Why I'm glad I took the long route into Law

I was lucky enough to spend a week as an intern at a Gold Coast law firm in 2024. I took it as an opportunity to understand the demands of a legal career and confirm I was sure about studying law at uni. Evidently, I had an amazing time and was excited to have committed my application into UQ law within days.

The issue came the following January, when I received my ATAR and uni offers. I had achieved a 92.90 ATAR, which I was proud of, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough to get into my dream course. Even adjustment factors only boosted me up to a 96.90, just short of the 97.50 that UQ listed as the minimum entry threshold.

I was initially devastated, but I thought back to the story of one of the lawyers I’d shadowed in my internship. She hadn’t even considered studying law originally, and had been through a few different faculties before landing in law - which had been more of a last option due to indecision than her actual preference. She stuck at it and quickly began to love law, and has since been in the profession as a solicitor.

I hugely admired her persistence and willingness to go with the flow a bit to find a career she loves. Her story reminded me (mildly heartbroken about the lack of a UQ law offer sitting in my inbox) to stay committed to what I wanted to achieve. My ATAR was high enough to receive offers from other universities' law schools, but I desperately wanted to study at UQ. I was so torn between the logical option (starting law, even if it wasn't at my dream uni) and my own stubborn passion, but I ultimately chose to accept a place in a Bachelor of Arts, and started my first few classes weeks later.

The historic UQ Law School in the Forgan Smith Building

Pic sourced from the UQ Law School LinkedIn page

Here’s the part I’m most grateful for: In a BA, I had the flexibility to change my mind about what I wanted to study. I started with 2 equally weighted majors, in Psychology and Professional Writing. I started my first semester with 2 Psych classes, a creative writing class and an introductory class in International Relations (IR). Living on the GC and commuting to St. Lucia, I didn’t want to have my classes stretched over more than 2 days, and IR was one of the only elective classes open to first-year students that would fit within my schedule. It wasn’t my first choice, but I figured having to study one random intro class wouldn’t kill me.

That’s hilarious in hindsight, because I’m now studying an extended major in International Relations and a minor in Psych. I realised pretty quickly that the Writing major wasn’t for me, and became obsessed with geopolitics and global affairs instead. I also picked up a Bachelor of Laws going into my second year of uni.

I’m so grateful that I was able to spend a year before starting law, to learn exactly how the uni ecosystem works and ease myself into the routine of it, rather than jumping head-first into the workload of law. I knew that I had to work hard to achieve the GPA equivalent of the required ATAR to switch into law, but I also knew that I had given myself some calm before the storm, so that I could familiarise myself with UQ, make friends, and build a healthy balance between uni, work, and life - habits that I’ll carry into year 2.

When I started the BA, I wasn’t planning on continuing it throughout my time studying law, I saw it simply as a means of getting into the course I wanted. But thanks to the interest I’ve found in IR, I’ve decided to continue it, meaning I’ll finish Arts in 2028 and Laws in 2030 (assuming all goes to plan). I believe that with the ever-worsening competitiveness of the legal industry, having studied a dual degree will be critical in building my career, and gives me insight into the international implications of law systems.

The best part of the story is that while I’ve always felt a strong passion for justice, IR has given that passion a direction. I applied for law not knowing exactly where I wanted my degree to take me or which aspect of law I’d like to pursue. I’m still not certain and I’ll likely change my mind, but thanks to IR, I have a sense of whose interests I want to protect, through law and global policy. I’ve studied the impacts of conflict, underdevelopment and humanitarian crises, and I’m excited to find a career in which I can blend law and policy to uplift others around the world 💪🏼🌏

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