Students’ Speak: Got a low CLAT score? Here’s what you could do

By: Teresa Dhar

After Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) result is out, some of the students will be happy to be among toppers and getting admission into a college of their choice. However, there will be some who would have scored low or not up to their own expectations.

For those who are not satisfied with their score, don’t be disheartened. There are a few options still open for you. These include:

Whether to drop a year or not?

Well, dropping a year, in general, is a bad idea. A lot of people take a drop year and later regret it. Most of them regret it because in trying to utilise the year to study for CLAT or even figure out whether they want to pursue law as a career, they end up actually wasting their year doing nothing. Think about it, if I failed to get a good rank or for that matter a rank that can’t secure me a national law university, I’ll be demotivated for some or long time and the entire thing would seem like a futile exercise. A lot of people out of depression and anxiety during this time, tend to fall upon substance abuse and bad company. It gets worse. Worse is if you have a score below your expectation but somehow managed to get admission to an NLU but decide not to go for it in order to prepare better for next year. What if next year, in spite of your efforts the question paper is really tough or there were some glitches that couldn’t score you any NLU this time. Then you can’t unwind the event and are bound to regret the decision.

Very few people manage to study diligently during drop year and have their luck favoured. Otherwise, it’s an unpredictable situation in general. Instead of taking a drop year, students have two options before them. Join a good Non-NLU, could be a private or a state university and study there. Or join a non-NLU and simultaneously prepare for next year’s CLAT. If you crack it in the second chance, you can always take it else you have your non-NLU to fall back upon. However, if you choose to drop a year and put hard work and diligence for cracking CLAT, even then good luck to you.

Best colleges one can get apart from NLUs

There are a plethora of options for students determined on pursuing law, who can do so from some good Non-NLU. Some good but expensive private universities (if only one can afford it) would be (in no particular order):

1. Symbiosis, Pune

     2.Christ College, Bengaluru

3. Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat
4. KIIT Law College, Bhubaneshwar
5. Indraprastha University, Delhi
6. Amity Law School, Delhi
7. Alliance University, Karnataka
8. MS Ramaiah, Karnataka
9. Army Law College, Mohali

These are some universities and colleges that students can take into consideration. Other than that, some students might want to do their under graduation from foreign universities.

Other entrance exams

There is a myriad of entrance exams to take if one intends to pursue law as a career. Some exams for admission in law universities with five years of the integrated course are:

1. AILET for National Law University, Delhi
2. Law School Admission Test (LSAT) for foreign universities and Jindal Global Law School
3. Symbiosis Entrance Test (SET)
4. Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Entrance Exam (KIITEE)
5. CULEE for Christ University
6. ULSAT for University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) Dehradun
7. Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) Exam
8. DU LLB Entrance Exam
9. BHU UET for Banaras Hindu University (BHU)
10. Maharashtra Common Entrance Test for Law for State universities in Maharashtra
11. IPU CET for Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University
12. AMU law entrance exam for Aligarh Muslim University
13. JMI Law Entrance Exam for Jamia Milia Islamia University

About the Author:

Teresa Dhar is a third-year student pursuing BA LLB from Chanakya National Law University.