I suppose every blog needs a first post, so here we are!
If you’ve found your way here from Law on Toast, you’ll probably notice that The Toaster is going to be a little different. Law on Toast is where we’ll break down the law to try and make complicated, fascinating topics understandable to everyone. The Toaster is where we can be a bit more informal.
This is where I want to, with anyone who wants to join me, talk to people actually involved in law, interview those with interesting experiences, explore what the law looks like outside of A Level textbooks and legislation.gov.uk and occasionally, just write about my experiences and thus my weird and wonderful journey into law.
And I’m very much at the beginning of that journey.
I’m about to start my A Levels, with what is probably a strange-r combination for someone interested in studying law:
Spanish, Chemistry and Maths.
When I started looking at university entry requirements eons ago, I inevitably wondered whether I’d somehow managed to pick the “wrong subjects” for law. So rather than endlessly trying to interpret admissions pages, I took a stroll down St John’s College’s contact page and emailed their admissions team (Cambridge, of course – who even is Oxford atp…)
It turns out my combination is, technically, perfectly reasonable. Spanish and Maths are among the subjects they recommend directly:
“The University has more generally recommended that English Literature, History, languages and Mathematics are good core subjects…”
Now, if the University of Cambridge, ranked 1st in the Law Subject League Table for 2027 by the Complete University Guide, recommends these subjects for the study of Law at university, I’m sure other universities will be more than happy with a combination of these subjects (disclaimer: ALWAYS check admissions pages, just in case).
The University continues…
Other good choices to combine these subjects with include: an additional language, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Economics, EnglishLanguage, FurtherMathematics, Geography, Government and Politics, History of Art, Law, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics), and Sociology.
Sorry, I got tired of making all of them bold – maybe next time.
Now, I’m 94% sure of what you’re thinking – my combination, and maybe even yours, isn’t what immediately comes to mind when someone says “future law student”, but that’s partly the point.
“There isn’t one route into law.”
Rayan, aka me
I’m not kidding, I’ve come across people on LinkedIn who went to study Law at the top universities (including but not limited to theeeese institutions):
with Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Business Studies, Economics, Russian, English Language… the list goes on.
Others arrive through humanities, languages, a combination including A Level Law itself and so much more. People enter the profession from completely different degrees and even careers as well!
Law is an enormous subject. It needs people who can write, argue, interpret for sure, but it also needs people who can think logically, understand evidence, work with the numbers at hand, communicate with different people and approach a problem from an usual direction. Different backgrounds bring vitality and empowering diversity to the table.
Over the next few years, we will bear the brunt of a workload tasked to make us learn. University applications, the LNAT, work experience, shadowing, and the wonderful world of qualifying are things that won’t go perfectly to plan.
Rather than only writing about all of that afterwards in some sort of book, I’d like to bring people along for it, and invite them to share their experiences too.
Hopefully, over time, we’ll build something useful that more than just my close friends (suffer to) read. Maybe we can call it a collection of experiences, mistakes, conversations, random encounters and perspectives from people at completely different stages of their legal journey. I’m looking forward to seeing where mine goes.
But, for now, let’s stick with The Toaster.
ps can ym tell i like toast
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