How best to round out my application

[Alphabet11]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm currently an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and am considering releasing to apply to law school sometime in the next 2 years. My undergrad CGPA was 3.55 at McGill where I studied business. Thankfully my work has allowed me to have some great leadership experience but I have never deployed overseas. In undergrad I wasn't very active in terms of ECs but I worked as an officer in the army reserves throughout most of university and that took up the bulk of my spare time. What I want to know is other than performing well on the LSAT, what can I be doing between now and when I apply to best round out my application? Obviously I need to continue to perform in my current position but are there certain volunteering experiences that would be looked upon favorably? Is it worth going back to school to try and increase my GPA? I'm posted to a relatively isolated area so I don't the luxury of tons of options in terms of volunteering but I'm curious if there are some types of experiences that are valued more than others. 

 

Thanks.

[QueensDenning]

The only thing that really matters (or matters by far the most in terms of your application) are your GPA and LSAT - I don't think volunteering would make up for that. What is your B2/L2 GPA? 

[AMG]

1 minute ago, QueensDenning said:

The only thing that really matters (or matters by far the most in terms of your application) are your GPA and LSAT - I don't think volunteering would make up for that. What is your B2/L2 GPA? 

I was just about to say this, especially in a year or two. I’d just spend a few months and try to get an LSAT above 160 and you should have a decent shot somewhere. 

[Alphabet11]

 

6 minutes ago, AMG said:

I was just about to say this, especially in a year or two. I’d just spend a few months and try to get an LSAT above 160 and you should have a decent shot somewhere. 

 

8 minutes ago, QueensDenning said:

The only thing that really matters (or matters by far the most in terms of your application) are your GPA and LSAT - I don't think volunteering would make up for that. What is your B2/L2 GPA? 

My B2 is 3.67 and L2 is 3.53. In my final semester though I did not have a full course load as I used my IB credits from high school and I ended up getting deployed to long term care facilities at the end of that semester as part of the pandemic response. I unfortunately have a bit of a weird trend where my strongest grades were in 2nd year of undergrad. Do I realistically have a shot at any of the top programs if I'm able to score well on the LSAT?

[AMG]

I’d definitely look at school that focus on your best two years then. And it really comes down to how you do on your LSAT. But certain schools like UofT are probably out of the question. Your L2 may hurt a bit because school like seeing an upward trend in marks. Focus on LSAT and apply broadly. 

[WiseGhost]

Quote

Do I realistically have a shot at any of the top programs if I'm able to score well on the LSAT?

Yes. I wouldn't be too worried about ECs. Adcoms understand that people working part time during their undergrad don't have the same amount of time as other candidates. Besides, working as an officer in the reserves (and then going full time) is in itself an interesting experience. 

However, I do think that you'd have a better shot at 'holistic' schools like McGill and Osgoode compared to say, UofT or UBC. For example, someone with a 3.55 GPA (also from McGill) and a 169 LSAT was just accepted to McGill Law according to the discord. A 165+ LSAT score and a well-crafted application could absolutely get you in to a 'top' program. It should also be noted that there is also a strong argument for studying where you want to practice, so the score you need might depend on where you want to be. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by villiuski

[Alphabet11]

8 minutes ago, villiuski said:

Yes. I wouldn't be too worried about ECs. Adcoms understand that people working part time during their undergrad don't have the same amount of time as other candidates. Besides, working as an officer in the reserves (and then going full time) is in itself an interesting experience. 

However, I do think that you'd have a better shot at 'holistic' schools like McGill and Osgoode compared to say, UofT or UBC. For example, someone with a 3.55 GPA (also from McGill) and a 169 LSAT was just accepted to McGill Law according to the discord. A 165+ LSAT score and a well-crafted application could absolutely get you in to a 'top' program. It should also be noted that there is also a strong argument for studying where you want to practice, so the score you need might depend on where you want to be. 

Thank you for the response. Coincidentally McGill and Osgoode are probably my top 2 choices. I'm getting the sense then that I should focus my time on 2 things prior to my application:

1. Rounding out my professional career experience.

2. Achieving the highest possible score on the LSAT. 

So while volunteering opportunities won't hurt, I shouldn't focus too much attention on that. Now my next question is, would I be more competitive for those programs if I applied as a mature applicant? That would mean delaying my application by a few years but it would increase the chances of me being deployed. The downside however is while I enjoy the military, I don't know if I could stick it out for that long. But if it would make a significant difference to my competitiveness then that might affect my decision. 

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Alphabet11

[WiseGhost]

My gut instinct is that applying as a mature applicant wouldn't make you significantly more competitive unless you have some very interesting life experiences during the following years -- but I'm really not an expert. If you'd like to apply to McGill, I'd recommend having a meeting with one of the admissions staff. I found that they were very helpful, and they could probably answer your question. If Osgoode doesn't have a similar system where you can talk to people involved with admissions, @ryn might have some insight.