Jurica
Three chapters, built from UCAS figures, SOAS’s own pages and its replies to FOI requests.
SOAS made offers on 92.4% of its Law applications in the 2025 cycle, the highest rate of the nine UK universities that use the LNAT. This chapter explains what that figure counts, how it has changed since 2019, how SOAS chooses whom to admit, and how its LLB and BA degrees differ.
Put what you’ve read into practice with a free diagnostic test and a full LNAT mock exam.
Try Jurica for freeIn the 2025 UCAS cycle (for entry in autumn 2025), SOAS received 1,195 main scheme applications for Law and made 1,105 offers, an offer rate of 92.4%. By the end of the cycle 320 applicants had been accepted.[1] These are the newest published figures, since UCAS has not yet released its data for the 2026 cycle.
SOAS does not publish admissions statistics of its own, and when it was asked for them under the Freedom of Information Act in 2025 it pointed the requester to UCAS.[4] The figures in this chapter therefore come mainly from UCAS’s end of cycle data, which have three features to note:
Having said that, an offer rate above 90% is unusual among the universities that use the LNAT. In our view, it means that most applicants who are predicted the required grades receive an offer, and that the harder part of getting in is meeting the conditions of the offer. We look at what those conditions are in the Grades chapter.
Yes, on UCAS’s figures. Applications for Law rose from 920 in the 2019 cycle to 1,195 in 2025, while offers rose faster, from 665 to 1,105. The offer rate therefore climbed from 72.5% to 92.4%.[1]
| Cycle | Applications | Offers | Offer rate | Accepted | Advertised A-level offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 920 | 665 | 72.5% | 180 | A*AA to AAB |
| 2020 | 945 | 790 | 83.9% | 285 | A*AA to AAB |
| 2021 | 1,045 | 920 | 88.3% | 325 | AAA to AAB |
| 2022 | 1,055 | 930 | 88.5% | 325 | AAA |
| 2023 | 970 | 860 | 88.5% | 340 | AAA |
| 2024 | 1,180 | 1,080 | 91.6% | 410 | AAA |
| 2025 | 1,195 | 1,105 | 92.4% | 320 | AAA |
There are three things to notice here:
SOAS’s own figures for the single-honours Law programmes, which it gave in reply to a Freedom of Information request, tell the same story for the first two years. There were 630 applications and 470 offers for 2019 entry (about 75%), and 670 applications and 590 offers for 2020 entry (about 88%).[6]
UCAS does not count Clearing entrants as such, but it does count accepted applicants who made no main scheme application. At SOAS there have been about 100 such Law entrants in every cycle since 2020, which in 2025 was about 31% of all accepted applicants (100 of 320).[1]
A main scheme application is one made by 30 June, so in our view most of the others are likely to have come through Clearing.[1] This fits what SOAS told a Freedom of Information requester in January 2026: the standard LLB was open in Clearing in each of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. SOAS did not say what grades it accepted in Clearing, which it treats as commercially sensitive.[4]
What does this mean for you? We recommend applying through UCAS by the equal-consideration deadline of 13 January 2027 at 18:00 UK time for two reasons.[7] First, SOAS considers later applications only after every on-time application has been considered, and it may close a programme at any point after the deadline.[8] Second, across the whole of SOAS in 2025, applications made by the January deadline received offers at 95.0%, against 65.3% for those made between January and 30 June.[1] Note also that if you need to sit the LNAT, the test cannot be taken after 25 January 2027 for SOAS (see the LNAT chapter).[9]
SOAS received the fewest Law applications of the nine UK universities that use the LNAT in the 2025 cycle, and had the highest offer rate. Having said that, it accepted more Law applicants (320) than Oxford, Cambridge, UCL or LSE.[1][10]
| University | Applications | Offers | Offer rate | Accepted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford | 2,420 | 270 | 11.1% | 220 |
| UCL | 4,510 | 670 | 14.9% | 255 |
| LSE | 3,240 | 515 | 15.9% | 215 |
| Cambridge | 1,935 | 330 | 16.9% | 255 |
| King’s College London | 5,195 | 1,345 | 25.9% | 445 |
| Durham | 3,040 | 1,435 | 47.1% | 460 |
| Bristol | 2,795 | 1,530 | 54.8% | 505 |
| Glasgow | 1,800 | 1,160 | 64.5% | 335 |
| SOAS | 1,195 | 1,105 | 92.4% | 320 |
