How supportive are upper year students to 1L’s?

[ccd]

Hi! I’m deciding whether I should go to Queens for law and was wondering how the community environment is at the school. Do upper years help out 1Ls (in terms of sharing resources and summaries) and is the overall student vibe one of support? Also if someone at queens could let me know a little of the pros and cons of attending the school and living in Kingston that would be great. Thank you! 

[Nurrdeer]

I've really enjoyed 1L at Queen's. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, but everyone here has been really kind and helpful to me. I've also found that the upper years are almost always willing to help out or meet to give advice. Incoming 1Ls can ask to be assigned an upper year tutor by the school: this is a great opportunity to get upper years' help (and outlines, usually) and most people I know (including myself) asked for one. 

If you've never been to Kingston before, you should come check it out if you can before you make your decision. I grew up in a small town, so Kingston feels quite vibrant and busy to me, but many of my colleagues from Toronto and Vancouver feel a little bored and/or claustrophobic. Public transit is B tier and the city isn't very walkable outside of the student district, so take that into account if you don't have a car. Rent is a little expensive, but manageable especially compared to the aforementioned cities. The city has a small legal market, so you will likely end up travelling at least to Ottawa or Toronto during your job hunt. 

Academically, I don't think Queen's is much different than Western or any of the other ON law schools. Clinic and course offerings differ slightly, which you might want to take into account if you already have an idea of where you want to practice. At this time last year, I was clueless about that, but you'll have time and little pressure to figure things out, at least for a while. 

I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have about Queen's - just let me know.