do I still have a chance and should I apply access?

[slala]

I am going into my third year of undergrad in September. I had a pretty low average first year (66) after dealing with some personal issues. I have always been a good student however after a long battle with anxiety and depression I just snapped. university felt too overwhelming and I was constantly going to my doctor telling them about this and being put on meds. I have paperwork for my anxiety medicine and constant visits with my doctor and therapist. after first year I took the summer to work on this do a lot of meditating. I finished my second year with an 84 average (I got sick a lot which is why my average wasnt super high -  had pneumonia sinus infections for most of first semester)... should I apply access for these reasons??

I know I will do a lot better these last two years I am capable of getting 90s.

I have volunteered a lot throughout my university career I really love being involved. I have been involved in clubs. I have a law firm internship that I am completing this summer and I am hoping to have an executive position next year. 

I would appreciate if I could get some feedback!

[chaboywb]

I don't know about access claims, so I won't comment on that. But overall, there are a lot of "ifs" here. One bad year definitely isn't fatal. There are schools that only consider your last two years, and schools that only consider your best two or three years. If you actually get 90s in your last two years, then even your cumulative GPA will be quite strong. 

The other significant stat will be your LSAT score. Write a diagnostic test this summer and see where you're at. You don't need to actually write the LSAT this year (next summer would be a good time) but it will be a very important indicator of your chances along with your third year grades.

Your volunteer work and internship are fine but won't move the needle in any meaningful way when it comes to admission.

Long story short - you have a chance if you get strong grades this year and a good (160+) LSAT score.

Edited May 31 by chaboywb

[LMP]

Having a weak first year is pretty common. I would worry too much about it, just focus on getting strong grades in your last two years. 

[Ben12360123]

I applied for discretionary/access (and got A) because I had a bad semester. I blamed it on my anxiety and depression; however, I decided not to use it because I feel like this will work against me. The goal here is to convince the school that I have what it takes to be a successful law student, and for me to do that, I need to remove any reasons for them to doubt my academic capabilities. Luckily, this is the only semester that I did poorly. For the rest of the semesters, I constantly scored 90% or above. Hence, I was able to show a positive trajectory. I also have softs that I previously thought were strong, but looking at all the law students who got accepted, I am just average because everyone has strong softs. This is all my personal story and my personal point of view. I hope it helps to shed some light.

[slala]

7 hours ago, chaboywb said:

I don't know about access claims, so I won't comment on that. But overall, there are a lot of "ifs" here. One bad year definitely isn't fatal. There are schools that only consider your last two years, and schools that only consider your best two or three years. If you actually get 90s in your last two years, then even your cumulative GPA will be quite strong. 

The other significant stat will be your LSAT score. Write a diagnostic test this summer and see where you're at. You don't need to actually write the LSAT this year (next summer would be a good time) but it will be a very important indicator of your chances along with your third year grades.

Your volunteer work and internship are fine but won't move the needle in any meaningful way when it comes to admission.

Long story short - you have a chance if you get strong grades this year and a good (160+) LSAT score.

That is exactly what I was thinking. and yes I agree it all depends on my lsat and last two years. but I am willing to work for it. I have started my lsat studying this summer and I am taking my first one in a year. Would u say softs do not affect the application process that much? I also have one very strong reference from my internship (specifically if I apply to western) 

2 hours ago, Ben12360123 said:

I applied for discretionary/access (and got A) because I had a bad semester. I blamed it on my anxiety and depression; however, I decided not to use it because I feel like this will work against me. The goal here is to convince the school that I have what it takes to be a successful law student, and for me to do that, I need to remove any reasons for them to doubt my academic capabilities. Luckily, this is the only semester that I did poorly. For the rest of the semesters, I constantly scored 90% or above. Hence, I was able to show a positive trajectory. I also have softs that I previously thought were strong, but looking at all the law students who got accepted, I am just average because everyone has strong softs. This is all my personal story and my personal point of view. I hope it helps to shed some light.

that is what I was thinking with the applying through access situation.. it could work against me.. what softs would u consider a strong soft? I have two years left and I am willing to apply and commit to softs that would help my chances. 

[Yogurt Baron]

I'll say a few things.

1. Yes, of course you still have a chance. Your experiences sound pretty normal to me. A bad first year, followed by a year of grades that are good-not-great after not having had perfect health all year, still leaves you as a competitive candidate. The other applicants you're up against did not have perfect lives; they're people who had problems of their own that also affected their grades. 

2. You certainly can apply access for whatever reason you want, and it might work out for you. There's no practical downside I'm aware of to applying access. Admissions officers are not going to say, "This person is trying to game the system and I think less of them for it, so I'm not going to let them into my law school." If they think you're a competitive candidate, they'll admit you. If they don't, they won't. I've never heard of someone facing a punitive response for a flimsy access claim.

3. You have to live with the decisions you make. I have some serious lifelong health circumstances - "it's a medical miracle that this person has lived into his forties" stuff - and I must admit, I personally bristle at "sinus infections for most of the first semester" as grounds for an access claim. There are many people with really serious challenges, worse than mine, who are too proud to stand up and say, "I deserve special consideration after everything I've been through." If you're comfortable saying that about your...sinus infections...then you do your thing. But throughout your life, there will be many choices of whether to cut the corner or not, work the ref or not, and it's easy to get into bad habits.

