How did you get in? (1 Viewer)

[Dave2007]

Hi :wave:

As someone aspiring to do combined law at sydney or unsw, I want to hear how people got into it. Specifically people who got in the 96-99 UAI range and just missed out on the cut-off, which is likely to happen to me.

I've talked to some people who said "Oh its easy, do well in some easy course and transfer in". But is it? Also, the full-fee-paying option, is it possible to not pay the fees until you've finished uni and gotten a higher paying job?

Basically I wanted to hear real-life stories of how everyone here got into Law, to know the reality of all the options.

Also for the people doing it now, at the end of the day, are you finding it fun? or at least rewarding?

 

[Dave2007]

Look at some of the other threads for alternative entry.

Pretty much you can start off ...

Yeah I've read them, I wanted personal stories from people who've actually done it, to find out sort of first hand what transferring in is like/if its really that easy, anyone whose tried to pay themselves through full fee entry etc...

 

[MoonlightSonata]

There is a section in the Law Guide on this.

If you have a UAI of ~97 and you work hard during first year you stand a good chance of transferring.

Alternatively, you could use full-fee paying (DFEE). But to answer your question, no, you cannot repay it later like CSP. You must pay it upfront on a per-semester basis. Of note, you can take out a loan called "Fee-Help" from the Commonwealth government to a maximum of $80,000 which is repayable in a similar way to CSP - although be aware there is a 20% interest fee on it. It is possible to transfer from a DFEE place to a CSP place however, and you can keep trying to do so every year of your degree.

And remember, you cannot transfer into USyd or UNSW after more than 1 year. That is, you only have once chance to transfer into those law degrees - at the end of your first year of university.

There is more info in the guide.

 

[neo o]

Yeah I've read them, I wanted personal stories from people who've actually done it, to find out sort of first hand what transferring in is like/if its really that easy, anyone whose tried to pay themselves through full fee entry etc...

What was your UAI? A friend of mine with a UAI ~97 and a low credit average managed to transfer to HECS law at UNSW from ANU law. Transferring is not difficult, but as previous posters have said UNSW and Usyd aren't the be all and end all. ANU, Monash and UQ are all good interstate universities with lower cut offs and UTS and MAQ have fairly good law faculties too.

 

[sarevok]

Transfer. Not that hard to transfer. Usyd NRSL appears to be in the low 96 range last couple of years and UNSW somewhere in the 95 range. I'm quite sure that the transfer scheme is really just a mechanism by which Usyd and UNSW inflate their cut-offs to make their law degrees look more prestigious + and increase no. of full fees (restrict intake first out and 'fill up the gaps' with transfers)

If transfer fails, just do grad law. Only an extra year. Not worth paying full-fee IMHO

 

[Dave2007]

Thanks for all the reassuring replies. I'm expecting to get around maybe 97/98 uai? So these will probably be applicable for me.

You also mentioned interstate universities neo_o (appropriate avatar for this forum btw lol)...I just don't know if it would be worth it to pack and leave your home, family, friends and worldly posessions and head to, say, melbourne to study for 5 years.

Anyway what I was really looking for was PERSONAL stories from you guys...like which method all you guys used to get into law, to get the inside look into how hard these things are to do. But maybe you guys are all just geniuses and got the 99.5

 

[Libbster]

Hey I got a uai of 98.xx and in first year all my results averaged out to distinctions except for one credit (damn you adv physics ) so my gpa was pulled down to 5.88 and i transferred into usyd law. so if u put in effort, u'll get in although i must have scraped in cos in 2005 the cut-off was 96.12 and i'm assuming it was similar for 06

 

[uberlovesounds]

i just finished my hsc, got 91.20.. pretty much in a pickle becoz i don't know whether to do comm/law at anu or unsw.. the problem at unsw is i have to pay dfee.. so it's approx $19,800=$20 000 a year, so times five and plus the 20% interest, that's 120 000.. yikes..

 

[neo o]

Thanks for all the reassuring replies. I'm expecting to get around maybe 97/98 uai? So these will probably be applicable for me.

You also mentioned interstate universities neo_o (appropriate avatar for this forum btw lol)...I just don't know if it would be worth it to pack and leave your home, family, friends and worldly posessions and head to, say, melbourne to study for 5 years.

