Chance me: GPA 3.7/4.0 (outside Canada), LSAT 163 (83%), mature student. discretionary category. MA degree and legal assistant experience

[stampedelaw]

Hello. First time to post here.

My GPA is evaluated by WES. My barriers are language (English is my second language) and my family commitments: taking care of my son with special needs.

Work experience: working as lecturer in universities for more than 10 years; one-year experience as legal assistant at a big law firm. Volunteer experiences; four scholarships; publications

My targets:  UCalgary (application submitted last week) , UBC (dream school), UVic, U of Alberta

Also considering Osgood (since they are holistic)

My safety schools: Saskatoon, Dalhousie and Ottawa

Edited September 17, 2022 by stampedelaw

[TheDevilIKnow]

Unfortunately, no one can provide good predictions for the discretionary categories, including the mature categories. This is more or less inevitable due to the nature of these decisions as, well, discretionary. I'm not sure if ESL is generally considered a barrier for these purposes, but agree that the family commitments may be.

However, the good news is that your numbers are probably strong enough to get into U of A and U of C even in the general category. Note: U of A will count the marks from your MA, assuming it has evaluated coursework. So you will want to factor that in.

UBC, UVic, and Osgood would likely be out of reach on numbers alone but, as mentioned above, discretionary factors make this hard to predict. I would also urge you to consider the terrible housing situation in Vancouver and Victoria before moving here with a child and thinking of it as a "dream" outcome. We're paying 50% more for a space 50% smaller than what we had in Alberta. Basically no room for our son to play, had to get rid of a lot of his toys, etc.

Should be good for U of Saskatchewan (not Saskatoon). Ottawa is tricky: if it's true that they're a CGPA-heavy school, then your 3.7 may make it not so much of a "safe" school after all. No idea about Dalhousie.

Good luck!

[stampedelaw]

23 minutes ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

Unfortunately, no one can provide good predictions for the discretionary categories, including the mature categories. This is more or less inevitable due to the nature of these decisions as, well, discretionary. I'm not sure if ESL is generally considered a barrier for these purposes, but agree that the family commitments may be.

However, the good news is that your numbers are probably strong enough to get into U of A and U of C even in the general category. Note: U of A will count the marks from your MA, assuming it has evaluated coursework. So you will want to factor that in.

UBC, UVic, and Osgood would likely be out of reach on numbers alone but, as mentioned above, discretionary factors make this hard to predict. I would also urge you to consider the terrible housing situation in Vancouver and Victoria before moving here with a child and thinking of it as a "dream" outcome. We're paying 50% more for a space 50% smaller than what we had in Alberta. Basically no room for our son to play, had to get rid of a lot of his toys, etc.

Should be good for U of Saskatchewan (not Saskatoon). Ottawa is tricky: if it's true that they're a CGPA-heavy school, then your 3.7 may make it not so much of a "safe" school after all. No idea about Dalhousie.

Good luck!

Thanks for your insight! This is my first time to apply to a law school, so I feel quite ignorant. Yes I also feel that UBC and UVic are out of reach with my current stats, so I will retake LSAT in November to increase my chance. 

Yes I've heard crazy housing situation in BC. Fortunately my husband will take care of our son so I don't have to move there with my kid if I could get into any BC law schools. 

But very happy to learn that I have chance to get into at lease a few law schools. Thank you!