Why Dundee was the right place for me to study an LLB in Scots Law

As a child my mum and dad said I would be a judge. They said it was because I always said "it's not fair!" to everything. I was able to come up with arguments that my parents would eventually agree with.  Sometimes they would admit that they had been wrong. 

I have always had a fascination with things that were right and wrong and everyone’s different perceptions of that. I wanted to be on the side that helped people. People who couldn’t speak for themselves, that haven’t had the same sort of luck as other people in life.

In all honesty though I didn’t think I would be clever enough to get into university at all when I started applying. I had quite low self-confidence. I wasn't the strongest candidate and only just had the grades to get in. But I knew law was what I wanted to do, and made applications anyway.  

When I came to Dundee for an open day, something just clicked and I could see myself being here. It felt as though this was where I really needed to be. When I spoke to the professors, they were so clearly passionate about what they were doing, and they also had plenty of time to come and talk to me about it.

What reassured me about Dundee was that I got an unconditional offer. This was because my personal statement and my recommendations were good. I realised that Dundee looks at the whole student and not just grades.

I knew that if I came here there would be a better chance of me being seen for the student that I am as opposed to what was written down on paper. Having been here for two years now I can confirm that this is how the University treat you.

There are times, of course, where academia is really important and you still have to do well! But there are more opportunities for you to shine as a person and flourish that way, because the University really nurtures you. They want you to grow and that is why I am so pleased I came here.

I started off studying Scots Law with French. It was incredibly hard. The course however is run really well and there are Erasmus opportunities to go abroad. That being said, it just came down to the point that I am not very good at French!

I was able to move to the Scots Law stream. I had showed I was passionate about it and that comes back to my belief that Dundee sees the student and they try to accommodate you as much as they can. I am so much happier because I know this is what I want to do.

At first, I found studying law to be confusing. But it does all make sense eventually. You have no background in it to start with, unlike other subjects, since it's not something you do at school. Titles of topics are quite vague in 1st and 2nd year and you wonder what they mean. 

I would speak to the older law students and wonder how they could think like they did. Their brains seemed to me to be like a big law computer! But after a while you start to understand it and it clicks into place.

That was definitely a big challenge in first year, just learning how law worked. You learn that it is a living thing. I also learnt that every professor has a different approach. You pick up parts of their insights and are able to mould your own legal mind.

I really enjoy mooting here. When I learnt what mooting was, I thought that it was brilliant. I had a place where I could do what I had been doing for years.

In the future I want to do court work. I have a particular interest in criminal law at the minute but I think my mind is still open to all the different types of law you can do. By the time I graduate I will probably have a totally different perspective on all the things I have learned. I have so much to learn and figure out. One thing I know is I want to be in court and I want to help people.