Chance me: UBC, McGill, U of T, UBC 90.4%, OLSAS 3.93, B2/L2 3.95, LSAT 150

[ChargedWithTuitionEvasion]

Did January LSAT, first time taker, studied 3-4 months (300 hours, 20hrs a week) on and off after graduating 2023

General applicant, but slightly odd circumstances, did music undergrad degree at UBC in composing and music technology. Bc of nature of program I worked closely with my professors, so reference forms for McGill likely good. Did very well in more academic music courses requiring research papers and frequent essays. 

Most relevant volunteer experience working on legal aid helpline to book callers with relevant pro bono lawyers depending on description of their legal issue. Resume otherwise decently accomplished in music field with public performances and presentations 

PS decent, written before taking LSAT though so no explanation of score. Focused on interest in reading countries’ constitutions in middle/high school and imitating their text to create constitutions for fictional countries, why change from music to law, and how helpline experience motivates that 

Confident about LSAT writing sample if admissions considers it 

I appreciate any feedback! I know LSAT score is quite low, and it puts me in the “super reverse splitter” category or worse, but unsure how much PS/GPA etc makes up for it and if 150 on LSAT has made applying at McGill again much harder bc they take LSAT average 

Side note:

Got 161-167 blind review score on 7sage practice tests (151-157 actual), so need speed, aiming for June LSAT, will likely apply again next year 

Edited February 5 by ChargedWithTuitionEvasion

[WiseGhost]

Unfortunately, I think that you are toast for this cycle at those three schools despite your phenomenal GPA. Most applicants have similarly impressive extracurricular activities and decent statements, so those factors are unlikely to push you over the line. 

The 150 does make applying to McGill harder, but since humans review files I think they would take a significant score increase more into account than a simple averaging of scores would suggest. If the score does not increase much in June, it's likely a good idea to apply to other schools as well. 

Edited February 5 by WiseGhost

[JohnSherman]

Unfortunately, I do not believe that your LSAT is high enough for any of the schools you applied to, in spite of your stellar GPA. 

If you rewrite and reapply, you can consider other schools if your LSAT remains low. Best of luck 🙂

[JohnSherman]

Adding on: I would suggest withdrawing your applications so if asked, you can say you withdrew instead of got denied when re-applying to the same schools. There is a non-zero chance you will be admitted this cycle, but I believe it to be very near-zero. 

Edited February 5 by JohnSherman

[ChargedWithTuitionEvasion]

16 minutes ago, JohnSherman said:

Adding on: I would suggest withdrawing your applications so if asked, you can say you withdrew instead of got denied when re-applying to the same schools. There is a non-zero chance you will be admitted this cycle, but I believe it to be very near-zero. 

Thank you I hadn’t thought of that. Is it really much against you in a second application if you got denied before?

[MyWifesBoyfriend]

22 minutes ago, JohnSherman said:

I would suggest withdrawing your applications so if asked, you can say you withdrew instead of got denied when re-applying to the same schools.

Is this true? I though schools did not penalize you for re-applying in subsequent cycles even if you were rejected. Is someone more educated able to weigh in on this?

[JohnSherman]

9 minutes ago, ChargedWithTuitionEvasion said:

Thank you I hadn’t thought of that. Is it really much against you in a second application if you got denied before?

 

5 minutes ago, MyWifesBoyfriend said:

Is this true? I though schools did not penalize you for re-applying in subsequent cycles even if you were rejected. Is someone more educated able to weigh in on this?

Here’s my opinion: it won’t ‘hurt’ but it may increase your bar for an acceptance. My reasoning is that the admissions committee has once decided on your application. For them to change their mind would require significant changes in a part of your application. If you become a borderline applicant, and were once rejected before, I can’t imagine it helping you the next time you apply.
 

A withdraw, on the other hand, is neutral. It may signal you did some reflection, withdrew, and then reapplied when ready. I personally prefer to have decided to withdraw than to have received regrets. 

Edited February 5 by JohnSherman

[ChargedWithTuitionEvasion]

40 minutes ago, JohnSherman said:

 

Here’s my opinion: it won’t ‘hurt’ but it may increase your bar for an acceptance. My reasoning is that the admissions committee has once decided on your application. For them to change their mind would require significant changes in a part of your application. If you become a borderline applicant, and were once rejected before, I can’t imagine it helping you the next time you apply.
 

