{"id":16894,"date":"2016-04-22T14:24:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T18:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=16894"},"modified":"2019-07-20T20:46:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T00:46:48","slug":"blaw-blaw-blaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=16894","title":{"rendered":"b(law) b(law) b(law)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey! I hope you guys will be able to help me out with my all my questions,<\/p>\n<p>Anyways, I am a first year student thriving to (hopefully) become a lawyer in the future. It is also one of my goal to get accepted at U of T\u2019s law school. My first year experience taught me a lot of things indeed and although I can assure you that I did work hard and I did try my best in school, I still found myself struggling to get that amazing GPA.<\/p>\n<p>I currently have a 2.7 GPA and I was wondering if hypothetically, I get to improve my marks in my second, third and fourth year, and if I am able to get close to a 4.0 in the next few years, will I still have a chance to be accepted to U of T law school? (despite my low average in first year) I know how hard it is to get accepted at u of t and i don\u2019t really know what things I need to work on in order to get a better chance of getting accepted (like volunteer work or joining school clubs?)<\/p>\n<p>Also, are there any tips you can give me in terms of ways I can do to improve my marks? Like tips in note taking for example?<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for your help [&amp;#X1f60a]<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>hey there,<\/p>\n<p>standard disclaimer: i am not uoft law school (if i were, i\u2019d probably wear much nicer shoes). i have NO IDEA what actually goes into the admissions process at the faculty of law. all i know is what they\u2019ve published, and even making predictions based on that is a sketchy business. definitely don\u2019t take my words as gospel; think of everything i say\u00a0more as helpful suggestions.<\/p>\n<p>now, to your questions:\u00a0you have a lot of time ahead of you; three long years to sort out your marks, and develop your interests and skills. if you can pull up your marks significantly in the next three years, there\u2019s no reason why you shouldn\u2019t graduate with a very respectable GPA. uoft law in particular bases its admissions GPA on your best three years (see \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.utoronto.ca\/admissions\/jd-admissions\/admissions-policies#ApplicationofAdmissionPolicy\">Standards for Admission 2015-2016<\/a>\u201c). hypothetically, you could apply having had a 4.0 CGPA over your second, third and fourth years. your first year doesn\u2019t even need to have influenced it.<\/p>\n<p>lots of people have very different marks in their first year than they do in their subsequent years. first year is a transition period, and for a lot of people, it can be pretty rough. it certainly was for me.* that being said, you don\u2019t just start your second year and magically turn into a goddess with a 4.0 GPA who somehow finds time to run a charity and go to yoga three times a week. going from a 2.7 to a 4.0 is a big leap, and it won\u2019t come easy.<\/p>\n<p>that being said, the harder you work, the more you seek out help, the better your chances of landing the jump. resources that can help you include the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/asc\">academic success centre<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.math.toronto.edu\/cms\/math-aid-centres\/\">math aid centres<\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.utoronto.ca\/writing-centres\/arts-and-science\">writing centre at your college<\/a>. the more you can get into the habit of asking for help, the better. go to TAs\u2019\/professors\u2019 office hours. study with your peers (if you find that helpful). ask questions when and wherever you can.<\/p>\n<p>also, i recommend that you use the summer to reflect on your first year. maybe you\u2019ll decide you need to change what you\u2019re studying for next year. maybe there are some things you need to de-prioritize in order to focus on school, like a job or extra-curriculars or falling asleep watching Netflix (later, i will advise you to join all these things, which i realize sounds contradictory, but it\u2019s all about <a href=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/2QZ0UFipEF8bu\/giphy.gif\">BALANCE<\/a>). maybe you need to dial back on social outings in favour of studying. almost everyone adjusts their habits slightly after first year, so don\u2019t be afraid to make the changes you need to to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>finally, your question about what non-academic things you should be doing to get into law school is the least answerable of all your questions. i don\u2019t think the admissions committee even knows what they\u2019re looking for \u2013 until they see it. what they want is someone interesting. someone with a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.utoronto.ca\/documents\/JD\/UofT_Law_Personal_Statements_Examples.pdf\">compelling story<\/a>. there\u2019s no one way to be that.<\/p>\n<p>the best piece of advice i can give you is just to do what you\u2019re interested in. if there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/ulife.utoronto.ca\/organizations\">a club you\u2019d like to join<\/a>, great. somewhere you\u2019d like <a href=\"http:\/\/life.utoronto.ca\/get-involved\/community-service\/\">to volunteer<\/a>? awesome. if you <a href=\"https:\/\/cln.utoronto.ca\/home.htm\">need a job<\/a>, do the job. start a band. join a sports team. get involved with student politics. join an activist group. just try and live and study and work to the fullest of your capabilities and interests, and you can\u2019t go wrong.