Jump to content

Osgoode's Holistic Admission Policy


linguisticsinlaw

Recommended Posts

linguisticsinlaw
  • Applicant

hi there!!

this is my first time applying, so i'm still learning as i go! i was wondering if anyone knew if osgoode's admission policy is actually holistic - like how they mentioned on their website? i know its not the same as windsor's holistic process (with the 7 criteria and all), but i was just wondering if they places more emphasis on the academic factors more-so than the non-academic factors? or vice versa?

thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Goblin King
  • Law Student

I don't attend Osgoode, but I applied last year and was accepted. It seems like they don't have a formal way of assessing applications holistically, or at least not a methodology that's publicly available. Despite claiming to be "holistic," Osgoode is very stats focused and is the second most competitive school in the province. You can see their past years' admissions averages here. The way their process was explained to me is that if you're above a certain threshold stats-wise, holistic factors don't really matter. They only matter for admissions in marginal candidates (e.g. a student with a 3.6 GPA, but who worked for years for a group lobbying for law reform in Chile),  or where there is something significant which impacted your GPA or LSAT. Hope this helps and good luck with applications. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

toro-nigiri
  • Applicant

I was admitted in December with a cGPA of <3.5 and an LSAT of 168. So take that as you will, but personally I don't think my LSAT was high enough to compensate for my GPA if you were only looking at stats. Holistic assessment, in my case at least, really does seem to mean holistic.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

linguisticsinlaw
  • Applicant
22 minutes ago, toro-nigiri said:

I was admitted in December with a cGPA of <3.5 and an LSAT of 168. So take that as you will, but personally I don't think my LSAT was high enough to compensate for my GPA if you were only looking at stats. Holistic assessment, in my case at least, really does seem to mean holistic.

that's amazing!!! congratulations on your acceptance 🙂 i hope we get to be classmates in fall 2022! and thank you for replying with your experience!! if you dont mind me asking, did you apply General?

3 hours ago, Goblin King said:

I don't attend Osgoode, but I applied last year and was accepted. It seems like they don't have a formal way of assessing applications holistically, or at least not a methodology that's publicly available. Despite claiming to be "holistic," Osgoode is very stats focused and is the second most competitive school in the province. You can see their past years' admissions averages here. The way their process was explained to me is that if you're above a certain threshold stats-wise, holistic factors don't really matter. They only matter for admissions in marginal candidates (e.g. a student with a 3.6 GPA, but who worked for years for a group lobbying for law reform in Chile),  or where there is something significant which impacted your GPA or LSAT. Hope this helps and good luck with applications. 

thank you so much for the response!! that def helped clear some of my questions about the holistic process up 🙂 hope law school is going well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

toro-nigiri
  • Applicant
Just now, linguisticsinlaw said:

that's amazing!!! congratulations on your acceptance 🙂 i hope we get to be classmates in fall 2022! and thank you for replying with your experience!! if you dont mind me asking, did you apply General?

Yes, general. And thank you! Best of luck to you, I'm leaning towards Osgoode so fingers crossed we can be classmates!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Darth Vader
  • Lawyer
2 hours ago, toro-nigiri said:

I was admitted in December with a cGPA of <3.5 and an LSAT of 168. So take that as you will, but personally I don't think my LSAT was high enough to compensate for my GPA if you were only looking at stats. Holistic assessment, in my case at least, really does seem to mean holistic.

How far below a 3.5? Osgoode's median LSAT is a 160-161 (82nd percentile), while you had a 168 (95th percentile). I think your LSAT could very well have made up for your GPA shortfall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

itsmylocker
  • Law School Admit

Fwiw I will weigh in here, too. I was accepted on the first day this round with a 166 & cGPA of 3.75. Both of these are obviously above Osgoode's medians, but I think it was my professional experience that made me competitive *enough* to get in that early. So, at least to my mind, it does seem like they take it pretty seriously...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rashabon
  • Lawyer
5 hours ago, itsmylocker said:

Fwiw I will weigh in here, too. I was accepted on the first day this round with a 166 & cGPA of 3.75. Both of these are obviously above Osgoode's medians, but I think it was my professional experience that made me competitive *enough* to get in that early. So, at least to my mind, it does seem like they take it pretty seriously...

