• admissions,  law

    nOt LikE thE OthEr LaW sTudEntS

    January 22, 2021

    Okay feeling really silly: I asked the following question answered under “she doesn’t even go here!” without stating what I was applying to haha. I applied to UFT LAW, but am unsure how I would be perceived as (1) a commerce student interested in criminal justice/prison reform (not a conventional path), and (2) a condensed degree – that I am still completing. Any thoughts appreciated! Thanks !!!

    ——————————————
    hi!
    thanks so much for waiting for this answer, i’ve been quite overwhelmed. i don’t know how anyone is still functioning normally with *gestures at whole world* all this going on.
    it’s hard for me to say exactly how you’ll be perceived, but personally, i think what you’re doing is really cool.
    i’m glad you ended up applying to u of t law! i’m sure there’s a diversity of interests within the faculty of law, and my best guess is that you won’t be too out of place.
    i wouldn’t worry too much about being unconventional — i hope you’re not pursuing your studies to make other people happy! it sounds to me like you have a good sense of what you want from your degree, and just need a lil push of confidence to keep moving forward.
    if it’s admissions you’re worried about, though, i’m afraid i can’t provide much valuable insight into that. i’m not really that familiar with law school admissions in general, and can’t get into admissions officers’ heads no matter how hard i try.
    regardless, i’m sure the quality of your application will matter much more than whether or not your path and interests are conventional! in your last question, you were wondering whether it was even worth applying if you didn’t have strong experiences to show for your interest in criminal reform. remember that school is a good place to get that kind of experience, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
    wishing you all the best with your application! glad you’re going after your passions.
    be Boundless,
    aska
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  • GPA,  grad school,  grades,  law,  law school

    legally blonde is a prereq for law school

    October 17, 2016

    If i want to go to law school after ungrad, preferably osgoode or uoft; is it better off to go to york and not uoft for undergrad? because apparently uoft marks a lot harder which makes it harder to get into law school

    ———————————————

    hey,

    first, please keep in mind that i am currently doing my undergrad at U of T, not york, so my perspective may be slightly skewed. since you came to aska, i feel that you probably wanted an opinion from a U of T student anyways.

    yes, U of T does mark very hard and you may not end up with the golden 4.0 GPA you had envisioned yourself getting, but then again, you may also find york challenging. who knows?

    i’m sure you’ve browsed the rankings for both undergrad and law school for both schools so i won’t get into that, but it really depends on what kind of education you want for yourself. both schools have very different reputations. you may feel that U of T marks harder, but maybe that’s a good thing! if you are challenged at school, maybe you’ll be more ready for law school. at a different school, you might get higher grades, but will you be ready for law school?

    going to another school may seem like the “easier” choice, but if you work hard now, it’ll pay off. if you don’t work hard now, you’ll have to work hard later on.

    another thing to consider is, lets say you do an undergrad at york. do you think it would be more convenient/ familiar if you went to osgoode for law school? maybe you’ll be more used to being at the same campus.

    it’s great that you’re thinking ahead, but i feel like this question is a little premature. your first year may change your perspective on all of this. perhaps you’ll decide that you don’t want to go to law school, and that you’ll want to become a teacher!

    anyways, definitely think long and hard about this.*

     

    *but come to U of T

    also, if you want to go to law school and haven’t seen legally blonde, you really should. it’s practically a pre-requisite.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • failing,  grad school,  law

    1 1.0 course or 2 0.5 courses is…the same…

    January 6, 2016

    So I just finished the first semester of my third year, and I think I’ve failed my first course at UofT. How badly do you think this will effect my chances of getting into law school? I know I have to retake the course cause I need it for my POST minor, but because it’s in 3rd year I’m worried about the impression it’ll create for grad school.

    Also, is there any difference between getting a high grade in a 1.0 credit course vs a 0.5 credit course. I just want to know if taking a full year course does anything to boost your GPA compared to a half year course?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i can’t say for sure how this would affect a law school application. all i can say is the more this grade looks like an anomaly, the better. like, if you get, let’s say, a 45% in one course in your third year, but everything else in your third and fourth years is in the 80s and/or 90s, then the admissions people for law school will likely to see that one mark as a fluke. if it becomes part of a trend however, then it might be cause for concern.

    and to answer your second question: if you have a course worth 1.0 credits, that is going to weigh exactly double a 0.5 credit course – as the math would suggest. but there’s no difference, GPA-wise, between taking two half-year courses and getting an 80% in each one and taking one full-year course and getting an 80% in that course. so…you know…just take what you wanna take…u do u bae.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • law,  polisci,  subject POST

    i can polish off one specialist a year. just watch me.

