How to Apply to Law School?
The application process can be a tedious, fairly expensive and lengthy process. Here are a few things you should know before you put ink to paper. For more information, please visit Law School Admission Council
Components of your application
There are seven (or so) main components to most law school applications. They are your GPA (marks), LSAT, Reference letters, Extracurriculars, Personal Statement, Application Fee and Transcripts. Obviously every school will have slightly varied requirements; and while some schools require you to cover all seven, others may solely request your transcripts, LSAT mark and application fee (the University of Manitoba comes to mind here)
Who can apply?
As an absolute minimum applicants will need to have completed at least two full years of undergraduate studies at a recognized university. The majority of the schools will require at least three years completed and many do prefer applicants with completed four year undergraduate degrees. Whereas you can take the LSAT pretty much at any time during your post-secondary studies; it is generally more to your advantage to apply as you near the end of your undergraduate studies. One advantage is that many schools will only look at your last 2 years of study, or will drop some of your worst credits in calculating your GPA. For the majority of students there is usually an upward trend in marks as you progress from first year to your fourth (or fifth) year of undergraduate studies. Law schools recognize this, and as such many of them will tend to focus more on the latter years of your course work (or will drop some of your worst credits in calculating your GPA). As a side note, most schools in Canada receive anywhere from 1000 to 2500 applications per year, and currently the acceptance rate is about 10% (and sometimes less for certain schools).
Deadlines
For most schools the deadlines will be anytime between Nov 1st (at the earliest) and March 1st (at the latest). For example, if you wish to go to begin law school in Sept 2008, then you would need to submit your application by Nov 1st 2007 or March 1st 2008 (at the latest). Most schools' deadlines tend to fall somewhere between Nov 1st and Feb 28th. As well, it should be noted that deadlines for taking the LSAT are usually Sept or Dec of the year preceding the year in which you wish to enroll in law school. Some schools, however, will take a Feb LSAT (taken in the same year you wish to commence law school) mark into account for the current year's application (UBC, Uvic and Dalhousie come to mind here, although there may be others who do this as well). And while we're discussing LSATs here, it should be noted that the schools who take the Feb LSAT into account usually will focus on the highest LSAT mark in review of your application.
OLSAS
If you are planning to apply to any of the law schools in Ontario you are going to have to go through OLSAS. The Ontario Law School Application Service is a non-profit centralized application service for applicants to the six Ontario law schools: Osgoode Hall (York University), University of Ottawa, Queen's University, University of Toronto, The University of Western Ontario and the University of Windsor. Simply, OLSAS provides a central application processing service for all the Ontario schools; though they have absolutely zero bearing on admission decisions. They merely collect the paperwork you send them and subsequently ship it out to the appropriate schools. The application itself is standard for all six schools - however, some will require additional documents, references, varied length personal statements, etc. The convenience is that you only have to fill out one application form; the price you pay for this convenience is $75/school plus a one time $175 application processing fee. One thing you should keep in mind is that OLSAS requires that you have Verifiers for each and every extracurricular you list in your application. A verifier is basically a reference or someone that can verify that you have done ________ for ___ years, etc. You will need to list the name, full address and telephone number of each verifier for every one of your extracurriculars listed in the application. Potentially this can be quite a tedious task, and you may find yourself having to make a few phone calls to ensure that you have someone who can speak to your various extracurriculars. This becomes more of a headache when your are listing activities/jobs, etc. that go back a number of years. In any case, it is required and it would definitely be wise to have all this information collected well in advance of the November 1st 11:59 PM EST deadline.
Thankfully OLSAS allows you to complete your application in multiple sitings. They provide you with a username and password, allowing to complete and save your application at your own pace. Once you have submitted your application you will probably want confirmation that OLSAS has received your transcripts, LSAT scores and references. With the online login they provide you with you can eventually check to see whether these documents have been receieved and if your refeeres have sent in their reference forms on time. Our experience with OLSAS has been a positive one - ultimately you just have to patient and keep in mind that they are dealing with thousands of applications at one time. Their online status does take some time to update and don't be too concerned if it shows that some of your application documents have not been received yet. One final note, OLSAS recommends that applicants allow themselves from five to twenty-five hours of preparation time in advance of submitting their application. The application is quite long and trust us, you will need at least a few hours of getting everything together before applying online.
OLSAS website: http://www.ouac.on.ca/olsas/index.html
OLSAS contact number : 519-823-1940
GPA (otherwise known as your marks)
Well, ultimately, your undergrad marks will play a large role in your attractiveness to law schools. Your four (or three, or five for that matter) years of undergrad can speak louder than words in some cases. It shows schools your dedication, determination, upward (or downward) trends in your marks, and essentially, your aptitude for learning at a higher level. That said, you definitely do not have to be the smartest person in your class, or Dean's List four years in a row to make it into law school. If you have somewhere between a B+ and an A+ average you have a good chance of getting into a Canadian law school (of course the other parts of your application cannot have any major deficiencies). Most schools' average admitted student will have an average of somewhere between an 80-84% or a 3.7 GPA if your school doesn't give marks in percentages. For most schools, this falls into the A- range. Nevertheless, many schools have and will accept applicants with a B+ average, or even lower; however, you may need to make up for this with a slightly higher than average LSAT or a stronger set of extracurriculars, etc. Point is, if you want to get into a Canadian law school, you don't need an A average. However, if you average falls below A-/High B+ range, you may find that you need to boost your competitiveness by strengthening some other components of your application. Just to clarify, some schools will look at all your undergraduate marks: your CGPA (Cumulative GPA). Other schools will only focus on your last 2 years. Others will look at your best 2 years. And then there are some who will look at all four (or three) years of your undergraduate degree, but will drop some of your worst credits. There are also a select few schools who will look at graduate degrees and postgraduate work.