I'm sorry dude but stats above the median and professional experience is the exact opposite of being admitted because of holistic factors.

  • Like 3
  • LOL 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BruiserWoods
  • Law Student

I am a 1L at Osgoode. Trust me when I say that this forum is not representative of the breadth of applicants who are admitted. If coming on here helps to quell anxiety about applications, that is understandable, but don't take anything anyone says on here as fact. Most posters on these forums haven't got into law school, and even those who have aren't remotely qualified to opine on admissions. My experience has told me that Osgoode is holistic, but that doesn't mean it is not competitive. If you have a lower GPA, generally they will be looking for you to compensate for that with your LSAT score and your softs. If I were to pretend to know much more than that, I would be lying.

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always understood holistic to mean that the school considers all factors when determining who gets admitted, but not necessarily all factors equally. In light of that, I do not see any reason to doubt the fact that Osgoode does this, having attended Osgoode and seen the makeup of the student body. Nor do I think that stats above the median being admitted is indicative of Osgoode not being holistic.  

Osgoode receives some of the highest number of applications out of Ontario law schools which means they disproportionally see a greater number of applicants who have both incredible stats and incredible life experiences. During my time at Osgoode I came to see that many of those admitted to the school who had incredible statistics also had great softs/ varied life experiences, myself included. As a result, the high admittance of people with above median stats can, in my view, be a result of the greater number of applicants Osgoode receives and does not suggest an absence of holistic admissions policy.  

Implicit in the position that Osgoode admitting students with higher stats more frequently is indicative of Osgoode not being holistic, is an assumption that those with good stats do not also have outstanding life stories/experiences that align with Osgoode's Holistic Admission Policy. In my experience, I just don't think that's universally true. Further, being holistic does not mean Osgoode has to accept students who are weaker and reject students who are demonstrably stronger. Nor does being holistic mean every factor needs to be, or even is, weighed the same. Reading Osgoode's Holistic Admission Policy they're pretty transparent that their admissions policy isn't a charity. 

If there's any doubt that Osgoode is telling the truth when they say things like, "We place a priority on opening doors to communities that traditionally have been under-represented in the legal profession" or "We admit an outstanding class of students whose academic abilities, varied experiences, and sustained engagement make a continuing social and intellectual contribution to the Law School, the legal profession, and the community", I encourage people to go look at the class compositions over the last 10 year hung up in the school's halls. Then reach out to those students you see and ask them about their journey to law school. I think you'd be very surprised at the results you'd get. 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

itsmylocker
  • Law School Admit
On 1/9/2022 at 1:55 PM, Rashabon said:

I'm sorry dude but stats above the median and professional experience is the exact opposite of being admitted because of holistic factors.

You'll note that the question was about whether people felt that Osgoode's admission policy was holistic, not whether the holistic criteria can overcome gaps in other parts of the application.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CleanHands
  • Lawyer
2 minutes ago, itsmylocker said:

You'll note that the question was about whether people felt that Osgoode's admission policy was holistic, not whether the holistic criteria can overcome gaps in other parts of the application.

And you would have clearly gotten early admittance even under a pure index system, so inferring that your admittance is evidence of holistic admissions practices is inane.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

toro-nigiri
  • Applicant
On 1/9/2022 at 2:54 AM, Darth Vader said:

How far below a 3.5? Osgoode's median LSAT is a 160-161 (82nd percentile), while you had a 168 (95th percentile). I think your LSAT could very well have made up for your GPA shortfall.

