Wayne State Law - Detroit

[Dreamygirl6247]

If anyone has applied here, LMK if you received any responses? I applied in October, they reviewed my file in Nov and again in April... still waiting

[Yogurt Baron]

The advice you asked for: I doubt anyone one here applied there.

The advice you didn't ask for: Going to that school as a Canadian would be an extraordinarily terrible idea, especially if (no judgment here - literally all of us are in this boat) you're the kind of Canadian who gets their information about law schools from strangers on a message board. If your dad is a lawyer who runs a very successful practice and will give you his practice when he retires, I'll upgrade this to a "regular terrible idea". But it's a bad school, it will be challenging to get accredited to practice after going there, and it will be very tough to get a job after going there. Don't do it.

Having applied to many bad American schools in my misspent youth: if your stats are even remotely okay, they'll be happy to have you. My stats were atrocious (LSAT 161, GPA under 1 when you consider the many courses I failed in my first attempt at a degree), and schools like Wayne State rolled out the red carpet---they're happy to part innocent Canadians from their money. If you apply to Wayne State and you aren't getting constant phone calls from the dean and the mayor begging you to come there, there is a problem. The problem is either that they lost your application somehow, or that you're that non-competitive of a candidate. So if you really want to go there for some reason, call them and ask what's up. But if your stats are bad enough that the Wayne States of the world aren't bending over backwards to admit you, fix your stats.

[Dreamygirl6247]

4 hours ago, Yogurt Baron said:

The advice you asked for: I doubt anyone one here applied there.

The advice you didn't ask for: Going to that school as a Canadian would be an extraordinarily terrible idea, especially if (no judgment here - literally all of us are in this boat) you're the kind of Canadian who gets their information about law schools from strangers on a message board. If your dad is a lawyer who runs a very successful practice and will give you his practice when he retires, I'll upgrade this to a "regular terrible idea". But it's a bad school, it will be challenging to get accredited to practice after going there, and it will be very tough to get a job after going there. Don't do it.

Having applied to many bad American schools in my misspent youth: if your stats are even remotely okay, they'll be happy to have you. My stats were atrocious (LSAT 161, GPA under 1 when you consider the many courses I failed in my first attempt at a degree), and schools like Wayne State rolled out the red carpet---they're happy to part innocent Canadians from their money. If you apply to Wayne State and you aren't getting constant phone calls from the dean and the mayor begging you to come there, there is a problem. The problem is either that they lost your application somehow, or that you're that non-competitive of a candidate. So if you really want to go there for some reason, call them and ask what's up. But if your stats are bad enough that the Wayne States of the world aren't bending over backwards to admit you, fix your stats.

I would have stayed in Canada however, my husband lives in the states. That's why I am looking to apply outside of Canada. As to whether or not we'll move back to Canada, i have no idea, but until then i guess i'll be applying there

[bigtruss]

This is a Canadian law forum and you're going to get Canadian-centric responses. You'll likely be better off looking for advice somewhere like the lawschooladmissions Reddit. 

With that being said, Wayne State isn't a predatory law school like is being assumed here, though predatory American law schools do exist. The 2022 ABA 509 Report says it had a median LSAT of 161 and median UGPA of 3.80. Lots of Canadian law schools have similar medians and some have lower medians. Law School Transparency says 84% of graduates pass the bar the first time, 2021 graduates had an employment score of 82.5% (long-term, full-time jobs that require a law license), and resident tuition (which applies for Ontario residents through the Good Neighbor Program) is low for an American school at 38,600 USD per year. Only 20% of students who enroll pay full tuition, so you will likely pay less if admitted. Those aren't predatory numbers. The assumption that Wayne State ought to be bending over backwards to have "innocent Canadians" attend is misinformed, and as a Canadian, a bit embarrassing to read because of its implicit arrogance. 

Moving back to Canada to practice law with a foreign law degree always poses extra hurdles, those are well explained all over this forum. However, it's not automatically a terrible idea to consider attending a U.S. law school whose name a bunch of Canadian lawyers, law students, and law applicants don't immediately recognize, and you're not automatically foolish for doing so. There are good U.S. law schools outside of the T14, T20, etc., you just ought to be realistic about what the likely outcome of attending a given school will be and what cost of attendance therefore makes it a good decision to attend. Those conclusions will be the result of your own holistic evaluation, which clearly will incorporate your relationship with your partner living in the States. 

Best of luck and congrats on the exciting new chapter south of the border!

[Ryn]

This is an old thread and OP is long gone.