Anyway what I was really looking for was PERSONAL stories from you guys...like which method all you guys used to get into law, to get the inside look into how hard these things are to do. But maybe you guys are all just geniuses and got the 99.5

I barely scraped the 90's thanks to getting below 70 in two HSC subjects. I still got my UNSW law offer after my first year too.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

i just finished my hsc, got 91.20.. pretty much in a pickle becoz i don't know whether to do comm/law at anu or unsw.. the problem at unsw is i have to pay dfee.. so it's approx $19,800=$20 000 a year, so times five and plus the 20% interest, that's 120 000.. yikes..

Congratulations on your UAI.

However, I'm not sure what you mean - the UNSW DFEE cut-off for 2007 is 94.20 - you can't get in with 91.20

 

[Dave2007]

Cheers guys your making me feel alot better that even low 90s can get in!

That might even be a better...does that mean you can knock a year off the other degree you are doing combined with law?

Also, is it easy to get a job, say as a trainee or assistant/secretary in a law firm while studying law at uni? Or are you too busy/they laugh you away?

 

[neo o]

Cheers guys your making me feel alot better that even low 90s can get in!

That might even be a better...does that mean you can knock a year off the other degree you are doing combined with law?

Also, is it easy to get a job, say as a trainee or assistant/secretary in a law firm while studying law at uni? Or are you too busy/they laugh you away?

Not at a large firm in NSW or VIC because they run a summer clerkship program which generally only takes students in their last year of study. However, it's possible to get work at suburban or medium sized law firms

 

[CharlieB]

try macquarie, uws or anu.

 

[Smeed]

I barely scraped the 90's thanks to getting below 70 in two HSC subjects. I still got my UNSW law offer after my first year too.

Can I just ask, are you saying that you got a UAI in the low 90s and yet managed to transfer into UNSW Law after the first year of your degree? I thought that UNSW stated you generally need a UAI of 97 and a Distinction average, so wouldn't a low 90s UAI make it pretty much impossible to transfer to UNSW Law?

Also, I note from your sig that you are now undertaking Law at ANU. So did you transfer to ANU Law after your year at UNSW Law? And why did you tranfer? Did you not find UNSW Law to be interesting/rewarding etc.?

Sorry about so many questions, I'm just curious.

 

[uberlovesounds]

Congratulations on your UAI.

However, I'm not sure what you mean - the UNSW DFEE cut-off for 2007 is 94.20 - you can't get in with 91.20

my shockingly low uai is surprising... i did manage to get UNSW DFEE and ANU HECS! two offers! but i applied for EAS if that helps.. (i've been through lots of shite over these past years)

i going to unsw! yay!

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Ah -- it's most likely it is the EAS that is the reason for that gap

Congratulations

 

[snowblack]

I got a uai of 98 and did my first year in a B International Studies at UNSW and transferred to law this year with a high credit average. I was told by the law faculty that if you want to transfer to law, you need a uai above 95 and a distinction average. Hope this helps

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I should note that the UNSW Law Faculty has since changed it statements regarding competitiveness -- a UAI of 97 and a D average being generally required.

More information on the exact calculations and chances of transferring is available in detail here.

 

[sarevok]

I should note that the UNSW Law Faculty has since changed it statements regarding competitiveness -- a UAI of 97 and a D average being generally required.

It would be less than that, I'm sure. The UNSW Law Cutoff is somewhere in the 95 range, so a UAI of 97 and a less than <6.0 GPA would get you in. I transferred into law last year with a UAI of 97.7 and a GPA of 5.875. One of my friends transferred in with 97.5 and a GPA of 5.625. I guess it varies from year to year though.

Someone posted last year that the cut-off for a USYD law transfer was 96.1, and someone in the transfer forum posted that they got into USYD law this year with 96.325, so a 97 UAI and a GPA of 6.0 would comfortably get you into USYD.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

[...] so a UAI of 97 and a less than <6.0 GPA would get you in.

I transferred into law last year with a UAI of 97.7 and a GPA of 5.875. One of my friends transferred in with 97.5 and a GPA of 5.625. I guess it varies from year to year though.

The NRSL cut-off certainly does vary from year to year, sometimes significantly. Unfortunately UNSW has been quite reluctant to release them.

If your friend gained entry with a GPA of 5.625 and a UAI of 97, then yes, the maximum NRSL cut-off it could have been last year would have been 95.

I might look into acquiring more of the NRSL cut-off information from various institutions. It would give much more certainty to people wanting to transfer.