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In theory, this sounds easy. Odds are that if you’ve managed to get through three years of university – all of the coursework, exams and perhaps even a dissertation – surely a little top up course is a walk in the park? Well, yes and no.

Some elements of the course really are simple. For most law schools, so long as you can pay the fees you should have a place. I say this only anecdotally, but I’ve never heard of anyone be rejected from a law school upon applying for the Graduate Diploma in Law (Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)).

Whilst friends applying to universities for Masters during final year were stressed about the highly competitive postgraduate application process in their fields of study, I never once truly felt worried about securing a place at law school.

And although I always stick to application deadlines and recommend doing so, I know of a few people who called up my law school a matter of weeks before the course was due to start and they managed to get a place on the Graduate Diploma in Law (Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)) that academic year. But that is where the easiness stops.

At university, we effectively had six modules to do in each academic year, with a dissertation counting as two modules, for example. The Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) has seven core modules and most course providers will also teach two or three other modules, which will cover research and an essay of a topic outside the curriculum, a piece of coursework and perhaps some introductory tests on the general English Legal system.

In fact, the latter often takes place within a couple of weeks of starting the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) – learning all about the court structure, how to read a case, the process of creating legislation etc. Indeed, it’s all systems go from the second the course starts.

Whilst you may get the odd reading week, the course content is delivered at a high-paced and constant rate, with each week’s material building on the previous weeks’. The little known secret is that the material taught is rarely complicated or difficult; it’s more a case of quantity.

Anyone who can secure a 2.1 at university shouldn’t struggle too often with grasping any legal concepts. You do need to make sure that you’re prepared to work hard and manage your time properly. This includes being sensible about the social aspect – don’t expect university-esque club nights twice a week or fortnightly bar crawls.

Also, if you’re living in London, be prepared to consider how commuting will figure into your routine: would you rather live further away from law school and have two hours cut out of each day commuting? Are you prepared to work properly at home or will you need to spend your day nine to five in law school studying?

Whatever you end up doing, the most important thing is to remain focused yet avoid getting stressed. It is a demanding course, but – in my opinion – the final year of university required just as much work.

The thing is that, by the end of university you really love every second of what you study. With the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), because it’s so broad, it’s a dead cert that you’ll find a few modules or topics which aren’t as stimulating as you’d like. But the most important thing is to keep an open mind and work through everything you’re set.

As jam-packed as the conversion course is, it still only scratches the surface of law and it would be a shame to miss out topics. That said, once you get the exams you might be able to be ruthless (depending on the institution) and select topics carefully, but you’ll only be in a position to do this if you worked hard at everything throughout the year.

Michael Jacobs

Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) & BVC graduate

02-10-2009