TMU vs Dal

[TheWingerGuarantee]

Hi all, I am facing a bit of difficult decision and wanted to hear other's thoughts on the matter. I have provisionally accepted TMU but just today got accepted to Dalhousie for law. Currently, I have a background in immigration research and was hoping to pursue that, but don't want to close my self off to other sectors (and am specifically interested in doing legal aid/ criminal law). While I am not interested in big-law I would like to keep the door open for mid-sized firms. Other than that I am reliant on student loans and would like to try to keep them as low as possible, while not closing off opportunities. 

PROS for TMU

-I can live with family (at least for first-year and not have to pay rent or food costs), with an hour of commuting door to door 

- I am in a long-term relationship with someone in the province close to Toronto (which I want to continue), and my entire family lives around Toronto

-I hope to practice in Ontario after graduating 

 

PROS for DAL

-Better school reputation

-Better placement for medium-sized firms from what I gather

-Better networking abilities (with more graduated students)

-I have family friends I could live with, or stay with in case of emergency who are a 1.5 hour commute away

-I did enjoy Halifax (during my one day stay there) and do not like the city of Toronto nearly as much

 

I know this seems to point me in the direction of TMU, I am just scared of closing off the door to mid-sized firms and criminal law by going to TMU. Any thoughts would be much appreciated and I hope everyone hears back from the schools they are waiting for! 

 

[BHC1]

4 minutes ago, TheWingerGuarantee said:

I know this seems to point me in the direction of TMU, I am just scared of closing off the door to mid-sized firms and criminal law by going to TMU.

 

Based on what you wrote, seems like you already know what’s the better option for you.
 

You have very realistic goals that will likely put you in the top 10, but not top 1 percent of income earners, within about 5 years after law school. This can be accomplished at either school, but you have strong personal and financial reasons to stay put. Roll the dice on TMU, IMO. 

[Evolution]

By “mid-sized firms”, are you referring to teams of 20-40ish lawyers that deliver quality work but do not have a big market share of notably large/complex files, or are you referring to prominent regional firms that pay at, or close to, the Bay St lockstep? 

If you’re referring to the former, I don’t bellevue attending Dal will give you that much of an advantage when it comes to job hunting. As for the latter, there likely will be a slightly better outcome likelihood for those types of firms within Ontario if you attend Dal. 

I was in a similar position as you and attended TMU over some other schools in Ontario largely because I knew did not want to work in big law and that I could live at home and save copious amounts of money relative to moving out to attend law school. In hindsight, saving ~$60-90k-ish (depending what the location would’ve been and the personal spending choices I made) over these three years by attending TMU was a decision that I’d make again if asked now.

As an aside, even though an hour commute might not seem doable on paper, I’d say that approximately 30% of my year commutes rather than live downtown. Yes, a good chunk of them live in the GTA, but I know of students that have made it work commuting 1.5-2 hours per way. Their commute is often either:

1. Drive all the way in;

2. Drive to a TTC station -> take TTC to campus; or

3. Drive to GO Station -> take GO Train to Union -> take TTC to campus.

My commute was just over an hour long and I often opted for option #2. While commuting from an hour or longer away is absolutely doable in my mind, you need to weigh whether that additional time commitment is worth it to you re saving money and being especially close to your family and partner. FWIW, TMU has a fairly commuter-friendly schedule - no classes on Friday in 1L, and courses typically ran between 9:00am and 5:00pm.

 

Edited April 9 by Evolution

[Scrantonicity2]

I echo what others have said in favor of TMU. I'll add that TMU has some truly excellent professors in both immigration and crim who are also either practitioners or were very recently. 

[TheWingerGuarantee]

2 hours ago, BHC1 said:

Based on what you wrote, seems like you already know what’s the better option for you.
 

You have very realistic goals that will likely put you in the top 10, but not top 1 percent of income earners, within about 5 years after law school. This can be accomplished at either school, but you have strong personal and financial reasons to stay put. Roll the dice on TMU, IMO. 

It helps to hear that perspective that either way I'll still be earning a good wage! 

[TheWingerGuarantee]

1 hour ago, Evolution said:

By “mid-sized firms”, are you referring to teams of 20-40ish lawyers that deliver quality work but do not have a big market share of notably large/complex files, or are you referring to prominent regional firms that pay at, or close to, the Bay St lockstep? 

If you’re referring to the former, I don’t bellevue attending Dal will give you that much of an advantage when it comes to job hunting. As for the latter, there likely will be a slightly better outcome likelihood for those types of firms within Ontario if you attend Dal. 

I was in a similar position as you and attended TMU over some other schools in Ontario largely because I knew did not want to work in big law and that I could live at home and save copious amounts of money relative to moving out to attend law school. In hindsight, saving ~$60-90k-ish (depending what the location would’ve been and the personal spending choices I made) over these three years by attending TMU was a decision that I’d make again if asked now.

As an aside, even though an hour commute might not seem doable on paper, I’d say that approximately 30% of my year commutes rather than live downtown. Yes, a good chunk of them live in the GTA, but I know of students that have made it work commuting 1.5-2 hours per way. Their commute is often either:

1. Drive all the way in;

2. Drive to a TTC station -> take TTC to campus; or

3. Drive to GO Station -> take GO Train to Union -> take TTC to campus.

My commute was just over an hour long and I often opted for option #2. While commuting from an hour or longer away is absolutely doable in my mind, you need to weigh whether that additional time commitment is worth it to you re saving money and being especially close to your family and partner. FWIW, TMU has a fairly commuter-friendly schedule - no classes on Friday in 1L, and courses typically ran between 9:00am and 5:00pm.

 

Hey, thanks for the detailed response! I was actually thinking of doing your second option as well, driving to the Go train station nearest to me to Union, then taking the subway up (Thankful for the recent one way fare policy). I am leaning toward committing to the commute so that I can save the money/ be closer to my partner and family. Out of curiosity was keeping a 4-day week in second and third year a common occurrence? I know that it would be largely a function of what classes you want/ when they happen to be scheduled, but I am just wondering if you found many students were able to schedule themselves for a shorter week in later years. 

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that when I used the term "mid-sized firm" I was thinking of groups of 20-40 lawyers working together, not necessarily the larger regional firms paying higher salaries. Which given your reply also makes me lean more towards TMU. 

Edited April 9 by TheWingerGuarantee