As you can see, the nine universities fall into three groups. Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and LSE made offers on between 11.1% and 16.9% of applications; King’s, Durham, Bristol and Glasgow on between 25.9% and 64.5%; and SOAS on 92.4%.[1] The figures are comparable with one another, because UCAS counts Law in the same way at every university. They do not mean that SOAS is an easy option, however. Its offer still asks for AAB, and the LNAT is compulsory for applicants with some qualifications.[2][11]
Note also that SOAS uses the LNAT without being a member of the LNAT Consortium; Glasgow is the only other UK university in that position.[10]
Applicants from England received offers more often than applicants from outside the EU. In the 2025 cycle the offer rate for Law at SOAS was 93.5% for applications from England, 95.9% from the EU and 87.6% from outside the EU.[1]
In 2019 the gap was wider: 76.2% for England against 65.0% for applications from outside the EU.[1] Since then the international share of applications has also fallen. About 270 of the 1,195 Law applications in 2025 (23%) came from outside the UK, compared with about 365 of 920 (40%) in 2019, and only about 30 of the 320 accepted applicants in 2025 came from outside the UK.[1]
If you are applying from outside the UK, there are two points to note. Contextual offers are for UK students only, and whether you must sit the LNAT depends on your qualification (a high-school qualification SOAS treats as equivalent to A levels does not require it, while a foundation programme does).[12][2][11] The Grades chapter covers both in more detail.
SOAS describes its undergraduate admissions as largely centralised. Admissions tutors set the entry requirements, professional admissions staff apply them to each application, and non-standard and marginal applications are sent to the Admissions Tutor for review.[8]
SOAS says it considers all aspects of an application together. Its Admissions Policy lists what this may include: your achieved and predicted grades, your personal statement, your reference, the context in which you gained your qualifications, and, where they are used, performance at interview or a sample of written work.[8] There are three further points to note:
SOAS offers one LLB (course code M100) and a set of BA degrees that combine Law with another subject. All of them ask for AAB at A-level, with a contextual offer of ABB.[2][3] If you are thinking of becoming a solicitor or barrister, the LLB is the degree SOAS designs for that purpose.
The LLB takes three years, or four with an optional year abroad. You do not apply for the year abroad separately: students apply for it in their second year, and need a mark of 55% or higher in their first year to be eligible.[2] Discover Uni records the LLB as accredited by the Bar Standards Board for the purpose of a Qualifying Law Degree, although SOAS’s own course page does not say so.[15][2]
SOAS lists 17 BA entries on one page. They are 15 combinations, two of which also come in a version with a year abroad:[3]
Note that SOAS describes these BA degrees as aimed primarily at those who do not wish to become practising lawyers.[3] If you want to keep a legal career open, we therefore recommend the LLB. (To qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales you can hold a degree in any subject and then pass the SQE, so a BA does not close that route.[16]) Note also that the BA in Economics and Law asks for GCSE Mathematics at grade 6, because SOAS requires it for all its Economics combinations.[11]
The LLB is much the largest. Discover Uni has data for 305 students who started the LLB in 2024-25 and for 325 who started any SOAS course that includes Law, which leaves somewhere between 15 and 25 for all the BA degrees together once rounding is allowed for.[15][17] The LLB has also grown. SOAS enrolled 90 first-year LLB students for 2019 entry and 165 for 2020 entry, so the intake has roughly tripled since 2019, although the two sources count in slightly different ways.[6][15]
SOAS used to offer a two-year Senior Status LLB for graduates (course code M102), but it has withdrawn the course page. The LNAT Consortium still lists it, and SOAS named it among the courses closed to Clearing in 2022 and 2023, but not in 2024 or 2025.[18][4] If you already hold a degree, we recommend checking on UCAS whether the course is open before you plan around it.