    July 9, 2015

    Hi! I am going through a rough time with picking subjects posts. I really like Peace, Justice and Conflict, Criminology. Ethics, Society and Law and Political Science. I want to study all of them, but I know that is not realistic. Is there a way I could combine these majors. Which one is higher in ranking or better for maybe pursuing law school/graduate school. Thanks a lot and Happy Canada Day!!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i’ma get the easy question out of the way first: there is NO PROGRAM out there that is going to “prepare” you for law school.

    pretty much every law school across the continent prides itself on accepting students from all academic backgrounds. yes, the “rigour” of a certain program can sometimes give your application an edge, but the best thing you can do is go for a program (or programs) which give you the best chance of doing well.

    bthe difference between criminology or political science is not going to make or break a law school application.

    as for graduate school: it depends on the graduate program. if you’re thinking about political science, then a poli sci undergrad would be the best idea. if you want a master’s in crim., then you should probably go for – you guessed it – criminology major.

    think seriously about what kinds of graduate programs you might like to pursue, and then you can figure out which programs would best prepare you.

    k, now about your POSts:

    you’re right, there’s probably not a way to study all those POSts, because you can only have a maximum of three POSts active at any time. HOWEVER, you can do three out of four. ethics, society & law, peace, conflict and justice and criminology are all only offered as majors or specialists. so, if you wanted to, you could do a double major in two of those and a minor in political science.

    as for which POSt you should drop – i would go through the program requirements for each program and highlight which courses you feel most excited about.

    make a hypothetical plan for your whole degree and figure out which combination of POSts will allow you to take the maximum number of those courses. (not that you will or have to stick to this plan for your whole four years, but it’s a good way to make decisions based on concrete FACTS).

    at the end of the day, they’re all pretty similar programs, so there will be overlap between required courses. singling out the unique courses – like ethics or criminology courses – that you might be especially excited about is a great way to figure out which POSts to prioritize.

    good luck with it,

    aska

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  • grad school,  late withdrawal,  law

    blah school

    June 9, 2015

    Hello,
    I desperately want to get into grad school/law school but I have a cGPA of 3.42 and two LWD on my transcript. The LWDs were probably a bit stupid, they were in my 2nd and 3rd years and due to getting 60s in two mandatory classes. I retook one and didn’t do much better – got a B. I’m redoing the other LWD class again as I go into my 4th year. I also had medical reasons for the LWDs (because I got them after the deadline had passed) but obviously it does not say that on my transcript. I’ll be graduating this year and I don’t plan on getting anymore LWDs. My question to you is: how badly do these LWDs affect my chances of getting into grad school/law school? Is it too late for me? With these grades and the two LWDs, how likely/unlikely will I get accepted into grad school? (The programs I’ve been looking at has a B- cut off and A- admission average).
    Thanks,Desperate Student

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    asking me whether you’ll get into graduate school without specifying which program or university you’re interested in is like asking whether you can afford a meal without specifying the meal or how much money you have.

    but aska is a trooper, and i’m gonna do the best i can.

    if the programs you’re looking at have a B- cut-off, and you’ve got a B+, then yeah, your chances are good. the LWDs aren’t great, but if the courses aren’t related to your program of interest and they were in second and third year, then they’re not the end of the world.

    not much more i can say about that. but you can always call the admissions committee at the school in question and bug them about it if their website is especially cryptic.

    generally speaking, graduate schools tend only to look at your grades in third/fourth years – though you’ll have to check the specific requirements of your program/school to make sure. so if you’re calculating admissions averages, make sure only to include the years they’ll actually look at.

    easy peasy, right? you didn’t even need me for that. look, i’ll even give you a tool that will calculate your GPA for you.

    that’s graduate school. law school is a whole ‘nother thing.

    i don’t really feel like looking up admissions averages for every single law school in the English-speaking world, so i’m just going to focus on Canadian schools in this answer. schools elsewhere might operate differently, so make sure to check that before applying willy-nilly.

    i’m gonna be straight with you – a 3.42 falls beneath the minimum CGPA for every law school in the country. putting the LWDs aside, the CGPA in itself is concerning.

    the ghost of Law School Future is dark and damning, but there is still hope at the end of this dream.

    law schools in Canada typically look at your three best years, and sometimes only your best two. that should bump your admissions GPA up a little. and hey, if your worst year has an LWD in it, all the better.

    the LWDs on their own won’t be a death sentence on your application, as long as your GPA is within the realm of interesting to the admissions committee. you can also always write a letter as part of your application explaining why those LWDs are there.

    finally: you’re going into fourth year! you still have one full year to absolutely KILL IT before you start applying. you can do a lot in your final year if you put your mind to it. competitive LSATs can also make up for small weaknesses in your GPA, so do your very best to give that your all.

    good luck with your applications, dude,

    aska

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  • admissions,  law,  law school

    aska tells you the rule of law

    October 25, 2013

    Are there any course prerequisites for law school, or just a BA in
    anything (besides an LSAT and high averages)?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    So basically I’m just gonna give you the full run-down of uoft law, because it’s a bit different from the way other canadian law schools do things and I couldn’t bear to leave you all confuzzled.

    Most law schools in ontario (osgoode, western, what have you) consider your lsat score and gpa for admission, and nothing else. Uoft requires those as well. If you want an idea of the competitiveness you’re looking at, the average GPA of incoming students last year was 88%, and the average LSAT score was 167. Take note that these aren’t cut-offs or minimum requirements; they’re averages of the people who got in. You can have an average/LSAT score that’s lower than that and still get in.

    So the GPA and LSAT scores together make up 2/3rds of your application. The other 1/3 is a personal essay, which is unique to UofT. Basically, it’s no big deal, just a little essay describing who you are, what’s cool about you, and why you want to be a lawyer. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about what you know about law; it’s more an opportunity to highlight what’s different or special about you.

    hope that helps man,

    aska

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