Gargi Agrawal

I was elected as the President of the UNICEF society in the University of Southampton. This role allowed me to work towards a noble cause that I am particularly interested in, along with managing all the aspects and responsibilities of running a Student society. As part of a hardworking and committed team, I organised various fundraising events and awareness campaigns in aid of this charity organisation, and did my bit towards making a positive change in the lives of vulnerable children.

As a Student Ambassador, I essentially represented my University, a founding member of the Russell Group which is also amongst the world top 1%. Part of my role was to raise awareness regarding Higher Education and encourage youth to identify their future career prospects, by participating and volunteering in various Educational and Career fairs.

I was given various editorial tasks with respect to the organisation's in-house publications such as Brochures, Newsletters, Website Content and Changemakers Magazine.  While I also worked on various campaigns for awareness projects, I also conducted detailed research analysis on other NGOs carrying out work in similar areas. I also gained hands-on experience in managing and updating Social Media pages. 

Being a treasurer for one of the biggest and wealthiest academic societies has greatly enhanced my banking skills, finance management and commercial awareness. Essential skills that of planning budgets for events of all ranges, keeping meticulous track records of expenditure in the form of balance sheets has now become a swift and efficient skill.

As a teaching volunteer, I was responsible to teach English Grammar to underprivileged children in my locality back home in Gujarat. It was a highly rewarding experience, which boosted my communication skills and taught me how it is important to not only put knowledge to practical use, but to also convey it in a simple yet strong manner. I learnt the value of patience and enjoyed working hard for my students.

Innocence Project UK Getting involved with Innocence Project has been a life changing experience, as I was introduced to the world of miscarriages in justice and how being a lawyer gives a chance to rectify that. I was given a chance to work on a real life case, and was responsible for working through the facts and finding reasons to exonerate a wrongfully convicted person from criminal liability. It was emotionally challenging yet highly rewarding and taught me law in practice.

This job gave me a detailed insight to the retail sector in the UK, and enhanced my interpersonal skills to a great extent. I learnt how to function effectively and responsibly under pressure of time, and the importance of great customer service.

This included responsibilities such as inputting news articles, editing and re-sizing them, working under timed conditions and dealing with local newspaper agents. This developed my time management skills, communication and persuasive skills and working under pressure. Also, it boosted my editorial skills and provided me with a fine eye for content style and layout that goes into publishing.

My intense and comprehensive law degree comprised core modules of Criminal Law, Contract Law, Legal System and Reasoning, Constitutional and Administrative Law in the first year, in which I scored a high 2:1. In my second year, I studied Tort Law, Equity and Trusts, Law of European Union and Land Law, wherein I scored an overall high 2:1. My final year optional modules were Intellectual Property Law, Tax Law, International Protection of Human Rights, and Family Law, where again I scored a high 2:1.

My dissertation focussed on the asylum law in the EU and refugee rights in light of the ongoing refugee crisis, and this was awarded a first class honours.

• A level: Mathematics, Physics, Business Studies, Religious Studies
• AS level: Mathematics, Physics, English Literature, Art, Religious Studies
• 7 International GCSEs