The LSAT
For most of you, this exam will represent a fairly significant commitment to your law school aspirations. As such, most schools attach substantial weight to this 3 hour-ish long exam. Basically, you need to push yourself to score as high as possible. This is because one or even only two points higher can make the difference between an acceptance letter or rejection letter. One point higher can mean getting into one school and not the other. In terms of numbers, the average admitted student will score roughly between a 158-164 (75th - 91st percentile). The weight given to the LSAT by the law schools will be anywhere between 10%-60% of your entire application, with most falling around the 30-50% range. Another thing to keep in mind is that many schools now look at your highest score; and you are allowed to take the LSAT more than once - in fact, you are allowed to take the exam a maximum of 3 times in a 2 year period. So there is definitely is a second (or third) chance available - and in all honesty, many people need two tries to get it right (and many do considerably better the second time around). In terms of your application, LSAC will automatically forward your LSAT results to the schools you have applied to (once they are requested by the schools) so there is no further requirement from you after writing the test. This applies to multiple tests taken as well; LSAC will forward each new score to the schools you've applied to. Be sure to clearly state your SIN or LSAC account number on your individual law school applications.
Reference Letters
At some point during your undergraduate career, you should probably make a point of getting to know some of your professors. The professors will actually need to know who you are if they are to write anything meaningful and beneficial on your behalf. That said, some schools will not read any reference letters - schools like UBC and Uvic will not look at reference letters (at least for their General categories).
As well, in some cases you will need a non-academic reference who can speak on your behalf. As for the reference format, some schools - especially the Ontario ones who use the centralized application system OLSAS (as explained earlier) - provide a form for the refeeres to fill out and subsequently mail in on your behalf. Other schools merely require a one page letter mailed in by the referee. In any case, there is a good chance you will be applying to a school that requires a reference of some sort - make sure to get to know your professors, make a point of seeing them after class, participating in class discussions from time to time, etc. They are usually more than willing to help when you approach them, especially if you have taken a genuine interest in their class or made a genuine attempt to seek their assistance, etc. on previous occasions. Be sure as well to give the professors (or whomever else is writing on your behalf) plenty of time (at least a month or so) before the application deadline to complete the referee forms/letters.
Extracurriculars
Basically extracurriculars refers to 'everything else' on your resume: your volunteer work, community involvement, work experience, clubs and teams joined, etc. etc. It is very difficult to place a qualitative ascription on extracurricular work. Almost every law school application has a section devoted to listing your extracurricular activities; however most schools are somewhat tight-lipped as to how and to what extent extracurricular activity influences the competitiveness of your application.
In any case, it is probably wise to get involved in one way or another. Focus on the experiences you gain from these activities, rather than how much more competitive you think they will make you as law school applicant. If anything, continuous involvement in extracurricular activity shows leadership qualities, passion and generally makes you a more well-rounded applicant. We would assume that these factors can only help you in your quest to become a more competitive and attractive applicant.
Personal Statement
Your personal statement is an opportunity to refrain from using numbers or marks to explain why you want to be a lawyer, what you feel you have accomplished, what obstacles you have overcomed, what other special circumstances you have endured and ultimately, who you are. Most schools will place a word limit on your submission - as understandably they can't afford to be reading 2000 short stories a year. These limits range between 500 words to 1500 words for most schools. For some schools instead of asking for a personal statement they require you to fill out either a supplemental application form (Alberta) or ask you to answer specific questions about yourself/your experiences, etc. (Uvic comes to mind).
Application Fee
Application fees for most Canadian law schools will range from approximately $50 to $100 per school. Simple math tells you that if you will be applying to a number of schools across Canada, fees could cost you a few hundred dollars. Most schools take credit cards or cheques; however some will only accept a bank draft (Saskatchewan). Just something to keep in mind when you are applying. If you apply to ten schools, it will cost you close to $1000. This number does not take into account courier charges (if needed), postage or transcript requests. Obviously to a struggling student this may be a significant bank account drain; however in light of future potential income as a lawyer and getting into the right law school - these fees should be regarded as more of an investment into your future.
Transcripts
These are basically a formal record of your grades. You cannot simply print out your schools marks off your student account and mail them to the law schools. You need to contact your university/any other post-secondary institution you have attended and have them forward your transcripts to the individual law schools on your behalf. This should be a fairly straightforward procedure. Make sure to send in the transcripts in a timely manner, especially if you are sending in midterm or final grades - these updated marks can potentially have a significant impact on readily updating the competitiveness of your file with the law schools. In terms of cost, schools will charge between $5-10 per transcript, and will usually be able to send them to the law schools on your behalf at no extra charge (obviously this will vary from institution to institution).