SOAS charged new Home students £9,790 a year in 2026/27, and gives the Home fee cap for 2027/28 as £10,050, which applies to new starters. For Overseas students starting in 2026/27 the fee was £23,780 a year; SOAS has not yet published the fee for 2027/28 starters.[19]
The LLB covers the usual foundation subjects of a law degree, but it also makes Legal Systems of Asia and Africa compulsory in the second and third years, and many of its options look at law from outside Europe and North America.[2]
There are three things to notice in the course page:
SOAS also lists the employers that have hired its recent graduates. They include City law firms such as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Slaughter and May, as well as HM Treasury and the United Nations, although SOAS gives no numbers.[2] On Discover Uni, SOAS Law graduates earned a median of £28,000 three years after their course and £36,000 after five.[15]
Many candidates assume that a personal statement for SOAS must be about decolonial or international law. We do not recommend writing it that way, for two reasons. First, the same personal statement goes to every university on your UCAS form, so it has to work for all of them. Second, SOAS publishes nothing to suggest that it rewards a particular interest. Its policy says only that the statement is one of the things it considers.[8] Our advice is to write about the parts of law that genuinely interest you, and, if one of SOAS’s areas is among them (for example, international law or the legal systems of Asia and Africa), to show what you have read or done about it.
Every claim above ends in a [n] superscript that links here. SOAS publishes little admissions data. These are the live public sources for what we've said.
The provider-level files give main scheme applications, offers, offer rate and accepted applicants by subject group for each cycle from 2019 to 2025. Law at SOAS: 920 applications, 665 offers, 72.5%, 180 accepted (2019); 945, 790, 83.9%, 285 (2020); 1,045, 920, 88.3%, 325 (2021); 1,055, 930, 88.5%, 325 (2022); 970, 860, 88.5%, 340 (2023); 1,180, 1,080, 91.6%, 410 (2024); 1,195, 1,105, 92.4%, 320 (2025). Accepted applicants who made no main scheme application: 55, 100, 95, 90, 100, 100 and 100. For 2025, by domicile: England 915 applications at 93.5%, EU 35 at 95.9%, outside the EU 235 at 87.6% (2019: 550 at 76.2%, 50 at 79.3%, 315 at 65.0%); by age: 17 and under 40 at 90.8%, 18 780 at 98.8%, 19 205 at 84.1%, 20 65 at 88.0%, 21 to 24 75 at 61.3%. Whole of SOAS, 2025: 6,210 applications at 91.9%; UK applicants with A levels only 2,630 applications and 2,560 offers, BTEC only 260 and 235, A levels with a BTEC 185 and 175, Access to HE only 95 and 85; applications by the January deadline 95.0% offered, those made between January and 30 June 65.3%. Law in 2025 at the other UK LNAT universities: Oxford 2,420, 270, 11.1%, 220; Cambridge 1,935, 330, 16.9%, 255; UCL 4,510, 670, 14.9%, 255; LSE 3,240, 515, 15.9%, 215; King’s 5,195, 1,345, 25.9%, 445; Durham 3,040, 1,435, 47.1%, 460; Bristol 2,795, 1,530, 54.8%, 505; Glasgow 1,800, 1,160, 64.5%, 335. Each Law figure adds together every course by its share of Law (so a joint degree counts in part), counts are rounded to the nearest five, and the offer rate is a share of applications, not of applicants.
The page for the LLB (course code M100), three or four years full-time, with an optional year abroad that students apply for in their second year (a mark of 55% or higher in the first year is needed). Entry requirements: A levels AAB, contextual ABB; no required A-level subject and no GCSE requirement. Applicants with A levels, the IB or another high-school qualification considered equivalent to A levels are not required to take the LNAT, but the School of Law will consider making lower offers (e.g. AAA, AAB, ABB or 37, 36, 35 in the IB) to candidates who sit it and perform promisingly; applicants with non-standard qualifications (including Access to HE Diplomas and foundation courses) and anyone offering a Level 3 BTEC, alone or in combination, must take it. Applicants for transfer into year 2 who have taken the LNAT and performed well may be considered. Compulsory modules include Legal Systems of Asia and Africa in years 2 and 3; human-rights modules are guided options; module descriptions name Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), decolonial and feminist approaches and critical race theory. Lists 23 employers of recent graduates, among them Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Slaughter and May, without numbers. Fees shown are for 2026/27 entrants. Read 10 October 2026.