A withdraw, on the other hand, is neutral. It may signal you did some reflection, withdrew, and then reapplied when ready. I personally prefer to have decided to withdraw than to have received regrets. 

Hmm. I see where you’re coming from, but considering my seemingly weakest point is my LSAT, I don’t entirely see a rejection necessarily causing a higher bar for acceptance. UBC and U of T at least would consider my highest score, and there’s nothing I can do about McGill‘s average at this point. 163 for example with or without a previous rejection doesn’t seem to make it much less competitive but I don’t know.

 It’s tough to say because number of applicants can affect things. A high volume can leave less space for less qualified applicants. I can see withdrawing as good fodder for PS though, “learning experience: I rushed the process/needed more time” 

Be it resolved I need to keep studying, reflecting, volunteering

Edited February 5 by ChargedWithTuitionEvasion

[MyWifesBoyfriend]

8 hours ago, JohnSherman said:

Here’s my opinion:

Stopped reading here. 

 

8 hours ago, ChargedWithTuitionEvasion said:

I can see withdrawing as good fodder for PS though, “learning experience: I rushed the process/needed more time” 

I'm 99% sure withdrawing or keeping your stake in the fire won't hurt you for next cycle. You've already paid, and while your chances may be very unlikely, who really knows? 

Admissions committees have to grind through thousands of applications every year, and I doubt they're going to draw an adverse inference from a previous rejection or assume you're a stronger candidate from a withdrawal. In reality, your application is weighed against the pool of other applicants' applications every fresh cycle. 

Edited February 5 by MyWifesBoyfriend

[chaboywb]

8 hours ago, JohnSherman said:

 

Here’s my opinion: it won’t ‘hurt’ but it may increase your bar for an acceptance. My reasoning is that the admissions committee has once decided on your application. For them to change their mind would require significant changes in a part of your application. If you become a borderline applicant, and were once rejected before, I can’t imagine it helping you the next time you apply.
 

A withdraw, on the other hand, is neutral. It may signal you did some reflection, withdrew, and then reapplied when ready. I personally prefer to have decided to withdraw than to have received regrets. 

As a general principle, I disagree with this advice. I am confident that no admissions committee is going to say "hey, I remember rejecting this applicant last year! The nerve of them to try again..." I'm quite sure you'll be assessed on the merits of your application when reapplying. If they see you are a previous applicant and that you have improved your stats, I can only imagine that being a very soft positive.

That said... OP, you have a close to zero shot at any of the schools listed. If you were serious about attending law school this year, it was a misstep to apply at just the schools considered most prestigious, as it seems you have given the lack of geographical connection between the three. There are many excellent law schools in Canada and you may have had a distant shot at Ottawa, which is a cGPA heavy school. I'd suggest applying more broadly next year to increase your chances.

As one small further point, you note that your blind LSAT score is 161-167, so your issue is just time. I don't agree with this. You're always going to do better in a blind review than a timed test, so you want to get your blind score as high as possible. I'd suggest continuing to do blind reviews until you're hitting ~175.

 

[Dghoul]

As most of the advises here, I think your chance for these 3 schools are very low. It is a shame that a single test hinders you even with amazing GPA, which is much harder to achieve imo. LSAT can be tough, but 150 after several months of prep time usually means there is some thing wrong with your approach. The most common problem I have seen is about reading habit: when reading a question/passage some are subconsciously consistently conceptualizing its argument with their own simple words or even broken phrases with mental pictures; some are just reading without doing that. The latter group can still learn the methods taught by the prep materials, but only do them as an artificial extra step to purposely solve the question instead of internalizing them as part of their mental process which would show the answer naturally. They typically have a large spread between actual and blind review scores. 

I don't know if you are in that spot. But if you do, try to purposely describe the question stem/passages with your own simple words when you read, doesn't have to be proper sentences, just enough phrases here and there to give yourself the idea of the underlying argument/fact. Try to make this a habit, it may take some time. But a good LSAT is all you need to get into any law school you want.