Is it possible?

[burningtundra]

Hi there, I'm a 22 year old-recent alumna of a Film Studies Major and Entrepreneurship minor from TMU.

My CGPA: 3.11

Softs: Not sure how relevant these would be, but my softs in the media arts industry are my strongest assets. I served on several roles in school clubs, director of photography, marketing, wrote for school newspapers, hosted on the radio, sold my paintings in functions, etc. I served as Film Producer and general Production manager, producing three student short films—one of which was accepted into 20 international film festivals, including TIFF (Toronto International Film Fest). Received two awards from Film school for creativity/best producer. 

However, I still struggle with immense self-doubt, as I don't come from a traditional law-centric undergrad. My artistic portfolio speaks for itself, but I am wondering if it can make up for my low CGPA (due to family hospitalization, mental health reasons, my GPA went from 3.7 in first year to, like, 2.9 in 4th year. Would I be able to explain my life's nuances during my application to excuse my low CGPA?)

LSAT Score: I plan to take it in June 2024. For scenarios sake, let's assume that with daily intensive studying, I aim for between 170-179.

Im also not certain who to use as my References. Should I ask my Film producer/director professors to be my references? Or should I ask my lawyer LinkedIn network?

Im looking to apply somewhere in Toronto (TMU; UofT; York, in that specific order). If you think my chances are too low in Toronto, anywhere in Ontario can be an option. 

Only other province than Ontario that I'd consider is Alberta. 

Thank you so, so much. Really lost here. 

Edited December 22, 2023 by burningtundra
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[Yogurt Baron]

You're 22 and you're candid about not knowing much, so I don't want to be too much of a dick here, but a couple of things here kind of cry out for help.

To answer the question from your subject line: yes. It is possible. It is always possible. It is not super-likely with a 3.11 and no LSAT score, but there's a path for you.

56 minutes ago, burningtundra said:

For scenarios sake, let's assume that with daily intensive studying, I aim for between 170-179.

This is kind of...not really a thing. A 170+ is freakishly high, attained only by people with an amazing talent in the areas the test assesses. And just about everyone prepares for the test in the way they need to, as much as they need to - which is to say that "daily intensive studying" doesn't guarantee an excellent performance, because everyone else is doing the same thing (or has brainpower enough that they don't need to). It's not like a multiple-choice where there are 180 questions and if you get 170 of them right, your score is 170. You're competing against other people, who are also going to be working very hard, and to get a 170, you need to outperform 97% of them.

So that sentence is like me saying, look, you don't know how tall I am, but assume I eat a vegetable every day and go to the gym twice a week and am aiming to be 7'4" by June. Could it happen? Sure, it could! I could already be 7'4". You could be a genius! You could write a 180 in your sleep, for all anyone knows! But the odds of anyone simply "aiming" for a 179 and then getting one are...darn low.

51 minutes ago, burningtundra said:

Would I be able to explain my life's nuances during my application to excuse my low CGPA?

I mean, yes, people do do this. There are whole special categories made for students who've faced hardships. And I can't say whether your challenges were serious enough to warrant law schools taking them seriously as an explanation for a lower GPA - that's not my call. But the thing is, every life has "nuances". You will be up against people who had things a hundred times worse than you did and who kept up a 4.0. When you were getting B-minuses in your fourth year, you were not up against people who got As while having perfect, unnuanced lives. You were up against people who had all kinds of problems and made the grades anyway. Now, of course it's possible that your problems were worse than those people's problems and that you would have excelled in your undergrad if you had had less serious problems.

1 hour ago, burningtundra said:

Im also not certain who to use as my References. Should I ask my Film producer/director professors to be my references? Or should I ask my lawyer LinkedIn network?

References are the last thing to worry about - both in that they're a minor factor in your application and in that you've got a thousand more urgent hurdles to jump before you get to that point - but 100%, "professors who have graded your work" are always a better choice than "a Linkedin contact".

I wish you the best of luck and I hope things turn out well for you, but it's going to be a tough road for sure. Write a practice LSAT, see how that goes.

[LawSchoolJones]

I think I'd echo about everything @Yogurt Baron said above. It is certainly possible, but it would be a tough path, and you would need to really have a strong personal statement, showcase and arugment for life circumstances, and a heck of an LSAT score. I think I've read of a few people that get into Law Schools with GPAS that low, but their LSAT demonstrates they are capable of performing well. Because, you can argue that your circumstances are the reason for your worse-than-standard-applicant scores, but they do not have to take your word for it; the LSAT is that evidence. 

And even then, "daily intense studying" is not a supreme indicator of a high LSAT score. In fact, that type of schedule may very well work against you. I went in with that same mindset into my own studying, but I saw my biggest score jumps when I would take a whole week or two off studying, and thus ended up doing a whole lot less studying than I expected. Its about the quality, the techniques, and the personal adjustment, all that cannot be foretold until you either take a practice LSAT or actually dive into it. 

So, overall, as above, it is certainly possible, but the road is a bit too far and uncertain to tell for sure. Best of luck! I hope you can update the forum in the next year with happy news 🙂

[Dghoul]

Just for scenarios, if you get 170+ I would say TMU is possible. As it looks for highest of your 20 courses so your overall GPA is less relevant. 

But as said by above replies, that is a big if. As of June there will be no logic games anymore, so the room for improvement for many would diminish. That means the diagnostic PT would be more telling of your final score. So my advice is the same as above, write a LSAT test first, see how it goes. There are free ones on lawhub, you can skip the LG section and just do the other three sections. That starting point probably can tell us a lot more than an intended intensive studying plan. 

[ccounsel2024]

Yes it's possible to get into a Canadian law school with a low cGPA, I did (cGPA of 2.x) and so did many others. Is it easy? No, you need to be able to stand out in other ways (high LSAT score, great work experience, etc.). And don't listen to those that say otherwise on this forum because I did that years ago. And no it also won't jeopardize your chances of landing a job that you want (for example, I landed a Toronto corporate OCI summer and articling position, and had OCIs ranging from Crown attorneys office, to Bay St law firms, to everything in between). I always share this because there are a few heavy contributors on this forum that consistently say otherwise, and it's just simply not true. 

Good luck. 

Edited December 22, 2023 by ccounsel2024

[canuckfanatic]

I also majored in Film Studies. I also had a low cGPA of 2.X. My LSAT score was 90th percentile.

I applied to over a dozen Canadian law schools and was initially waitlisted by 3 (TRU, Western, and USask). I got the offer from TRU, then later Western. 

I finished law school with an above average GPA and worked at a BigLaw firm. 

This is all to say that it's difficult, but possible. Then, once you're in, those undergrad grades don't matter.