Bad GCSE and A Levels - Will this affect my chances at getting TC?

[lawyer wannabe80@]

Hello,

I don't know how to start this so imma just speed through it in the best way I can.

Basically, I came to England when I was 12 and I knew zero English, by the time I was somewhat good at English language I was in year 11. I only got the full grasp of English language by the time I was third year in sixth form (18 years old). Along with that I had a rough family matters (parents separation / addiction so I had to take care of one of my parents, negligence, social workers / police getting involved, emotional abuse, family members passing away) and my mental health wasn't really good (depression, anxiety, also bullying and racism in school)so throughout the age of 12 till 16/17 I was just focused on anything but education. I ended up getting only 4 GCSE's, English 4, science 4, business level 1 distinction and drama B (grade 3 in maths). At age of 17 where I basically realised that I cant let my future be wasted away because of these circumstances so, I tried my hardest since final exams were 3 months away and got A level in Sociology with grade D, BTEC in performing arts with a Pass, and I stayed one extra year in six form and did A1 and A2 in Psychology in one year and got a D (this was when covid hit so I got that grade because of the predicted grades which was mainly C's).

Then in uni I did Bachelor of science in Professional policing with 2:1 (65%). In my first year I did not do well since everything was online, but then I was assaulted by some girls where police was involved, then in my second year I was sa'd, police wasn't involved but my uni provided counselling; during my second year and third year I managed to bring my grades from 40's to 60's and 70's, and now I'm going to start my LLM Law Conversion with SQE1 (part time) at BPP university and am aiming for Distinction grade.

so, I'm wondering if I let the firms know of the circumstances will they be lenient or will that still not help? or should I just sugar code some parts?? Because I have started vacation schemes application and I have basically written all of that in my "mitigating circumstances" section, and added that this should be something that isn't viewed as a weakness but my resilience and determination to make it this far. I haven't sent off any application yet.

Please let me know what you think, and thank you so much in advance.

p.s.
Also, I'm not trying to trauma dump, I'm totally fine now, everything is fine I just wanted the full context to be known.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello,

I don't know how to start this so imma just speed through it in the best way I can.

Basically, I came to England when I was 12 and I knew zero English, by the time I was somewhat good at English language I was in year 11. I only got the full grasp of English language by the time I was third year in sixth form (18 years old). Along with that I had a rough family matters (parents separation / addiction so I had to take care of one of my parents, negligence, social workers / police getting involved, emotional abuse, family members passing away) and my mental health wasn't really good (depression, anxiety, also bullying and racism in school)so throughout the age of 12 till 16/17 I was just focused on anything but education. I ended up getting only 4 GCSE's, English 4, science 4, business level 1 distinction and drama B (grade 3 in maths). At age of 17 where I basically realised that I cant let my future be wasted away because of these circumstances so, I tried my hardest since final exams were 3 months away and got A level in Sociology with grade D, BTEC in performing arts with a Pass, and I stayed one extra year in six form and did A1 and A2 in Psychology in one year and got a D (this was when covid hit so I got that grade because of the predicted grades which was mainly C's).

Then in uni I did Bachelor of science in Professional policing with 2:1 (65%). In my first year I did not do well since everything was online, but then I was assaulted by some girls where police was involved, then in my second year I was sa'd, police wasn't involved but my uni provided counselling; during my second year and third year I managed to bring my grades from 40's to 60's and 70's, and now I'm going to start my LLM Law Conversion with SQE1 (part time) at BPP university and am aiming for Distinction grade.

so, I'm wondering if I let the firms know of the circumstances will they be lenient or will that still not help? or should I just sugar code some parts?? Because I have started vacation schemes application and I have basically written all of that in my "mitigating circumstances" section, and added that this should be something that isn't viewed as a weakness but my resilience and determination to make it this far. I haven't sent off any application yet.

