anyone done or doing their LPC this year - few ques

ames100

1.) how did you are how are you planning on funding your year?
Im planning on going to anglia as its close to home so i wont have to worry about accomodation and i was planning on taking out the 8200 it will cost on a grad ac plus living expenses for the next yr as well

2) is the work load really that heavy that you couldnt work at the same time? i hear this a lot about the course.

3) if you had the choice again would you rather go to a local school or a central one? i am toying with the idea of going to london either CoL or BPP as i figure if your going to invest this much £ you may as well do it properly. It would cost more but is it worth it in terms of new experience/ place/ etc

hope someone can shed some light

TIA

jcftn

Hey, I'm just finishing off the LPC at BPP, so hopefully can answer some of your questions:

1) I had sponsorship of the fees and maintenance grant from my firm; I added to the maintenance with money I had saved myself and budgeted £13,000 from September up to about July. That covered me okay and I didn't have to live miserably! Obviously that included accommodation so presumably you would need a lot less.

2) I haven't found the workload too heavy at all. It requires continuous work, in that you have to prep for classes, but if you keep on top of this then it's not too bad. In BPP everyone usually has one day a week off, plus there may also be a day that is "lectures only". Tutorials must be attended but lectures can be done online. In theory then you could have two free days, plus the weekend, and keep up a part-time job. It all depends on your own working style though.

3) I don't know much about local schools v central ones as my firm prescribed which law school I had to go to. BPP is pretty good at what it does - great notes, online lectures, plenty of student support etc. If you're still looking for a training contract, I've heard from classmates that the careers service is very good. Having said that, though, the LPC itself is pretty soul-destroyingly boring, and I'm not sure how I'd feel paying over the odds for it.

Hope this has helped a bit! If you have any more questions I might be able to answer then just give me a shout

alb1

I'm just finishing mine at Cardiff

1) I took out a Professional Trainee Loan from Natwest. I found it was the only place that would give me enough to cover both the tuition fees and living costs. It's quite a common option for those who aren't funded by a firm or are able to borrow from parents.

2) I found that the workload was far too heavy to get a job at first, although by November/December it had eased off quite a lot. My timetable was so inconsistent however that I couldn't commit to working during the week at all because I'd have completely different hours everyday. In order to work I'd have had to give up my weekends, and that would have meant not seeing my boyfriend who lives in a different city. I found that it's only now that I'm a bit short on money because I budgeted fairly well.

3) I'm really happy with my choice. I didn't want to move to London and additionally I didn't want the extra debt that would have gone with it. The tuition fees would have been £3k more and living costs would have been much higher too.