Chance me? cGPA 2.83, LSAT 175

[Arya_Dharma]

L2 & B3 not much better

Spray and pray: UNB, Dal, McGill, Ottawa, UofT, Ryerson, Osgoode, Western, UBC, UVic (still all quiet on the western front)

Nearly mature student (graduated 4 years ago), high school teacher having worked at some top-ranked schools

Completed a certificate in law last year getting a 4.3 average during it, with LORs from law professors. Hoping Dalhousie will use those courses as my 'last ten credits GPA'...

No discretionary category, but addressed low gpa briefly in PS, tried to turn the reason for it into a positive (academic interests led me outside coursework, ended up as co-editor for an online blog)

Edited February 9, 2022 by Arya_Dharma

[LordBONSAI]

I think you have a sporting chance at holistic schools like Osgoode with a 175 and strong softs. But because your GPA is usually not admissible to most, if not all, Canadian schools, I'd be cautiously optimistic even though you've scored 99 percentile on the LSAT. Also, some of the schools you're applying to are known to put much emphasis on GPA, like UofT. Just curious why you didn't apply to UofC and Windsor? They both seem like safer choices for you.

Edited February 9, 2022 by LordBONSAI

[NowOrNever]

8 hours ago, Arya_Dharma said:

L2 & B3 not much better

Spray and pray: UNB, Dal, McGill, Ottawa, UofT, Ryerson, Osgoode, Western, UBC, UVic (still all quiet on the western front)

Nearly mature student (graduated 4 years ago), high school teacher having worked at some top-ranked schools

Completed a certificate in law last year getting a 4.3 average during it, with LORs from law professors. Hoping Dalhousie will use those courses as my 'last ten credits GPA'...

No discretionary category, but addressed low gpa briefly in PS, tried to turn the reason for it into a positive (academic interests led me outside coursework, ended up as co-editor for an online blog)

What is your GPA for UNB and UVic after drops?

By stats alone you may get into UNB.

If your GPA for UVic after drops is above 3.2 then you have a good shot there.

[NowOrNever]

For your reference:

nurse2lawyer got into Windsor last cycle in July with 2.98 CGPA and 179 LSAT score:

https://canlawforum.com/topic/8-accepted/page/3/#comment-5953

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by NowOrNever

[Arya_Dharma]

7 hours ago, LordBONSAI said:

I think you have a sporting chance at holistic schools like Osgoode with a 175 and strong softs. But because your GPA is usually not admissible to most, if not all, Canadian schools, I'd be cautiously optimistic even though you've scored 99 percentile on the LSAT. Also, some of the schools you're applying to are known to put much emphasis on GPA, like UofT. Just curious why you didn't apply to UofC and Windsor? They both seem like safer choices for you.

Honestly I thought I would have Dal in the bag as my fallback because they told me I could use my law certificate courses as my 'last 10 credits GPA,' which would be a 4.3. Now panicking slightly as I still haven't heard anything from them 😞

[LordBONSAI]

Just now, Arya_Dharma said:

Honestly I thought I would have Dal in the bag as my fallback because they told me I could use my law certificate courses as my 'last 10 credits GPA,' which would be a 4.3. Now panicking slightly as I still haven't heard anything from them 😞

This cycle is slower than people expected. I applied to Dal last November with above median stats and didn't hear back from them either. I also didn't hear from some of my safety schools. But I do not think this means anything bad. The game is not over yet.

[Arya_Dharma]

58 minutes ago, NowOrNever said:

What is your GPA for UNB and UVic after drops?

By stats alone you may get into UNB.

If your GPA for UVic after drops is above 3.2 then you have a good shot there.

Thanks, I can't seem to find how they calculate GPA on their website. Do you know how many drops, or have a link?

1 minute ago, LordBONSAI said:

This cycle is slower than people expected. I applied to Dal last November with above median stats and didn't hear back from them either. I also didn't hear from some of my safety schools. But I do not think this means anything bad. The game is not over yet.

Thanks, yeah hoping Dal is just a bit slower with everything maybe. Fingers crossed for you too! It is after all still relatively early

48 minutes ago, NowOrNever said:

For your reference:

nurse2lawyer got into Windsor last cycle in July with 2.98 CGPA and 179 LSAT score:

https://canlawforum.com/topic/8-accepted/page/3/#comment-5953

 

Thanks!

