Chances!

[hylishaa]

Hi everyone.

I wanted to just know what my chances are for the following schools with my scores:

CGPA: 3.7 GPA

Last 2 years: 3.9 GPA

LOR = Strong (2 academic)

Extracurriculars = Pretty strong (worked all of undergrad, volunteered, started my own club) 

PS: Pretty strong as well I think (was reviewed by a few law students who said it was great)

LSAT: 157

I have applied for UOFT, WESTERN, OSGOODE, QUEENS, DALHOUSIE.

I know my LSAT score is relatively weak in comparison to many others but because the rest of my application is strong, I am wondering if there is any chance that I would be accepted to any of the schools? I really do want to go to law school in this cycle but now I am a bit worried if it will not be possible. I am more curious for UOFT/OSGOODE as I wanted to stay in the GTA to be home but I know that those schools are also most competitive too.

In addition, does anyone know if it is frowned upon to apply again to the same schools in the next cycle in case I do not get accepted? If I apply again with a stronger LSAT for the 2024 class? If I do reapply would my LORs have to be different? If not then do they need to change the letters?

Thank you.

[Chewy]

I think UofT is out of reach with your LSAT. The others are possibilities but my bet is you likely will be waitlisted at Osgoode and Western. Dal is probably your best bet but I’d expect to hear later on in this cycle.

[LilSeedling]

I had pretty much identical stats last year!! I was accepted at Dal, waitlisted at Western, didn’t hear from Queens before the July 1st deadline to firmly accept an Ontario offer, and didn’t apply to U of T or Osgoode!

[Chef Justice]

4 hours ago, hylishaa said:

In addition, does anyone know if it is frowned upon to apply again to the same schools in the next cycle in case I do not get accepted? If I apply again with a stronger LSAT for the 2024 class? If I do reapply would my LORs have to be different? If not then do they need to change the letters?

I don't believe it's frowned upon to reapply to the same schools. I can't see a reason for why you would reapply with new LORs unless you believe others could speak to your application better. If you don't get into one of these schools (or choose to reapply anyways), getting a 160+ would greatly improve your chances for Osgoode, Western, Queen's and Dalhousie. 164/165+ for UofT.

[Rashabon]

You need to submit new letters next year. They can be from the same people/same letter but you can't just reupload the old ones.

[ForTheWin2022]

3 points: 

1. LORS are prescribed in a form (or at least they were when I sat on the admissions committee at my school). So you cannot "resubmit" the same ones. The references will need to go through and re-do the candidate evaluation regardless (which is basically a ranking scale) and will likely be able to copy and paste their comments into the corresponding box.

2. Most schools do not care if you reapply. They likely would only take note of it if you highlighted it in your statements. I've read files where people pointed it out for some reason, but I would not have known otherwise. Given the sheer volume of files that need to be read in a sitting and their depth, it truly is the last thing anyone is looking for.

3. I will also note schools can 100% see where you rank them on OLSAS, so keep that in mind. Especially if you are reapplying and saying even though you rejected me last year, you are still my #1, and then rank them 4th.

[BlockedQuebecois]

36 minutes ago, ForTheWin2022 said:

3. I will also note schools can 100% see where you rank them on OLSAS, so keep that in mind. Especially if you are reapplying and saying even though you rejected me last year, you are still my #1, and then rank them 4th.

Since when does OLSAS have applicants rank schools? 

[Yogurt Baron]

7 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

Since when does OLSAS have applicants rank schools? 

It's been a while since I applied, so I looked this up. It appears that rankings are now a thing for undergrad applications, which is interesting, but I can find nothing about OLSAS requiring rankings.

[ForTheWin2022]

30 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

Since when does OLSAS have applicants rank schools? 

It's been about two cycles since I sat on the admissions committee, but there was a rankings system where Applicants would list their preferences in terms of schools. Might be gone now if someone who applied more recently wants to confirm. I also remember filling it out when I applied and thinking it was ridiculous. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by ForTheWin2022

[JusticeBeaver]

1 hour ago, ForTheWin2022 said:

3. I will also note schools can 100% see where you rank them on OLSAS, so keep that in mind. Especially if you are reapplying and saying even though you rejected me last year, you are still my #1, and then rank them 4th.

Just panic-checked this on my OLSAS and it does not number your choices (ie. 1, 2, 3), it just has them listed in the order you added them to your profile. No numbers anywhere, and there definitely wasn't any instructions on OLSAS or special step to do it. Once you added a school to the list you want to apply for, they couldn't be moved, dragged into a different order or numbered in anyway. I think I asked OLSAS about this months ago and they said it wasn't ranked. I really hope that's true because the order I added the schools was not my order of preference so to say 😅

How awkward and cringe to think schools at one point (or still) could see that they were not in fact #1 after reading a PS say "you're my number 1, there's only uuuuuuuu"

[ForTheWin2022]

35 minutes ago, JusticeBeaver said:

Just panic-checked this on my OLSAS and it does not number your choices (ie. 1, 2, 3), it just has them listed in the order you added them to your profile. No numbers anywhere, and there definitely wasn't any instructions on OLSAS or special step to do it. Once you added a school to the list you want to apply for, they couldn't be moved, dragged into a different order or numbered in anyway. I think I asked OLSAS about this months ago and they said it wasn't ranked. I really hope that's true because the order I added the schools was not my order of preference so to say 😅

How awkward and cringe to think schools at one point (or still) could see that they were not in fact #1 after reading a PS say "you're my number 1, there's only uuuuuuuu"

Guess things have changed🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️

[BlockedQuebecois]

14 minutes ago, ForTheWin2022 said:

Guess things have changed🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️

I’m 99% sure OLSAS has never required (or allowed) individuals to rank their school choices.

I think you may be mistaken in your recollection. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by BlockedQuebecois

[ForTheWin2022]

5 hours ago, ForTheWin2022 said:

3 points: 

1. LORS are prescribed in a form (or at least they were when I sat on the admissions committee at my school). So you cannot "resubmit" the same ones. The references will need to go through and re-do the candidate evaluation regardless (which is basically a ranking scale) and will likely be able to copy and paste their comments into the corresponding box.

2. Most schools do not care if you reapply. They likely would only take note of it if you highlighted it in your statements. I've read files where people pointed it out for some reason, but I would not have known otherwise. Given the sheer volume of files that need to be read in a sitting and their depth, it truly is the last thing anyone is looking for.

3. I will also note schools can 100% see where you rank them on OLSAS, so keep that in mind. Especially if you are reapplying and saying even though you rejected me last year, you are still my #1, and then rank them 4th.

Regardless of the rankings issue, to the OP, keep the first two noted points in mind.