Please let me know what you think, and thank you so much in advance.

p.s.
Also, I'm not trying to trauma dump, I'm totally fine now, everything is fine I just wanted the full context to be known.

I’d suggest we discuss this in a private message. Please feel free to send me a PM to discuss.

The difficulty is not your mitigating circumstances, and you don’t need to sugar coat them. The challenge you have is you only have 1 year of academic grades that have not been impacted by some form of circumstances, and that is really difficult for firms to consider what your true potential is. They can’t go by just your grades that are 70s because they are so few.

You may find it easier once you have your LLM/SQE results because then you will have more than one year’s of strong academics.

 

[Tintin06]

Hello,

I don't know how to start this so imma just speed through it in the best way I can.

Basically, I came to England when I was 12 and I knew zero English, by the time I was somewhat good at English language I was in year 11. I only got the full grasp of English language by the time I was third year in sixth form (18 years old). Along with that I had a rough family matters (parents separation / addiction so I had to take care of one of my parents, negligence, social workers / police getting involved, emotional abuse, family members passing away) and my mental health wasn't really good (depression, anxiety, also bullying and racism in school)so throughout the age of 12 till 16/17 I was just focused on anything but education. I ended up getting only 4 GCSE's, English 4, science 4, business level 1 distinction and drama B (grade 3 in maths). At age of 17 where I basically realised that I cant let my future be wasted away because of these circumstances so, I tried my hardest since final exams were 3 months away and got A level in Sociology with grade D, BTEC in performing arts with a Pass, and I stayed one extra year in six form and did A1 and A2 in Psychology in one year and got a D (this was when covid hit so I got that grade because of the predicted grades which was mainly C's).

Then in uni I did Bachelor of science in Professional policing with 2:1 (65%). In my first year I did not do well since everything was online, but then I was assaulted by some girls where police was involved, then in my second year I was sa'd, police wasn't involved but my uni provided counselling; during my second year and third year I managed to bring my grades from 40's to 60's and 70's, and now I'm going to start my LLM Law Conversion with SQE1 (part time) at BPP university and am aiming for Distinction grade.

so, I'm wondering if I let the firms know of the circumstances will they be lenient or will that still not help? or should I just sugar code some parts?? Because I have started vacation schemes application and I have basically written all of that in my "mitigating circumstances" section, and added that this should be something that isn't viewed as a weakness but my resilience and determination to make it this far. I haven't sent off any application yet.

Please let me know what you think, and thank you so much in advance.

p.s.
Also, I'm not trying to trauma dump, I'm totally fine now, everything is fine I just wanted the full context to be known.

I have bad GCSEs. Firms do notice upward trajectory and if you're doing a postgraduate qualification like an LLM that speaks for itself. Obviously it's better if you can relay the context in which you achieved your GCSEs, but they're one data point.

 

[lawyer wannabe80@]

I’d suggest we discuss this in a private message. Please feel free to send me a PM to discuss.

The difficulty is not your mitigating circumstances, and you don’t need to sugar coat them. The challenge you have is you only have 1 year of academic grades that have not been impacted by some form of circumstances, and that is really difficult for firms to consider what your true potential is. They can’t go by just your grades that are 70s because they are so few.

You may find it easier once you have your LLM/SQE results because then you will have more than one year’s of strong academics.

Thank you for replying Jessica, you're always a big help.
I also have sent you a private message to discuss this further.

I just hope my chances aren't zero because of my GCSE and A-level grades...

 

[lawyer wannabe80@]

I have bad GCSEs. Firms do notice upward trajectory and if you're doing a postgraduate qualification like an LLM that speaks for itself. Obviously it's better if you can relay the context in which you achieved your GCSEs, but they're one data point.

Thank you for replying, that does make me feel more confident about my chances.

Is there anything you think I should do to increase my chances? I have already signed up for Pro Bono work, applied to a dispute and law society and also applied to a week experience at a law firm and just waiting for their response.
I just want to increase my chances as much as I can considering the poor grades.