Lists the BA degrees that combine Law with another subject: 17 entries, which are 15 combinations plus two year-abroad versions. Every combination requires AAB (contextual ABB), and the page carries the same LNAT paragraphs as the LLB page. SOAS says the BA is aimed primarily at those not wishing to become practising lawyers. No UCAS codes are given. An archived copy of 8 October 2025 shows the page had moved from AAA to AAB, with a contextual offer of BBB that has since become ABB again.
SOAS was open in Clearing for all subjects in 2022 to 2025 except, in every year, the LLB with Year Abroad (and in 2022 and 2023 the Senior Status LLB and one joint programme with UCL), so the standard LLB was open in each of those years. It withheld its Clearing entry grades as commercially sensitive and pointed to UCAS for application and offer data.
The LLB page as it stood for 2025/26 entrants: entry requirements AAA, contextual ABB. The next archived copy, of 6 February 2026, carries fees for 2026/27 entrants and gives AAB. Earlier copies of SOAS’s LLB pages show A*AA to AAB in 2019 and 2020, AAA to AAB in January 2021, and AAA from May 2022, with a contextual offer of AAB until October 2023 and ABB from April 2024.
Figures for the single-honours Law programmes for 2019 and 2020 entry. Applications 630 and 670; offers 470 and 590; firm acceptances 190 and 130; first-year enrolments 105 and 190 (of which the LLB itself 90 and 165). Average number of each A-level grade per applicant studying A levels, 2019 entry (400 applicants): A* 0.21, A 0.64, B 1.04, C 0.73, D 0.41; 2020 entry (745): 0.34, 0.83, 1.06, 0.60, 0.30. Per offer holder, 2019 entry (285): 0.27, 0.81, 1.25, 0.70, 0.22; 2020 entry (615): 0.40, 0.96, 1.17, 0.54, 0.18. Average LNAT multiple-choice score for 2019 entry: 19 among applicants and 24 among offer holders; the 2020 figures were withheld because LNAT sittings were cancelled mid-cycle and very few candidates sat. Counts are rounded to the nearest 5, and the application and offer counts came from a different team from the A-level counts, so the two sets do not match for 2020.
For 2027 entry the equal-consideration date for most undergraduate courses is 13 January 2027 at 18:00 UK time.
The current university-wide policy (MSRA-013, version 03, approved 21 May 2026). Admissions are largely centralised: academic admissions tutors set the entry requirements, professional admissions staff apply them, and non-standard and marginal applications go to the Admissions Tutor. SOAS considers all aspects of an application, which may include qualifications and grades, the personal statement, the reference, performance at interview, a sample of written work and the context of the applicant’s qualifications. All A-level subjects carry equal weight except General Studies; AS levels and General Studies do not count towards the offer; there is no penalty for resits; GCSE subject requirements are listed on programme pages; the published entry requirements are a typical offer and meeting them does not guarantee one. Contextual data include IMD, POLAR, school GCSE performance, first-generation status, the school’s free-school-meal share and care experience; participants in SOAS outreach may receive additional consideration; a care leaver is someone under 25 who is or has been in public care for at least three months. On-time applications get equal consideration; offer conditions must be met by 31 August; deferred entry applications are welcome. Mature applicants (over 21 on 1 September of the year of admission) who have been out of education for some time will often find an Access course useful, and a directly relevant one such as Access to Law is preferred for some degrees. An applicant who misses a degree’s requirements may be offered the Foundation Year. The LNAT is not mentioned.
The 2026/27 calendar (2027 entry). Booking opens 1 August 2026 and testing starts 1 September 2026. Oxford and Cambridge: sit by 15 October 2026. King’s, LSE and UCL: sit by 31 December 2026. Bristol and Durham: book and sit by 13 January 2027. All other LNAT universities, SOAS among them: UCAS form by 13 January 2027 at 6pm UK time, book before 20 January 2027, sit by 25 January 2027. Late applicants (usually international) may sit up to 31 July 2027, but universities may not accept results that late. A candidate may sit the test only once in a cycle, and results cannot be carried forward to another year.
