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An aspiring criminal law solicitor with an ambition of working in New York has moved a step closer to achieving her dream after gaining her place at university.

Bethany Evans, 18, from Caerphilly, will head to the University of Manchester in September to study sociology.

She earned her place at her first-choice university after achieving an A* and two B grades in her A-levels at Coleg y Cymoedd.

Bethany said: “I chose sociology as I have always been fascinated with understanding the motive behind the action, why people do what they do, what the reason is behind the choice.

“As we got further into the module, there was a focus on criminology, which I found particularly interesting and found myself more and more intrigued with the law side of this.”

She continued: “From studying sociology and learning more about the advantages that people have when they come from a more privileged background or higher class, it just completely changed my perspective on life.

“I think one of my main aspirations with choosing to study law is to be able to one day help more people that don’t have the opportunity to seek it, like so many do when they have wealth or power. It’s not a fair balance and I would like to work to make the scales more equal.”

Bethany added: “I’ve always loved the idea of travelling and experiencing lots of different parts of the world and the different cultures. This was something that I always had in the back of my mind when considering what kind of job I wanted to do.”

As part of her university course, Bethany will have the opportunity to work abroad for a year, something she describes as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.

She explained: “To be able to have that independence and be exposed to a completely different part of the world is incredible.

“The legal systems are different all around the world, and I’ve always been so interested in the American legal and justice system in comparison to the UK.

“I’d love to one day move to New York and work there and experience this for myself.”

Speaking about her time at college, she said: “I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it, I made the best choice possible. I chose to study there because of the amount of subject choice, but also because I wanted more independence and to branch out from my hometown and basic routine.

“It’s made me ready and certain of my move to Manchester and hopefully, later on, to America.”