3b. I'm totally not saying you're doing anything nefarious here. I think you're completely sincere in saying, "I got an 84, but I could've gotten a 90 if I hadn't had sinus infections, and might law schools want to know about that?", and I don't think it's a stupid or evil question or that applying access would make you a bad person. If you decide to apply access, I'm not judging - I wish you luck and suspect you'll be fine.

Edited June 1 by Yogurt Baron

[Tiatiadl]

Hey, I am the person who got waitlisted from Western that you asked softs about so if Western is your number 1 choice, take my comment with a grain of salt but I do believe you still have a chance and I used depression and anxiety to explain my access claim for all the schools I applied to. For the most part, it worked but I think it only did because I didn't make my personal statement a sappy story. I simply acknowledged what happened, provided proof (medical documents), and stated how I improved over time and focused more on that. For example, I talked about how I went from nearly failing to being on the Dean's Honour List, how I still found other ways to challenge myself, and how my struggles made me more aware of some systemic legal issues I am interested in. I also explained active measures I took to improve my mental health (e.g. seeing a psychiatrist) so the admissions committees know that after I got helped I actually was able to perform better. I was basically trying to tell them that my hiccups from earlier years weren't representative of my capabilities and true potential as a law student.

I would definitely highlight your softs (like the law internship opportunities you got) in your personal statement to explain why you want to go to law school, what you want to do with your law degree, how your past experiences helped you prepare for law school, what unique perspective and experiences you could bring to the law school you want to attend, etc.

I got accepted to a decent number of schools so I'd say mental health struggles work for access claim but you just have to be careful how you present yourself with that information. In conclusion, I'd apply access if you can draft a good personal statement and have justifiable grounds for your access claim because if your stats are good enough, most Canadian law schools assess you as a general applicant first anyways. They usually accept you as a general applicant in this case but if you don't meet the cutoff they'll review your file under the access category. So there's usually no harm in applying access in Canada, especially if you are worried about your stats. But I recommend you double-check this information with the admissions office of the school you are interested in.

Edited June 10 by Tiatiadl
Adding more comments that I forgot to include

[SNAILS]

Definitely apply access for those schools that have an access category, and apply to schools that don't have that category as well (maybe).

Your performance in 3rd and 4th year of undergrad and your LSAT score will be critical. If you do in fact have a 90% GPA in 3rd/4th year and get a 160+ LSAT, I'd be surprised if you do not get some law school offers (Your first year GPA in undergrad won't matter too much for most schools).

You are a bit early in the process to worry too much about uncertainties (i.e. your future undergrad GPA) but it's probably not to early to look at the LSAT a little bit and maybe do a practice exam.

Edited June 11 by SNAILS

[slala]

On 6/10/2024 at 7:19 PM, Tiatiadl said:

Hey, I am the person who got waitlisted from Western that you asked softs about so if Western is your number 1 choice, take my comment with a grain of salt but I do believe you still have a chance and I used depression and anxiety to explain my access claim for all the schools I applied to. For the most part, it worked but I think it only did because I didn't make my personal statement a sappy story. I simply acknowledged what happened, provided proof (medical documents), and stated how I improved over time and focused more on that. For example, I talked about how I went from nearly failing to being on the Dean's Honour List, how I still found other ways to challenge myself, and how my struggles made me more aware of some systemic legal issues I am interested in. I also explained active measures I took to improve my mental health (e.g. seeing a psychiatrist) so the admissions committees know that after I got helped I actually was able to perform better. I was basically trying to tell them that my hiccups from earlier years weren't representative of my capabilities and true potential as a law student.

I would definitely highlight your softs (like the law internship opportunities you got) in your personal statement to explain why you want to go to law school, what you want to do with your law degree, how your past experiences helped you prepare for law school, what unique perspective and experiences you could bring to the law school you want to attend, etc.

I got accepted to a decent number of schools so I'd say mental health struggles work for access claim but you just have to be careful how you present yourself with that information. In conclusion, I'd apply access if you can draft a good personal statement and have justifiable grounds for your access claim because if your stats are good enough, most Canadian law schools assess you as a general applicant first anyways. They usually accept you as a general applicant in this case but if you don't meet the cutoff they'll review your file under the access category. So there's usually no harm in applying access in Canada, especially if you are worried about your stats. But I recommend you double-check this information with the admissions office of the school you are interested in.

Thank you so much this is really helpful. I definitely have an idea of how I will present it, and it is very similar to what you mentioned. I come from a unique background, immigrated here at the age of 10 with a single mom struggled with a lot of mental health issues but couldn't always afford to get help for them. I definitely will highlight how much I have improved. I believe with the way I am learning how to deal with my issues and finally getting the reliable help I need I will do significantly better the next two years. I think applying access could be a good idea as you mentioned just acknowledging what happened and highlighting how I have improved. Thank you for your help!