Access category

[123]

31 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

You have a very fundamentally wrong understanding of access categories. 

59 minutes ago, Barry said:

It would not be advantageous for OP to have more weight placed on disability factors when these factors are by their own description not at all compelling. This is what access does, it places more weight on other factors than stats. OP has good stats, bad other factors.

On 10/25/2021 at 3:27 PM, NoName said:

I’ve always thought that if schools know about your mental health issues they’ll look poorly towards you.

2 hours ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

The idea that schools would disadvantage access applicants relative to general applicants is so antithetical to the central premise of access claims – being that schools wish to increase the representation of people with access claims at their schools – that it has to be incorrect. No school is disadvantaging access applicants in the application process. 

Three caveats. First, nothing I say here should be relied upon as legal advice. Second, I have no actual firsthand knowledge of how individual admissions committee members think. Third, stigma exists in the legal profession, and I don't dispute that someone with mental health issues should think carefully about if, when, how, and to whom they should disclose a disability. 

That said, without evidence to the contrary, it strains credulity to think that applicants are actively disadvantaged by disclosing a disability in a law school application. Law school admissions committees are filled with nerds -- profs and keener law students, who have an almost abnormal interest in human rights codes and other forms of public law. The idea that they would either (i) delay the decision on an applicant or (ii) discount the strong components of applications, based upon a documented disability assumes that are applying a very dubious definition of the duty to accommodate to the admissions process. Not to mention misapprehending the purpose of their own access categories (as mentioned by blocked).

I'm not advising this OP to apply access or not. But I struggle to imagine that adcoms will actively disadvantage them based upon disclosure of a mental health condition, even if the disclosed mental health condition did not give rise to a strong access claim. So I don't think that should be a factor in their decision. 

Edited October 27, 2021 by realpseudonym

[BlockedQuebecois]

Nobody in this thread has argued that people should apply access without having a good reason for doing so. 

[Thrive92]

1 hour ago, Barry said:

UBC has a discretionary category. They don’t make decisions in this category until May. There are limited spaces. And they don’t consider discretionary in the general. This is meant for students that don’t satisfy the stats requirements or degree requirements.

 

So definitely don’t apply to UBC this way OP.

OP (and to anyone considering to apply to the discretionary category for Allard Law) I know that this has been already proven otherwise, but to further confirm that this is not correct UBC automatically switches applicants who have applied in the discretionary category to the general category should their stats be competitive within the general category offer range. This switch happens at any time and does not occur only at May.

Please feel free to apply to UBC via the discretionary category; if your stats are competitive within the general category offer range, you may be accepted much earlier than May via the general category.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Thrive92

[Pantalaimon]

3 hours ago, realpseudonym said:

 Law school admissions committees are filled with nerds -- profs and keener law students, who have an almost abnormal interest in human rights codes and other forms of public law.

Hey. Uncool. 

https://gfycat.com/brokenimpressiveamazonparrot

[NoName]

I see there’s lots going on haha, I’m going to take another look over what everyone’s said and make my decision very soon I suppose. 
 

I will note though that I do have documentation of my mental health, and I do receive disability funding because of it so I have documentation of that too. The dip in my grades was covid, but more because covid took a toll on my illness and online learning messed with it more. Either way, I’m still not sure what I’ll do, but everyone’s comments have been helpful so far!