Virtual or Physical LPC (the great debate!!!!!)

R203

Legendary Member
  • Dec 14, 2018
    143
    37
    Hi everyone!! Thanks so much for being such a supportive forum!

    I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this. My LPC is beginning soon in September (London), and there is now the option, by BPP, to do the LPC fully virtual. I am an international student with a 6-8 hour time zone ahead of the UK (so latest LPC classes might end at 1/2am at my home country). Despite being a firm-sponsored student, the trainee intake is small and thus, there is not really a LPC cohort that I have, given that some of the future trainees have completed the LPC prior to obtaining the TC.

    I really wanted to hear your thoughts as to whether you would still head to London, pay rent and living expenses, just so you could do the physical LPC, or would you remain in your home country and complete the LPC virtually. Would there be any disadvantages for me (lower chance of doing well, lack of textbooks, no social interactions with future solicitors, no face-to-face interactions with LPC tutors, no access to BPP library)?


    Would love to hear everyone's thoughts, especially those who have completed the LPC (physically or virtually), whether in my scenario, the virtual LPC at my home country would be a better option.

    Thank you everyone!! :)
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Alison C and Jaysen

    nina_123

    Distinguished Member
    Jul 15, 2019
    54
    20
    Hi @Jessica Booker

    Just to add to this question. If an international student does the LPC virtually at his/her home country, that would mean that there is no need for a tier 4 student visa. Does that signify any future complications for the firm in giving the student the tier 2 work visa to begin the TC after the LPC?

    Thank you very much!
     

    Jessica Booker

    Legendary Member
    TCLA Moderator
    Gold Member
    Graduate Recruitment
    Premium Member
    Forum Team
    Aug 1, 2019
    13,335
    19,148
    Hi @Jessica Booker

    Just to add to this question. If an international student does the LPC virtually at his/her home country, that would mean that there is no need for a tier 4 student visa. Does that signify any future complications for the firm in giving the student the tier 2 work visa to begin the TC after the LPC?

    Thank you very much!
    Is you firm sponsoring your visa during your TC?

    Tier 2 doesn’t exist anymore - but the firm could be assuming you could be recruited on a graduate visa so it is worthwhile checking what their approach to this will be.
     

    nina_123

    Distinguished Member
    Jul 15, 2019
    54
    20
    Hi Yall!

    @Alice G @Daniel Boden

    i’m tagging for reach. i wanted to please hear your opinions about whether doing the LPC (BPP) virtually, with a 7-8 hour time difference (ahead of the UK), might be feasible. I’m worried about the current complaints that i’ve seen about BPP (unresponsiveness, etc) and that not being physically in the uk, i would not be able to contact BPP urgently if need be (something which seems to be important for BPP students i’ve heard).

    how was the virtual experience for GDL/LPC for you guys?

    thank you!
     

    Alison C

    Legendary Member
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Forum Winner
  • Nov 27, 2019
    179
    423
    Hi everyone!! Thanks so much for being such a supportive forum!

    I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this. My LPC is beginning soon in September (London), and there is now the option, by BPP, to do the LPC fully virtual. I am an international student with a 6-8 hour time zone ahead of the UK (so latest LPC classes might end at 1/2am at my home country). Despite being a firm-sponsored student, the trainee intake is small and thus, there is not really a LPC cohort that I have, given that some of the future trainees have completed the LPC prior to obtaining the TC.

    I really wanted to hear your thoughts as to whether you would still head to London, pay rent and living expenses, just so you could do the physical LPC, or would you remain in your home country and complete the LPC virtually. Would there be any disadvantages for me (lower chance of doing well, lack of textbooks, no social interactions with future solicitors, no face-to-face interactions with LPC tutors, no access to BPP library)?


    Would love to hear everyone's thoughts, especially those who have completed the LPC (physically or virtually), whether in my scenario, the virtual LPC at my home country would be a better option.

    Thank you everyone!! :)
    I love London and have been there for years - but it is a crazily expensive city! I love the architecture (free), the transport (reasonable, though it does rack up), the parks (free), the shopping (definitely not free), the museums (some free), the restaurants (generally pricier than out of town), and the drive, energy, creativity and resilience of so many of the people I've made there. I don't love the dirtiness, the council tax, the heat when I have no garden, or the way you so easily sink your cash on goodness knows what.

    London is glorious but it isn't quite itself at the moment...

    I haven't done the LPC yet, but I gather it's pretty full-on and definitely not quite like undergraduate life in terms of relationship-building. The time change does sound rather antisocial, but given the state of things, if you were able to plan to complete your LPC in your home country, and make a massive effort at the beginning of the course to ensure you were finding online work buddies (from your firm and from your classes) then you would avoid debt at a time when the payoff may not be quite in place. Starting a new job with hefty financial challenges might be something you won't always be able to avoid, whereas right now it's almost expected that online/hybrid is here for a while. But I'd be very interested to hear from other people who know from the front line.

    By the way, I love a library and haven't fully adjusted to online materials (I like actual books!) so I might be talking rubbish. Though you can buy a lot of books for the price of a year's rent in London.

    Good luck with your choice, and with the course!
     
    Last edited:

    Mea

    Star Member
    Apr 5, 2019
    37
    107
    Hi everyone!! Thanks so much for being such a supportive forum!

    I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this. My LPC is beginning soon in September (London), and there is now the option, by BPP, to do the LPC fully virtual. I am an international student with a 6-8 hour time zone ahead of the UK (so latest LPC classes might end at 1/2am at my home country). Despite being a firm-sponsored student, the trainee intake is small and thus, there is not really a LPC cohort that I have, given that some of the future trainees have completed the LPC prior to obtaining the TC.

    I really wanted to hear your thoughts as to whether you would still head to London, pay rent and living expenses, just so you could do the physical LPC, or would you remain in your home country and complete the LPC virtually. Would there be any disadvantages for me (lower chance of doing well, lack of textbooks, no social interactions with future solicitors, no face-to-face interactions with LPC tutors, no access to BPP library)?


    Would love to hear everyone's thoughts, especially those who have completed the LPC (physically or virtually), whether in my scenario, the virtual LPC at my home country would be a better option.

    Thank you everyone!! :)
    Hello!

    I did it virtually with BPP and I strongly advise against studying there. This whole year has been an absolute monkey show! There are countless complaints on Linkedin by many students (receiving hundreds of likes and people with shared experiences) and the majority of my peers are very dissatisfied with BPP. If you can go for ULaw, I would rather do that. It saves you emotional stress. And we are talking about everything from their exam platform shutting down mid-exam (and you fail or must re-take it - no detriment at all), missing documents for the exam so you cannot answer the question, system crashing and exam go missing, learning platform overpopulated so no class/can't pay attention due to connection issues, awful student support service, (some) tutors are clearly not suited for teaching (simply can't answer legal questions students have) and the list goes on.

    Please consider your other options. There have been formal complaints by students - supported by lawyers - and there is just a matter of time before legal action will be taken (if not already).

    I'm wishing you all the best for the LPC. Although it is hard, it should also be a fun year where you get to interact with peers and learn more practically.
     
    • ℹ️
    Reactions: Alison C

    Jane Smith

    Legendary Member
    Sep 2, 2020
    229
    206
    If you were already in the UK I would say do it in person (I am assuming BPP will be running it in person in September). As you are not it probably will not matter if you do it online. We also had the BPP email about would you prefer online instead etc but are sticking with in person (as no international travel issues)
     

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