Does Osgoode Hall use OLSAS's GPA Calculations

[jtm]

I didn't realize that OLSAS will use 'courses extra to degree' when calculating your cGPA. As a result I dropped from a 3.72 to a 3.61. Really wasn't anticipating I'd be applying with a below 3.7 GPA and am pretty scared about my chances now. I know different schools calculate GPA differently, but as far as the information I've found states uOttawa and Osgoode Hall (my top choices) look at cGPA. I know uOttawa relies on OLSAS's calculations, I was wondering if anyone knows if Osgoode Hall does the same..? 

160 LSAT. One C- from a Summer school class I didn't take seriously, that I thought I'd done away with by graduating with surplus credits. Really wish I knew in advance it'd come back to haunt me, regretting now not addressing it in my personal statements. 

[Apple]

My understanding is that Osgoode relies on cGPA calculations as reported by OLSAS.  

Edited December 9, 2021 by Apple

[steph17]

I could be wrong, so anyone please correct me if you know about this. But I was under the impression that Osgoode does a holistic judgement of your academics by looking at the full transcript regardless of the cGPA and actually considering the courses taken (your Major, Minor, electives) and also consistency in your grades. Can anyone speak on this?? Admissions people know about bird courses vs compulsory courses and will take that into account I'm hoping. 

[Darth Vader]

57 minutes ago, steph17 said:

I could be wrong, so anyone please correct me if you know about this. But I was under the impression that Osgoode does a holistic judgement of your academics by looking at the full transcript regardless of the cGPA and actually considering the courses taken (your Major, Minor, electives) and also consistency in your grades. Can anyone speak on this?? Admissions people know about bird courses vs compulsory courses and will take that into account I'm hoping. 

Why would they go through 2500+ transcripts looking at individual courses? How would they know what are bird courses on your transcript? A bird course at one institution may be a difficult course at another. A bird course for one person may be a difficult course for another. I've taken bird courses that ended up being the lowest grades on my entire transcript. Osgoode being holistic does not mean that they will look at individual courses, but rather they will take into account, legitimate factors (such as health issues) that may explain any discrepancies in your academic record, and look at what other strengths you bring to the table with your volunteering, work experience, life experience, etc. 

They will take your raw GPA as reported by OLSAS at face value. You will still need a strong cumulative GPA to be competitive there, as their median has been around the 3.7 range for the last couple of cycles. Very few people get into Osgoode with a cumulative GPA below a 3.5.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Darth Vader

[steph17]

Thanks for explaining for us! But then in that case, why does OLSAS even send our transcript to the universities if they don't look at it? 

[LordBONSAI]

1 hour ago, steph17 said:

But I was under the impression that Osgoode does a holistic judgement of your academics by looking at the full transcript regardless of the cGPA and actually considering the courses taken (your Major, Minor, electives) and also consistency in your grades. 

To my knowledge only UofT employs this practice. They have stated it in Assessment of Academic Record.

[steph17]

I also think that admissions staff would be able to decipher someone taking "easy courses" - yes before you attack me, I mean this relatively, there is no objectively "easy" course - for example, a 4th year Math Major taking a 100-level course in Intro to Calculus would be a bird course for them, because they are taking an intro class in something they are advanced in. 

1 minute ago, LordBONSAI said:

To my knowledge only UofT employs this practice. They have stated it in Assessment of Academic Record.

Ok cool, this must be where I read this and confused it with Osgoode's holistic admissions. So, despite receiving 2500+ applications, at least one of the universities does look at the entire transcript. I would expect UofT cannot be the only university that does this.

[Darth Vader]

54 minutes ago, steph17 said:

I also think that admissions staff would be able to decipher someone taking "easy courses" - yes before you attack me, I mean this relatively, there is no objectively "easy" course - for example, a 4th year Math Major taking a 100-level course in Intro to Calculus would be a bird course for them, because they are taking an intro class in something they are advanced in. 

Ok cool, this must be where I read this and confused it with Osgoode's holistic admissions. So, despite receiving 2500+ applications, at least one of the universities does look at the entire transcript. I would expect UofT cannot be the only university that does this.

