A palette of modules

Tick tock 

The clock is ticking and we find ourselves three weeks before we need to submit the form of our option modules for next year. And for many, including myself, it’s not easy to choose between modules. For us going into the third year we need to choose three modules.Students going into the second year need to pick one module.

The colours on your palette

To make our lives a bit easier, the School of Law at the University of Leicester has organized two Option Roadshow events where each faculty member presented the modules that they will be teaching next year.

In the opening talks I gave in the two events, I gave the example of a metaphor. At this stage at undergraduate level, imagine that you are an artist that has recently bought a huge blank canvas. You know that you need to create something, you need to paint a picture, yet you have no idea where to start or which colours to choose. And you find yourself sitting there, staring at the milky white blank canvas. Just as an artist mixes colours on his palette and experiments with different mediums, you are experimenting as well with learning about different areas of the law. The best way to choose modules, in my view, is based on intuition. Choose the modules you feel genuinely interested in and not the modules that you’ve heard are ‘easy’. Whether something is easy or hard is very subjective and varies from student to student. What you find interesting in the law is what really matters because you are going to spend a lot of time reading and learning about that.

By exposing yourself to different ideas and concepts associated with different areas of the law, you raise your awareness in terms of career options.There’s a point where the artist realizes that he can express himself best through a particular medium and as a result he seeks to create more art through that medium. In the same way, there will be a point (if there has not been yet) that you will come across a particular area/module/concept that you feel passionate about. That moment of ‘eureka!’ is able to shape your future and your career. Because when you find what mostly interests you in the law at undergraduate level, chances are high that you’ll decide to apply for a job in that sector or do a postgraduate degree in that area. And for that reason, it’s worth experimenting.

I hope you find your passion in your choices.

S