Why did you choose UBC?

[Constantine]

I’m curious to know what tipped the scales for everyone here to choose Allard. For me it was location since I want to practise in Vancouver. 

I know for a lot of people it’s the weather and climate that attracts them. But if that was the deciding factor why not TRU or UVic? 
 

[CleanHands]

Do you just want to hear about how great UBC is? haha

No need to feign modesty; bluntly TRU is not going to be given serious consideration by virtually anyone who is accepted to UBC unless they need to be in Kamloops for family reasons or something. Why would anyone choose to pay significantly higher tuition for a school with significantly worse options and outcomes by basically any metric? Come on now, you know this. lol

Anyways I chose UBC because I like Van, because of the clinical options, and because it's a great school with low tuition (relative to other Canadian law schools). Generally not too much of a mystery.

[Darth Vader]

Some people may choose UVic over UBC if they want a more social justice, environmental, indigenous focused school. But at the end of the day, UBC is considered one of the best law schools in Canada along with U of T, Osgoode, and McGill, so someone would need to have a pretty specific reason for turning it down to go to UVic or TRU. TRU is like 11 years old lol. Why would anyone go there over UBC or UVic?

[Byzantine]

I grew up in BC in the lower mainland and got into both UBC and UVIC. I decided to go with UBC because my family and girlfriend live in Vancouver and it's pretty cool how you get to start working in LSLAP during your first year. If I didn't have a girlfriend here I might have ended up going to UVIC. I've heard great things about the school and Victoria and it would have been great to live there for a while and see if I like the island. 

I'm a 1L and very happy with my decision so far! 

[westcoastie]

As someone who has been at UBC for a long time, I tend to be cynical - I would be cautious of glamorizing ubc. The longer I am here the more I'm disillusioned by the place and the people. Its generally a pretty artificial environment

[Darth Vader]

4 minutes ago, westcoastie said:

As someone who has been at UBC for a long time, I tend to be cynical - I would be cautious of glamorizing ubc. The longer I am here the more I'm disillusioned by the place and the people. Its generally a pretty artificial environment

No one is glamourizing UBC's reputation or its employment statistics. Law school experience is very subjective and there are people that both hate and love their law school everywhere. What matters for most people at the end of the day is whether the school sets them up nicely for the career they want. 

[Bottlebottle]

2 hours ago, westcoastie said:

As someone who has been at UBC for a long time, I tend to be cynical - I would be cautious of glamorizing ubc. The longer I am here the more I'm disillusioned by the place and the people. Its generally a pretty artificial environment

what are the biggest illusions

[westcoastie]

On 2/17/2022 at 12:58 PM, Darth Vader said:

No one is glamourizing UBC's reputation or its employment statistics. Law school experience is very subjective and there are people that both hate and love their law school everywhere. What matters for most people at the end of the day is whether the school sets them up nicely for the career they want. 

Definitely not denying that! I know not everyone cares that much about their environment but as someone who is very influenced by the ~vibe~ of places I thought it might be helpful info 🙂

[westcoastie]

On 2/17/2022 at 3:41 PM, Bottlebottle said:

what are the biggest illusions

When I first came I thought it was Disneyland but that could definitely be my naive first year brain. I was lucky enough to come knowing a few people already but otherwise I know people can find it pretty isolating and there isn't much in the way of a community due to its size. Even though I was in a large program, I held leadership positions on campus and still found that it's hard to make friends other than the ones you already have. That being said - law could be a totally different experience since the cohort would be smaller! As I'm sure is the case with other universities, everything is monetized and sooooo expensive which takes away from the whole focus on academia for me and makes it feel like a massive money-making enterprise

[pastmidnight]

12 hours ago, westcoastie said:

When I first came I thought it was Disneyland but that could definitely be my naive first year brain. I was lucky enough to come knowing a few people already but otherwise I know people can find it pretty isolating and there isn't much in the way of a community due to its size. Even though I was in a large program, I held leadership positions on campus and still found that it's hard to make friends other than the ones you already have. That being said - law could be a totally different experience since the cohort would be smaller! As I'm sure is the case with other universities, everything is monetized and sooooo expensive which takes away from the whole focus on academia for me and makes it feel like a massive money-making enterprise

Usually I just lurk, but your post has compelled me to make an account to reply. 

