Advice needed on pathway to pursue Law in Canada

[Savak]

My wife just immigrated to Canada and moved here in April 2022. She has done her high school from outside Canada and she is a passionate debater, public speaker and has won numerous first prizes and awards in various debating competitions. She desires to pursue Law as a career in Canada

I understand that the pathway to pursue Law in Canada is that you must complete a Four Year Undergraduate Program in any discipline of your choosing and you obviously have to keep your grades up, your extra curricular activities and work experience impressive as well and to achieve a good LSAT score after which you will then apply to a Law School in Canada for 3 years.

My wife has applied to the following Universities

1) York University

2) Toronto Metropolitan University

3) Wilfrid Laurier University 

4) University of Toronto

In York University she applied to the 4 year BA programs in Criminology, Global Political Sciences, Law & Society. Unfortunately she was not successful in getting admission in any of her desired programs but she was offered an alternative admission in the BA in Humanities program and BA in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences program. Since she had only July 12, 2022 to accept any one of the offers, she choose to accept the BA in Humanities program for now.

In Toronto Metropolitan University, she applied to the 4 year BA programs in Criminology, Politics and Governance and Journalism and she was offered admission in all 3 of them but she could only accept admission in one, she has accepted the offer in the Criminology program for now.

In Wilfrid Laurier University she applied to the BA Arts Degree and LLB Program at the University of Sussex with the majors being Political Science, Law and Society and Criminology. This is an overall 6 year program where the first two years will be at Wilfrid Laurier University and then the next 3 years will be at the Law School at the University of Sussex in England and then the final year will be completed at Wilfrid Laurier Program where they will offer courses which will help her prepare for the National Committee on Accredition Exams. The feedback that i have heard from some Lawyers is that because the Legal Education, Work Experience has been acquired outside Canada, it will put my wife at a disadvantage in the local job market vs graduates of local Canadian Law Schools.

In University of Toronto, because my wife became a PR in Canada in April 2022 and because UFT only offers annual Fall admissions with the application deadlines being January every year, the only program she has been able to apply to is the Bachelors of Journalism program. We are still awaiting to hear from them.

Thought i would get some feedback from the Lawyers over here and based on the above what course of action would they recommend? 

[CleanHands]

She should not do the Sussex LLB program.

Aside from that, for the purposes of law school admissions she should do whichever bachelor's degree program she has the most interest in and anticipates that she could get the highest GPA in. It will make no difference to law school admissions or legal hiring beyond what GPA she can achieve.

ETA - The only other significant consideration is which program she believes would leave her best equipped to pursue an alternative career that interests her in the event that either she is unable to achieve competitive stats for law school or she loses interest in pursuing a legal career.

Edited July 20, 2022 by CleanHands

[Savak]

9 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

She should not do the Sussex LLB program.

Aside from that, for the purposes of law school admissions she should do whichever bachelor's degree program she has the most interest in and anticipates that she could get the highest GPA in. It will make no difference to law school admissions or legal hiring beyond what GPA she can achieve.

ETA - The only other significant consideration is which program she believes would leave her best equipped to pursue an alternative career that interests her in the event that either she is unable to achieve competitive stats for law school or she loses interest in pursuing a legal career.

Thank you for your response

Will she be at a disadvantage if she decides to pursue the BA in Criminology from Ryerson University (now known as Toronto Metropolitan University)?

Her other choices are the BA in Humanities from York University and a potential Bachelors in Journalism from University of Toronto.

The 4 year undergraduate program she will go to and the university she chooses to attend is a very important investment for her which is why i want to do my best to ensure she makes the best possible decision

[ramoj]

Some law schools will allow you to apply directly if you are over a certain age and with a certain amount of work experience.

For example, Osgoode you can apply as follows:

Applicants with fewer than three years of university are welcome to apply if you have demonstrated through the length and quality of your non-academic experience, an ability to successfully complete the JD Program. To be eligible, as of September of the year of admission, you must (i) be at least 26 years of age and (ii) have a minimum of 5 years of non-academic experience.

Your wife should look into those options, bypassing the undergrad entirely if she meets the criteria. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by jomar

[Bruiser]

13 hours ago, Savak said:

Thank you for your response

Will she be at a disadvantage if she decides to pursue the BA in Criminology from Ryerson University (now known as Toronto Metropolitan University)?

Her other choices are the BA in Humanities from York University and a potential Bachelors in Journalism from University of Toronto.

The 4 year undergraduate program she will go to and the university she chooses to attend is a very important investment for her which is why i want to do my best to ensure she makes the best possible decision

She will not be at a disadvantage regardless of which school or program she chooses. Law school admissions are very numbers based - she needs to get the best possible GPA, the best possible LSAT and write a good personal statement. The law school admissions committees will not care if she did a BA in Humanities from York or a BSc in biology at Ottawa. She needs to choose the school and program that she thinks will be most conducive to her academic success.

For example, my undergraduate degree is in art, and I was admitted to six law schools, waitlisted at one, withdrew from consideration at one, and was rejected at one. Those are very good results, with a degree that a lot of people think is useless.

That being said, lots of students enter undergrad thinking that they want to be lawyers, and it doesn't end up working out for them. Either they lose their interest, they find something else they're passionate about, or they just don't have a competitive GPA or LSAT. Your wife should be considering these things when she chooses her program. What kinds of jobs do graduates of those programs get? Where do they work? Which cities do they live and work in? My backup plan was to go into museum management/curator work, so I chose courses and summer jobs with that in mind. My friends who were singularly focused on law school and didn't get in? They really struggled to find a new direction.

[QueensDenning]

14 hours ago, Savak said:

Thank you for your response

Will she be at a disadvantage if she decides to pursue the BA in Criminology from Ryerson University (now known as Toronto Metropolitan University)?

Her other choices are the BA in Humanities from York University and a potential Bachelors in Journalism from University of Toronto.

The 4 year undergraduate program she will go to and the university she chooses to attend is a very important investment for her which is why i want to do my best to ensure she makes the best possible decision

As others have said, it won't make a difference which school or program she chooses (and to be honest, all of those schools/degrees will be similar in terms of alternate career paths if law school admissions aren't pursued/successful). She's also likely to do similarity, grade wise, in all those programs - they are all liberal arts degrees in the end, which will test reading comprehension/writing/research abilities (no matter whether she is studying criminology, polisci, history, etc.). 

[ZukoJD]

7 hours ago, QueensDenning said:

As others have said, it won't make a difference which school or program she chooses (and to be honest, all of those schools/degrees will be similar in terms of alternate career paths if law school admissions aren't pursued/successful). She's also likely to do similarity, grade wise, in all those programs - they are all liberal arts degrees in the end, which will test reading comprehension/writing/research abilities (no matter whether she is studying criminology, polisci, history, etc.). 

Isn’t U of T quite strict with their grading in liberal arts programs?

[sapsipper]

I went to UofT for undergrad and it certainly has that reputation, especially for the bigger first-year courses. I can't really say for sure whether it is in fact stricter or if this is just the case at every university though.