accepted at 1st or 2nd choice colleges &) who are accepted by Hertford via the pool will feel the same way.

Bells, I am sorry to hear that you are yet to hear anything back from Oxford Colleges. I can only conjecture that due to the increased amount of applicants this year they are still dealing with your application. Funding is obviously an important aspect for you to consider, but while I may not be at Oxford just yet, my future bias leads me to the conclusion that you should shun Cambridge and choose Oxford...it's clearly better. Ha. In all seriousness though, it might be worth emailing Oxford to see how long the process could take. Out of interest, which Cambridge college did you choose?

This group is called the Oxford BCL/Mjur Group for 2009. You could try and search it on FB. Else you could add me on FB (Anuj Berry/facebook.com/anuj.berry) and find the group through my profile.

Thanks very much. I'm having problems with facebook at the moment, but when I'm finally back online I'll endeavour to the track down the group.

Good luck to all of you doing the BCL next year,

I do not mean to be a damp squib, but doing the BCL gives you a sort of Stockholm syndrome. Its hellish, it torments you, the pressure is sickening but you end up loving your tormentor.

My exams start on Friday. It is the hottest day of the year. I have been in the library since the beginning of March and have had few conversations that do not involve some sort of confused babble about the finer points of proprietary restitution.

I don't know what sort of pressure the public law subjects exert, but private law at oxford is a bitch. Don't get me wrong, the teaching is fantastic and at times inspirational. Watching Burrows, Swadling and Edleman engage with one another in a seminar is a real pleasure. But the exams...good god, the exams.

Well, thats that. Good to get some of this off my chest. Back to considering whether the theory of interceptive subtraction provides a defensible conceptual framework for non-correspondence in the law of unjust enrichment. Or something like that.

word.

Thanks very much Magwa, you've certainly given me an insight, albeit I'm now tempted to flee the country and withdraw from the programme. Ha. You've mentioned that private law subjects are particularly hard, could I ask which subjects you're taking, and which you suggest might be at the easier end of the 'hellish' scale?

Best of luck with your exams!

I'll be taking Restitution and Advance Trust no matter what. That's the reason I applied to Oxford!!!

I am doing restitution, advanced property and trusts, corporate finance and corporate insolvency.

I would heartily recommend all except advanced property and trusts. The trusts part is fine but the advanced property might not be what people expect. A lot of the course is focused on "what do we mean by property", "is ownership a useful concept", "to what extent do economic justifications, like all purely consequentialist ones, fail to provide a complete justification for property rights". The focus, then, is decidedly philosophical.

Real black letter equity and property law are to be found in corporate finance and insolvency, for obvious reasons.

My tip would be to pick one "lighter" subject (e.g.international dispute settlement). I didn't do that and so am responsible for my own stress and misery.

And don't be misled into thinking the BCL public law and more-philosophical subjects aren't a hard slog either. Comp Human Rts, for one, is just brutal. Jurisprudence & Phil Founds are also notoriously rough.

The BCL's an ugly year. Inspiring, exciting, educational, thrilling, but man does it hurt.

So that is why you should do the BCL if you have the chance. You'll never face a tougher academic Everest.