The Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) offered by the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Law remains one of the most desirable degrees for internationally trained lawyers. With a demanding academic schedule, the world-renowned tutorial system of instruction, an illustrious alumni and faculty, and of course the prestige associated with Oxford, it is not too difficult to discern just why this is the case.
In this FPA compilation, we share what seven BCL graduates from India had to say about the BCL experience.
Who: Ayushi Agarwal (Weidenfeld-Hoffmann scholar)
What: “…..the peers are all extremely hard-working and driven, and the professors are amongst the top in their respective fields. This can be intimidating at first but as long as you try your best to keep pace, it is manageable.”
Who: Dhvani Mehta (Rhodes Scholar)
What: “….In going to Oxford, my expectations from the BCL were definitely matched and then some. It was one of the most exciting courses that I did. It was unlike any style of teaching or examination taking that I had ever been used to.”
Who: Talha Abdul Rahman (Shell Chevening Centenary Scholar)
What: “The greatest benefit of the BCL is that I learnt how little I know and that there is so much knowledge to seek. Other benefits of the BCL included getting habituated to long reading lists and preparing for discussions in the class where every student came with different experiences from his or her own country.”
Who: Aishwarya Amar (Cornelia Sorabjee scholar)
What: “In short, the BCL is more of an experience that teaches you to think, reason and ideate, and this is more intellectually stimulating than anything you can learn in a classroom, and that’s what I wanted.”
Who: Sneha Priya Yanappa
What: “One of the other reasons I chose the BCL is because of the subjects it offered- the interaction it has with neighbouring academic disciplines allows one to appreciate and develop a critical attitude towards law. Oxford gives you the intellectual freedom to think differently and independently, and that is exactly what I wanted.”
Who: Dr. Shashwat Bajpai
What: “In addition to the richness and grandeur of the course itself, Tutorials are the heart and soul of BCL. These are one-to-one sessions with the teaching faculty, which are apart from the usual lecture/seminar structure, but are instead positioned towards engaging sessions having a maximum of only 2-3 students per faculty per Tutorial.”
Who: Anjali Rawat (Ambriti Salve Scholar)
What: “The BCL program at University of Oxford attracts some of the best law graduates and I decided to pusue it both because of the repute of the course as well as the prospect of studying under some of the best academics and professors in family law, human rights law and socio-legal studies.”
(Lead image by Ben Seymour on Unsplash)