Even if U of T assesses academic records like this, I highly doubt they are rejecting anyone with competitive stats regardless of whether they think someone did an easier coursework. There is no way to game a 3.8+ GPA and 165+ LSAT score. Their median in 2021 was a 3.88 GPA and 168 LSAT. I think it is important to see the admissions medians for what they are, which is a gauge of how competitive your stats should be to realistically have a chance of getting in. Can you convince an adcom member that your 3.3 in a math degree should be weighed the same as someone with a 3.8 in political science? Maybe, but it is highly unlikely, as multiple adcom members will review your file for the sake of neutrality. 

I have seen the admissions medians for Osgoode for the last couple of years, and for all its holistic process, the first thing the adcoms look at is your cGPA and LSAT score (which is how files were sorted in the past; not sure if they still sort files this way). Not too many people are accepted with sub 3.5-3.6 cGPAs. 

Why does OLSAS send in your transcripts? Because it's standard for any graduate or professional program to request them to verify your credentials. This doesn't mean that they will scrutinize every single course you took, particularly if you have a competitive GPA. 

[99problems]

1 hour ago, steph17 said:

Thanks for explaining for us! But then in that case, why does OLSAS even send our transcript to the universities if they don't look at it? 

 

1 hour ago, steph17 said:

I also think that admissions staff would be able to decipher someone taking "easy courses" - yes before you attack me, I mean this relatively, there is no objectively "easy" course - for example, a 4th year Math Major taking a 100-level course in Intro to Calculus would be a bird course for them, because they are taking an intro class in something they are advanced in. 

Ok cool, this must be where I read this and confused it with Osgoode's holistic admissions. So, despite receiving 2500+ applications, at least one of the universities does look at the entire transcript. I would expect UofT cannot be the only university that does this.

I was never part of the admission committee, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

My understanding of the admission process is that there are some cut-off points, so for example if your GPA is lower than a certain point, you are shit out of luck. They may consider an application with such GPA if the LSAT score is exceptionally high like +170 (those are called splitters).

They claim that their approach is holistic, but I don't really think that your personal statement receives the same weight as your GPA or LSAT score, unless your personal statement is really extraordinary. In my opinion, ECs and personal statements (and maybe your courses and major) act as tiebreakers. What ultimately matters is the numbers the admission officer sees (i.e. GPA and LSAT score). Not relevant to your question, but I believe the same is true of summer jobs and articling applications: they say that they look at the courses you took and your ECs, but at the end, they only act as tiebreakers, at least for the process of choosing people to interview.

So yea, they do look at your transcript if they feel the need. But don't think that they will go through every applicant's transcript thoroughly. Perhaps, it would have been different had the applicant pool been smaller. But for +2,500 applicants, no school has the resources to do so.

[Pendragon]

6 hours ago, steph17 said:

I could be wrong, so anyone please correct me if you know about this. But I was under the impression that Osgoode does a holistic judgement of your academics by looking at the full transcript regardless of the cGPA and actually considering the courses taken (your Major, Minor, electives) and also consistency in your grades. Can anyone speak on this?? Admissions people know about bird courses vs compulsory courses and will take that into account I'm hoping. 

https://www.osgoode.yorku.ca/programs/juris-doctor/jd-admissions/first-year-applicants/review-process/

Although admission decisions are made on the basis of a holistic assessment of the application, successful applicants generally have an “A-“ (3.7) cumulative GPA and an LSAT in the 80th percentile, or better.  Significantly stronger results on either the LSAT or the GPA may compensate for a less competitive LSAT or GPA.

[peanutbutter1234]

Another question/ looking for confirmation about how OLSAS calculates your cGPA. 

"Any “credit” or “pass” notation will not be included in the calculation of your cumulative GPA but will count towards the number of credits you have completed. "

I have two P on my transcript (Both classes were just graded by P/F not even a covid thing). OLSAS cGPA doesn't account for my Passes. Should I take my OLSAS cGPA and divide it by 40 credits instead of the current 38 credits? And this would be the cGPA Osgoode looks at?