Fair enough, it could've been! Though I meant more that I was surprised to hear back in December as opposed to sometime in the spring, so it felt to me that there was enough emphasis on the other components of my application that helped in that respect.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

itsmylocker
  • Law School Admit
On 1/10/2022 at 2:20 PM, CleanHands said:

And you would have clearly gotten early admittance even under a pure index system, so inferring that your admittance is evidence of holistic admissions practices is inane.

I never suggested otherwise; I do, however, think the sequencing of admission may be indicative of something. Sick adjective by the way, bro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rashabon
  • Lawyer

It's not. You got in early because you have above median statistics. I got in in December at Osgoode with above median statistics and an otherwise "average" application by any "holistic" assessment. It's not indicative of a holistic approach. It's indicative that they, like other top schools, want candidates with good stats admitted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
DonPablo
  • Law Student

 I applied last cycle and was accepted to Osgoode and U of T with a CGPA of 3.59 and an LSAT of 159. I have a friend who was accepted to Osgoode with an LSAT score of 154 and a slight lower CGPA. So, at least in my case, it was definitely holistic, as I do not think my stats alone were good enough to get me admitted. I wish you all the best with your applications! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

law000099
  • Law School Admit
2 hours ago, DonPablo said:

 I applied last cycle and was accepted to Osgoode and U of T with a CGPA of 3.59 and an LSAT of 159. I have a friend who was accepted to Osgoode with an LSAT score of 154 and a slight lower CGPA. So, at least in my case, it was definitely holistic, as I do not think my stats alone were good enough to get me admitted. I wish you all the best with your applications! 

Hi, which month were you accepted into osgoode and u of t, respectively, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DonPablo
  • Law Student
1 minute ago, AustonMatthews34 said:

Hi, which month were you accepted into osgoode and u of t, respectively, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

For U of T, I got admitted during the second round. I first received a call and then an email confirming my acceptance on the 29th of January. For Osgoode, I was informed by the school on the 11th of February. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

law000099
  • Law School Admit
Just now, DonPablo said:

For U of T, I got admitted during the second round. I first received a call and then an email confirming my acceptance on the 29th of January. For Osgoode, I was informed by the school on the 11th of February. 

I appreciate the quick response! This was super helpful for me as I'm a reverse splitter (high gpa mediocre lsat) hope my PS makes up the difference!

Thanks again,

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DonPablo
  • Law Student
9 minutes ago, AustonMatthews34 said:

I appreciate the quick response! This was super helpful for me as I'm a reverse splitter (high gpa mediocre lsat) hope my PS makes up the difference!

Thanks again,

No problem. Wishing you the best of luck! And, for what it's worth, my friend received his acceptance from Osgoode a week or two later than me (I am not really sure of the exact date though). If you have any other questions, you can always shoot me a PM.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

linguisticsinlaw
  • Applicant
On 1/25/2022 at 6:14 PM, DonPablo said:

 I applied last cycle and was accepted to Osgoode and U of T with a CGPA of 3.59 and an LSAT of 159. I have a friend who was accepted to Osgoode with an LSAT score of 154 and a slight lower CGPA. So, at least in my case, it was definitely holistic, as I do not think my stats alone were good enough to get me admitted. I wish you all the best with your applications! 

thank you for sharing! if you don't mind me asking, which category did you and your friend apply to? and how were your ECs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Glamurosa
  • Law School Admit

My GPA is 3.6, my lsat is 169, I have very few ECs because given my circumstances I just didn't have the free time. I am also a mature student who is self employed in the sex industry, I come from a very disadvantaged background, I was the first in my family to graduate even high school but I didn't get accepted until Feb 15. There's no way to know what the process is like, but given my background and my grades it still took a while to hear back, does it mean they are not holistic? No, because I don't know the story of all the other applicants. It is futile to make this type of assessment without seeing the applications of those who were admitted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By accessing this website, you agree to abide by our Terms of Use. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU WILL NOT CONSTRUE ANY POST ON THIS WEBSITE AS PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE EVEN IF SUCH POST IS MADE BY A PERSON CLAIMING TO BE A LAWYER. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.