I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s definitely your naive first-year brain. I would wager that most people have this experience if they go to a larger school, especially if it’s a commuter school. Nothing about this is unique to UBC. I also did my undergrad degree at UBC and have a number of issues with the university, but again many of them are not unique to UBC. 

Most people are also not going to pick a law school based solely on how beautiful the campus is -- which I think is what you're getting out when you say people are "glamorizing" UBC, even though none of the people above mentioned the campus, and to be frank I don’t think UBC would need a beautiful campus to get people to attend Allard. It’s a nice bonus, but they are plenty of other compelling reasons to pick Allard.

My understanding is that law school cohorts, regardless of school, tend to be tighter knit than most undergraduate programs because you’re with a smaller pool of people for the entirety of your degree. I don’t think your UBC undergraduate experience is going to be super helpful for people deciding to attend Allard. I’d defer to the experiences of the Allard students in this thread over the experience of a UBC undergrad. 

[Byzantine]

1 hour ago, pastmidnight said:

Usually I just lurk, but your post has compelled me to make an account to reply. 

I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s definitely your naive first-year brain. I would wager that most people have this experience if they go to a larger school, especially if it’s a commuter school. Nothing about this is unique to UBC. I also did my undergrad degree at UBC and have a number of issues with the university, but again many of them are not unique to UBC. 

Most people are also not going to pick a law school based solely on how beautiful the campus is -- which I think is what you're getting out when you say people are "glamorizing" UBC, even though none of the people above mentioned the campus, and to be frank I don’t think UBC would need a beautiful campus to get people to attend Allard. It’s a nice bonus, but they are plenty of other compelling reasons to pick Allard.

My understanding is that law school cohorts, regardless of school, tend to be tighter knit than most undergraduate programs because you’re with a smaller pool of people for the entirety of your degree. I don’t think your UBC undergraduate experience is going to be super helpful for people deciding to attend Allard. I’d defer to the experiences of the Allard students in this thread over the experience of a UBC undergrad. 

I've found it easier to meet people and make friends in law school than undergrad (I went to SFU for undergrad). You take all your first year courses with a cohort of 50 students so you get to know people. 

[CleanHands]

This amused me.

[Constantine]

4 hours ago, CleanHands said:

This amused me.

Just Eastern Roman Empire things 

[westcoastie]

10 hours ago, pastmidnight said:

Usually I just lurk, but your post has compelled me to make an account to reply. 

I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s definitely your naive first-year brain. I would wager that most people have this experience if they go to a larger school, especially if it’s a commuter school. Nothing about this is unique to UBC. I also did my undergrad degree at UBC and have a number of issues with the university, but again many of them are not unique to UBC. 

Most people are also not going to pick a law school based solely on how beautiful the campus is -- which I think is what you're getting out when you say people are "glamorizing" UBC, even though none of the people above mentioned the campus, and to be frank I don’t think UBC would need a beautiful campus to get people to attend Allard. It’s a nice bonus, but they are plenty of other compelling reasons to pick Allard.

My understanding is that law school cohorts, regardless of school, tend to be tighter knit than most undergraduate programs because you’re with a smaller pool of people for the entirety of your degree. I don’t think your UBC undergraduate experience is going to be super helpful for people deciding to attend Allard. I’d defer to the experiences of the Allard students in this thread over the experience of a UBC undergrad. 

Totally agree! Definitely not an authority on all things UBC and definitely not Allard for that matter. I was thinking that for people who have their pick - environment might be important to them 🙂 Didn't mean to upset anyone with my comments in passing, I think its just a symptom of being somewhere for a while and getting sick of it.

 

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, westcoastie said:

Totally agree! Definitely not an authority on all things UBC and definitely not Allard for that matter. I was thinking that for people who have their pick - environment might be important to them 🙂 Didn't mean to upset anyone with my comments in passing, I think its just a symptom of being somewhere for a while and getting sick of it.

 

I think the main issue is that undergrad experiences are separate from graduate/professional school experiences. Going to U of T or York for undergrad is very different from going to their law schools. They're almost separate institutions from the main university itself. You can't even use their libraries without having access to it, for example. Being one of the 40,000+ undergrads that attend UBC is a different experience than being one of the 200 UBC law students that are admitted each year. Your law school and campus experiences are largely going to stay within the confines of the law school and its student body itself. 