[NowOrNever]

9 minutes ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Thanks, I can't seem to find how they calculate GPA on their website. Do you know how many drops, or have a link?

https://canlawforum.com/topic/19-uvic-law-index-score-grade-conversion-drops-guide/

https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/law/admissions/first-year/admissions-requirements.html

 

[Arya_Dharma]

1 hour ago, LordBONSAI said:

This cycle is slower than people expected. I applied to Dal last November with above median stats and didn't hear back from them either. I also didn't hear from some of my safety schools. But I do not think this means anything bad. The game is not over yet.

Just got an email response from Dal regarding GPA calculation. They say last 60 credits now, despite website saying last 10 credits (urghh!), which puts me at a 3.7 3.25 (miscalculated). If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats for Dal?

Edited February 9, 2022 by Arya_Dharma

[LordBONSAI]

9 minutes ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Just got an email response from Dal regarding GPA calculation. They say last 60 credits now, despite website saying last 10 credits (urghh!), which puts me at a 3.7. If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats for Dal?

L60 was 3.8high and LSAT 166. I didn't even realize Dal says they will use last 10 credits on the website (thought it's a L2 school). 

Edited February 9, 2022 by LordBONSAI

[NowOrNever]

9 minutes ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Just got an email response from Dal regarding GPA calculation. They say last 60 credits now, despite website saying last 10 credits (urghh!), which puts me at a 3.7.

Did you confirm with DAL for your GPA?

Usually law schools don't count GPA from a certificate.

If you have a 3.7 you should have no problem to get in.

 

[Arya_Dharma]

14 minutes ago, NowOrNever said:

Did you confirm with DAL for your GPA?

Usually law schools don't count GPA from a certificate.

If you have a 3.7 you should have no problem to get in.

 

Think I screwed up the calculation actually, only 76% now instead of 80% which annoyingly brings me down to 3.25 instead of 3.7. And yes they told me all university courses are included

[Arya_Dharma]

1 hour ago, NowOrNever said:

https://canlawforum.com/topic/19-uvic-law-index-score-grade-conversion-drops-guide/

https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/law/admissions/first-year/admissions-requirements.html

 

Cheers, thanks for this

[NowOrNever]

1 hour ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Think I screwed up the calculation actually, only 76% now instead of 80% which annoyingly brings me down to 3.25 instead of 3.7. And yes they told me all university courses are included

When they told you that most likely they meant the courses toward a university degree or the courses you registered as non-degree student after graduation.

I asked law schools about the specific certificate below and the answer is that they don't include the grades in any certificate for your GPA calculation:

https://futurestudents.yorku.ca/program/certificates/public-administration-and-law

[Arya_Dharma]

27 minutes ago, NowOrNever said:

When they told you that most likely they meant the courses toward a university degree or the courses you registered as non-degree student after graduation.

I asked law schools about the specific certificate below and the answer is that they don't include the grades in any certificate for your GPA calculation:

https://futurestudents.yorku.ca/program/certificates/public-administration-and-law

Hmm was Dal one of the schools you asked? I recall reading something about that for other schools, but when I called Dal on the phone a few weeks ago the guy looked at my transcript and asked me about the certificate courses and confirmed that they would count. Hope he was right lol

[NowOrNever]

18 minutes ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Hmm was Dal one of the schools you asked? I recall reading something about that for other schools, but when I called Dal on the phone a few weeks ago the guy looked at my transcript and asked me about the certificate courses and confirmed that they would count. Hope he was right lol

I asked a bunch of law schools but not DAL.

Good luck!

Edited February 9, 2022 by NowOrNever

[Arya_Dharma]

59 minutes ago, NowOrNever said:

I asked a bunch of law schools but not DAL.

Good luck!

Cheers, you too!

[lawap12]

7 hours ago, Arya_Dharma said:

Honestly I thought I would have Dal in the bag as my fallback because they told me I could use my law certificate courses as my 'last 10 credits GPA,' which would be a 4.3. Now panicking slightly as I still haven't heard anything from them 😞

Using dal as a backup with a low GPA was likely a mistake. Dal even states on their website that they weigh GPA at 60%, LSAT at 40%. Median GPA is 3.7.

[Arya_Dharma]

6 minutes ago, lawap12 said:

Using dal as a backup with a low GPA was likely a mistake. Dal even states on their website that they weigh GPA at 60%, LSAT at 40%. Median GPA is 3.7.

