http://www.llm-guide.com/board/7281 en Re:Oxbridge applicants - LLM GUIDE Discussion Board Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:53:00 +0200 http://www.llm-guide.com/board/7281/last#7281 I got into both Oxford and Cambridge this year, but I have decided to read for an LLM at Harvard instead. I think it very true that Oxbridge accords very heavy weightage to academic grades. If you have outstanding grades, you are very likely to get in, even if your references are not spectacular. Just for clarification: In the UK legal education system, marks are awarded out of 100. However, in reality, the 'effective marking range' is 0-80. Thus, any score above 70 (a 'first') is very, very highly regarded. For example, the top scorer on the BCL/MJur at Oxford will probably have an average of 74-76. On a side point, I don't quite agree that Oxbridge are arrogant universities! :-) Their admissions tutors do have a really hard time picking between so many great candidates, so we really should cut them some slack!