<\/p>\n<p>if you have more questions, i find <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.utoronto.ca\/admissions\/jd-admissions\/application-procedure\">these<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.utoronto.ca\/admissions\/jd-admissions\/admissions-frequently-asked-questions\">pages<\/a> are helpful introductory primers. and a final tip: don\u2019t let the LSATs sneak up on you. the time to study for them will come up sooner than you think.<\/p>\n<p>cheers,<\/p>\n<p>aska<\/p>\n<p>*i know that\u2019s hard to believe, considering what a perfect, put-together specimen\u00a0of perpetual light aska is now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey! I hope you guys will be able to help me out with my all my questions, Anyways, I am a first year student thriving to (hopefully) become a lawyer in the future. It is also one of my goal to get accepted at U of T\u2019s law school. My first year experience taught me a lot of things indeed and although I can assure you that I did work hard and I did try my best in school, I still found myself struggling to get that amazing GPA. I currently have a 2.7 GPA and I was wondering if hypothetically, I get to improve my marks in my second, third and fourth year, and if I am able to get close to a 4.0 in the next few years, will I still have a chance to be accepted to U of T law school? (despite my low average in first year) I know how hard it is to get accepted at u of t and i don\u2019t really know what things I need to work on in order to get a better chance of getting accepted (like volunteer work or joining school clubs?) Also, are there any tips you can give me in terms of ways I can do to improve my marks? Like tips in note taking for example? Thanks for your help [&amp;#X1f60a] \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 hey there, standard disclaimer: i am not uoft law school (if i were, i\u2019d probably wear much nicer shoes). i have NO IDEA what actually goes into the admissions process at the faculty of law. all i know is what they\u2019ve published, and even making predictions based on that is a sketchy business. definitely don\u2019t take my words as gospel; think of everything i say\u00a0more as helpful suggestions. now, to your questions:\u00a0you have a lot of time ahead of you; three long years to sort out your marks, and develop your interests and skills. if you can pull up your marks significantly in the next three years, there\u2019s no reason why you shouldn\u2019t graduate with a very respectable GPA. uoft law in particular bases its admissions GPA on your best three years (see \u201cStandards for Admission 2015-2016\u201c). hypothetically, you could apply having had a 4.0 CGPA over your second, third and fourth years. your first year doesn\u2019t even need to have influenced it. lots of people have very different marks in their first year than they do in their subsequent years. first year is a transition period, and for a lot of people, it can be pretty rough. it certainly was for me.* that being said, you don\u2019t just start your second year and magically turn into a goddess with a 4.0 GPA who somehow finds time to run a charity and go to yoga three times a week. going from a 2.7 to a 4.0 is a big leap, and it won\u2019t come easy. that being said, the harder you work, the more you seek out help, the better your chances of landing the jump. resources that can help you include the\u00a0academic success centre, math aid centres, and the writing centre at your college. the more you can get into the habit of asking for help, the better. go to TAs\u2019\/professors\u2019 office hours. study with your peers (if you find that helpful). ask questions when and wherever you can. also, i recommend that you use the summer to reflect on your first year. maybe you\u2019ll decide you need to change what you\u2019re studying for next year. maybe there are some things you need to de-prioritize in order to focus on school, like a job or extra-curriculars or falling asleep watching Netflix (later, i will advise you to join all these things, which i realize sounds contradictory, but it\u2019s all about BALANCE). maybe you need to dial back on social outings in favour of studying. almost everyone adjusts their habits slightly after first year, so don\u2019t be afraid to make the changes you need to to be successful. finally, your question about what non-academic things you should be doing to get into law school is the least answerable of all your questions. i don\u2019t think the admissions committee even knows what they\u2019re looking for \u2013 until they see it. what they want is someone interesting. someone with a compelling story. there\u2019s no one way to be that. the best piece of advice i can give you is just to do what you\u2019re interested in. if there\u2019s a club you\u2019d like to join, great. somewhere you\u2019d like to volunteer? awesome. if you need a job, do the job. start a band. join a sports team. get involved with student politics. join an activist group. just try and live and study and work to the fullest of your capabilities and interests, and you can\u2019t go wrong. if you have more questions, i find these pages are helpful introductory primers. and a final tip: don\u2019t let the LSATs sneak up on you. the time to study for them will come up sooner than you think. cheers, aska *i know that\u2019s hard to believe, considering what a perfect, put-together specimen\u00a0of perpetual light aska is now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law-school"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}