[pastmidnight]

13 hours ago, westcoastie said:

Totally agree! Definitely not an authority on all things UBC and definitely not Allard for that matter. I was thinking that for people who have their pick - environment might be important to them 🙂 Didn't mean to upset anyone with my comments in passing, I think its just a symptom of being somewhere for a while and getting sick of it.

 

I get it, but like Darth said people should be picking a school based on the opportunities it will provide them, and Allard's outcomes (and low tuition) speak for themselves. And the issues with UBC's environment are not unique to UBC. They're issues most bigger schools, especially commuter schools, deal with. I'm not trying to jump on you, and like I said I have issues with UBC too, but they aren't issues unique to UBC, and Allard students likely aren't going to have to deal with them. 

UBC is the best law school in BC, and one of the best law schools in Canada, so it's hard for me to see how your comments on its environment based on your undergrad experience are going to help sway someone away from attending, and I don't really see the point in coming in here and telling people to be "cautious" about "glamorizing" UBC, which no one was doing. The posters above are Allard students/alumni and were providing helpful information that could inform an admitted student's decision. If I am really concerned about UBC's environment as an admitted student, I would want to hear from Allard students/alumni and students/alumni of the other law schools I was admitted to, rather than undergraduates who attended those schools. 

[westcoastie]

10 hours ago, pastmidnight said:

I get it, but like Darth said people should be picking a school based on the opportunities it will provide them, and Allard's outcomes (and low tuition) speak for themselves. And the issues with UBC's environment are not unique to UBC. They're issues most bigger schools, especially commuter schools, deal with. I'm not trying to jump on you, and like I said I have issues with UBC too, but they aren't issues unique to UBC, and Allard students likely aren't going to have to deal with them. 

UBC is the best law school in BC, and one of the best law schools in Canada, so it's hard for me to see how your comments on its environment based on your undergrad experience are going to help sway someone away from attending, and I don't really see the point in coming in here and telling people to be "cautious" about "glamorizing" UBC, which no one was doing. The posters above are Allard students/alumni and were providing helpful information that could inform an admitted student's decision. If I am really concerned about UBC's environment as an admitted student, I would want to hear from Allard students/alumni and students/alumni of the other law schools I was admitted to, rather than undergraduates who attended those schools. 

You make a lot of great points - I think maybe I didn't understand the seriousness of making a post - I though it was just sort of a "the more you know" situation. However if we are talking about "seeing the point", it doesn't make much sense to start an argument based on concessions I already made, in a forum meant to give people information.

[westcoastie]

If an admin sees this and is able to take my comments down - it would be greatly appreciated - I don't want to clutter the forum.

[CBay]

On 2/15/2022 at 1:17 PM, Darth Vader said:

Some people may choose UVic over UBC if they want a more social justice, environmental, indigenous focused school. But at the end of the day, UBC is considered one of the best law schools in Canada along with U of T, Osgoode, and McGill, so someone would need to have a pretty specific reason for turning it down to go to UVic or TRU. TRU is like 11 years old lol. Why would anyone go there over UBC or UVic?

Is UBC not also a school that has developed a heavy social justice, environmental, and indigenous focus? They, for example, have not one, but two required Indigenous courses required for first years, and the DEI initiatives are in full force, with administration and certain professors now donning pronouns on their doors, gender neutral bathrooms, etc. 

[FellowTraveler]

15 hours ago, CBay said:

Is UBC not also a school that has developed a heavy social justice, environmental, and indigenous focus? They, for example, have not one, but two required Indigenous courses required for first years, and the DEI initiatives are in full force, with administration and certain professors now donning pronouns on their doors, gender neutral bathrooms, etc. 

I love that you're trying to choose between Osgoode and UBC based on which one is the least woke. I can't wait to see you miserable at Oz for the next three years. 🤣

[pastmidnight]

1 hour ago, FellowTraveler said:

I love that you're trying to choose between Osgoode and UBC based on which one is the least woke. I can't wait to see you miserable at Oz for the next three years. 🤣

I was going to say that it’s too bad TWU isn’t an option for them, but then I remembered that TWU was trying to argue that the LSO and LSBC refusing to accredit their proposed law school was “limiting diversity”, language I imagine they would find too woke. 😔

[CBay]

3 hours ago, FellowTraveler said:

I love that you're trying to choose between Osgoode and UBC based on which one is the least woke. I can't wait to see you miserable at Oz for the next three years. 🤣

Haha, if only there were accurate woke rankings. This would be so helpful.