Lists the universities that use the LNAT. Nine are in the UK: Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Glasgow, King’s College London, LSE, Oxford, SOAS and UCL. Seven are marked as Consortium members; Glasgow and SOAS use the test without being members.
SOAS’s tables of qualifications equivalent to AAB, ABB and BBB. For AAB: IB 34 points with at least 17 at Higher Level and no HL grade below 3 (ABB: 32 with 16 at HL); Scottish Highers AAABB; Advanced Highers ABB; Access to HE Diploma with at least 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction plus 15 at Merit or Distinction; BTEC National Diploma or Extended Diploma DDM; Cambridge Pre-U D3, D3, M2. Actual offers may differ slightly. BTEC qualifications are reviewed in combination with the GCSE profile. GCSE Maths at grade 6/B is required for Economics combined honours programmes. Applicants to single or joint Law programmes must take the LNAT if they hold an Access to HE Diploma, a BTEC (including with A levels), the WJEC Level 3 Applied Diploma in Criminology (including with A levels), or a foundation year or other non-standard qualification; anyone unsure is told to contact the Enquiries team. Also gives country-by-country equivalents and, for some countries, requires an International Foundation Programme. The EPQ is considered only alongside three A levels with a predicted B or better and predictions that already meet the requirement.
For UK students. Names ten kinds of contextual data SOAS may take into account (free school meals, experience of care, POLAR4, IMD, estrangement, caring responsibilities, parenting responsibilities, a parent or carer in the armed forces, having served in the armed forces, and refugee or asylum-seeker status), with no thresholds. An applicant must meet at least one. A contextual offer is up to two grades below the standard requirement; subject-specific requirements are not reduced. No contextual offers are made for BTEC qualifications or for A levels combined with other qualifications, or through Clearing.
Effective 1 September 2026. Paragraph 6.3: candidates for admission may be called for interview and may be required to take an entrance test. SOAS may award degrees in its own name and University of London degrees.
All undergraduate applications, international ones included, go through UCAS (institution code S09). Applications are considered holistically by the admissions team. The steps listed after applying include no interview; the page mentions an interview only for disabled applicants who need special arrangements. SOAS gives no deadline of its own and refers applicants to UCAS.
Official course data for the LLB. Entrants in 2024-25: data from 305 students, of whom 91% held A-levels, Advanced Highers or similar (a group that includes BTEC Nationals), 4% other qualifications, 2% a degree and 2% an Access course. UCAS Tariff points of 265 of them: 176-191 points 2%, 160-175 3%, 144-159 12%, 128-143 17%, 112-127 49%, 96-111 14%, 80-95 1%, under 48 2%. 92% of the 195 students who started in 2023-24 were still on the course or had completed it a year later. National Student Survey (students graduating 2025-26): 80% positive about teaching, 60% about assessment and feedback. Median earnings of SOAS Law graduates: £28,000 three years after the course and £36,000 after five. Accredited by the Bar Standards Board for the purpose of a Qualifying Law Degree. Counts are rounded to the nearest five.
To qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales through the SQE route you need a degree in any subject (or an equivalent qualification), passes in SQE1 and SQE2, two years’ qualifying work experience, and to meet the character and suitability requirements.
One of the joint Law degrees. Discover Uni says there was not enough data to publish figures for this course alone and shows pooled data from everyone at SOAS on courses that include Law: 325 students who started in 2024-25.
Lists the courses that require the LNAT. For SOAS: M100 LLB and all other combinations including Law, under the heading that the test must be taken by all applicants; the M102 Senior Status LLB does not require it. Still worded for the 2025/26 cycle when read on 10 October 2026.
Fees for new students in 2026/27: £9,790 a year (Home) and £23,780 (Overseas). SOAS gives the Home fee cap for 2027/28 as £10,050 and says it applies to new starters. No overseas fee for 2027/28 starters is given; overseas fees can rise by up to 5% in later years of study. Re-read 22 October 2026.
The three SOAS Law chapters, in order.
Applications and offers for Law, the LLB and the BA degrees, and how SOAS selects.
Open overview →Who must sit the test, what happens if you sit it by choice, and the scores SOAS has released.
Open LNAT page →The AAB offer and its equivalents, GCSEs, the ABB contextual offer and what to do with your predictions.
Open grades page →