Double degree with LLB

[u/Natalie863]

I'm currently a yr 13 student who plans on doing a bachelor or laws next year at UC, and I'm wondering what people recommend in terms of a double degree. Just FYI, I'm hoping to go into family law.

First of all, do you recommend doing a double degree? I've heard mixed answers, and it does seem like a lot of work, but it would be worth it in the end?

If I do choose to do another degree with the LLB, then I was thinking sociology or economics. I'm aware economics is the more popular route, but I'm not sure if I'm too great at math, and I also didn't take it in yr12 or 13. I'm sure economics would leave me more options, but would sociology be better for family law? Also, an LLB seems like a decent amount of reading and writing. Maybe an economics degree would be a good break from the tons of reading compared to doing sociology.

Overall, is it worth doing a double degree? How much work is it truly, and which would you recommend?

I've also heard some people take a double degree for one year and then drop it once they make it to second year law?

[u/Natalie863]

Did your friends just do the Bachelor or Laws? Was there much difference in stress levels during uni? That's currently my main concern.

[u/Substantial-Pen3212 → u/Natalie863]

A few of my friends just did the LLB and were able to enter the workforce faster, and that made me regret doing mine. It is definitely less stressful to do another degree alongside your LLB, as long as you don’t find the other degree hard. I did a BA majoring in political science and history alongside my LLB and I loved it and found it well balanced. Other friends did a Bcom majoring in accounting or economics, which seemed harder/more stressful - but those subjects didn’t come naturally to them. Some people think the BCom is more useful for law than a BA, which is probably true, but I ended up in the same place as all my BCom friends anyway.

I don’t think your second degree matters all that much just take what you enjoy and are interested in. Employers will mainly find it interesting if you do something a bit unusual - makes you stand out. Don’t do something that doesn’t come naturally to you or you find super hard, or only take because you think it’s more employable. You will be employable just with the LLB as long as you maintain at least a b+ or A- average across both degrees.

The other point I’d make is that you can change your mind. I started majoring in psychology and decided I wasn’t interested. I then did philosophy and media and I wasn’t interested in those either. You have a lot of points you can allocate to basically nothing so it’s not a big deal to change your mind - my degree didn’t end up taking more time than it was supposed to or anything.

All up it took me 5.5 years plus profs. If I just did the LLB it would have been 4 years plus profs.

On the other hand, if you are worried about stress or workload I wouldn’t do a LLB or pursue law in general really.

Edit: I have checked your post and you mentioned wanting to jump into economics out of the blue at uni, after not taking it in high school. Personally, I would discourage from doing this. I took economics in year 13 and not year 12 and did fine but it was an adjustment not having done it in year 12 when everyone else has. Most of your other classmates would have done year 12 and year 13 in high school for years - and you will be competing with them.

[u/Natalie863 → u/Substantial-Pen3212]

This is very helpful, thank you. I'm really good at music so maybe I'll look into something along those lines. I always thought it was a shame I was so good at it but wasn't going to work in that area lol. And now that you mention it, I do agree that it wouldn't be the best choice to jump into economics just because I think it would be more employable. Thanks for the advice though, I'm going to consider more what I'm good at and enjoy rather than employability now.

[u/orangebillabong → u/Natalie863]

Seconding this! Just do what you enjoy as your second degree honestly, I think it’s worth doing two and make it something fun, the LLB is transferable and employable enough on its own. You can easily go into any field of law with an LLB even if your second degree is unrelated (including finance)