Yeah it seems I misinterpreted what it says on their website. They say you can use the last 10 credits as your GPA, but they've confirmed for me it means last 10 full-year courses worth of credits (60 credits). I've never heard of someone using the term credits in that way, oh well lol I guess now I know

[TheGoodWife]

On 2/9/2022 at 10:56 AM, Arya_Dharma said:

Now panicking slightly as I still haven't heard anything from them 😞

I was speaking with a member of the faculty earlier this week, less than half of their spots have been filled so far. Plus, they still accept applications until the end of the month and won't yet have a firm picture on competitiveness of cycle. Don't lose hope. 🙂

[mj1995]

On 2/9/2022 at 8:56 AM, Arya_Dharma said:

Honestly I thought I would have Dal in the bag as my fallback because they told me I could use my law certificate courses as my 'last 10 credits GPA,' which would be a 4.3. Now panicking slightly as I still haven't heard anything from them 😞

curious why would you think you had Dal in the bag? Dal places a greater emphasis on GPA being a 60/40 split and their average GPA is a 3.7 and last 10 does not mean 10 classes it still means last 20 courses last 10 credits (equivalent to 60 credit hours or 2 years with a full course load) you said your L2 was not much better so that doesn't add up. Did you clarify with them that your certificate counts as university courses? best of luck!

Edited February 16, 2022 by mj1995

[pinsandneedles]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:22 PM, Arya_Dharma said:

L2 & B3 not much better

Spray and pray: UNB, Dal, McGill, Ottawa, UofT, Ryerson, Osgoode, Western, UBC, UVic (still all quiet on the western front)

Nearly mature student (graduated 4 years ago), high school teacher having worked at some top-ranked schools

Completed a certificate in law last year getting a 4.3 average during it, with LORs from law professors. Hoping Dalhousie will use those courses as my 'last ten credits GPA'...

No discretionary category, but addressed low gpa briefly in PS, tried to turn the reason for it into a positive (academic interests led me outside coursework, ended up as co-editor for an online blog)

Hi @Arya_Dharma, 

Hope you're having a good one. I have a lot of empathy for you and am especially pulling for you. We kind of have similar stats. Yours are better though.

LSAT: 169

cGPA (OLSAS calculated): 2.82

L20: 3.3  

I also utilized the spray-and-pray technique (love that line btw). I can't speak to some of the schools you mentioned, but here's what I've experienced.

In at:

TRU, UofA, UMan, Dal

Rejected at:

UofT, UofC

Waitlisted at none at the moment.

Waiting to hear back from:

UVic, UBC, USask, Osgoode, UOttawa, Queens, UNB.

You've got this my friend. A 175 LSAT is no joke, and it really sounds like you have awesome life and work experiences. Hang in there. I know firsthand the feeling of what you're going through. My only advice outside of that would be maybe you could have applied to more safety schools given how much of a crapshoot it is for holistic and splitter applicants. Obviously, there may be some schools that might not be your cup of tea, or cities that you'd rather not live in, and that's totally fair. I genuinely thought there was a chance nobody would take me, so I applied pretty broadly. 

Take care, and all the best. 🙂 

[Arya_Dharma]

@pinsandneedles Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful reply!!! And congrats on those acceptances, and that 169 LSAT (I'm sure you were also a nervous wreck going it to it knowing you simply had to crush it)!! 

Yeah for sure I definitely regret not applying to some easier schools; I would be stoked to go to a UMan or a UofA if I got in. Frankly, I just didn't really do much research on the schools front and just focused all my energies on the LSAT. Oh well aha you live and learn.

Your acceptances give me hope though! Do you have work experience or are you "K to JD", if you don't mind me asking?

 

 

[pinsandneedles]

Just now, Arya_Dharma said:

@pinsandneedles Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful reply!!! And congrats on those acceptances, and that 169 LSAT (I'm sure you were also a nervous wreck going it to it knowing you simply had to crush it)!! 

Haha. Truth. Pretty hard writing an exam with a gun to your head! 

I have a fair bit of work experience that I think is quite unique and of value to law schools. Alas, that's for the admissions committees to decide. I really like your work experience as you've described it. From what I can tell, schools would be lucky to have you. 🙂 

[danytea]

Have you heard back from Osgoode?