Chance for a Mediocre Splitter (CGPA 3.14, L2 3.22, LSAT 166)

[Arkr1s]

So far I have an offer from Lakehead on Feb 6th, but its quite far from home and I do want to go to a school that has a proper articling path. 

Low GPA due to death in the family, Econ major forced curves amoung other things, applied all general as I think its a weak justification for such a small upward GPA trend but I may have handicapped myself here.

Only did Undergrad for 3 years as US Tuition + NYC Cost of Living was suffocating. 

About 8 months of full time work experience in Banking and Private Lending.

Took the advice from people on the forum and applied to all schools except Montreal schools, UofM, and Dalhousie (LOR requirements).

Applied last cycle (Mostly western schools) with a 160 and was rejected by all except Sask WL. I was on the verge of giving up but since the LSAT reformat I decided to gave this an another chance in OCT 2024 and got a 166 so I'm back for more.

BC Resident, ideally I want to go to UBC or uVic but I am aware that the prospect is not great with my stat.

I am very self-concious about my splitter status and understand that there is essentially no "Safety School" for me.

From my long time lurking, I think I have a real shot at TRU, Windsor, Queen, Western, uOttowa, TMU, USask, UNB and a non-zero possibiliy at Oz, UofC, UofA, but I couldn't find many people who has similar stats as me from the forum. If any one of Queen, Western, uOttowa accepts me I will go no questions asked, but I fear that I am overestimating my chances.

 

Please either give me a reality check for these schools and any input is greatly appreciated

[SNAILS]

Take this advice at your own discretion:

Your GPA is quite low. Grats on the very respectable LSAT. You have an offer at a perfectly fine law school (Lakehead). 

You say you "do want to go to a school that has a proper articling path." This is only half true at most. Bystreet/ Biglaw jobs will be harder to come by, and if that's your goal, then hold out for an offer from another school (you would in any case wait a while before accepting lakehead, based on your post).

But if it comes down to it, there is not a whole lot of upward mobility for your LSAT and your GPA is what it is. Lakehead can be solid path to a variety of lawyer jobs. 

I know half a dozen lawyers who went to Lakehead who are doing fine.

If the distance (i.e. living in Northern Ontario) is truly a deal breaker, I respect that.

[Spinnaker]

I agree with your assessment that you are 100% out of the running at UBC and UVic, especially as you applied General. Oz, U of A, and U of C are also very unlikely, especially as you applied General/did not write the optional Access statement.

TRU, Windsor, TMU, and UNB are likely the only ones you have a shot at, and likely a late cycle A if anything. That said, a late cycle A or an A off the waitlist is just as good as a December acceptance. You could also look at the possibility of transferring, but unless you have extenuating compassionate grounds, you'll need high grades to do this.

Good luck!

[Arkr1s]

4 hours ago, SNAILS said:

Take this advice at your own discretion:

Your GPA is quite low. Grats on the very respectable LSAT. You have an offer at a perfectly fine law school (Lakehead). 

You say you "do want to go to a school that has a proper articling path." This is only half true at most. Bystreet/ Biglaw jobs will be harder to come by, and if that's your goal, then hold out for an offer from another school (you would in any case wait a while before accepting lakehead, based on your post).

But if it comes down to it, there is not a whole lot of upward mobility for your LSAT and your GPA is what it is. Lakehead can be solid path to a variety of lawyer jobs. 

I know half a dozen lawyers who went to Lakehead who are doing fine.

If the distance (i.e. living in Northern Ontario) is truly a deal breaker, I respect that.

First of all thank you for the response. I am beyond grateful for an offer somewhat early in the cycle. Adulting after undergrad has been really humbling for me and I treat this sudden jump in LSAT as basically divine intervention for a chance in law. I am in no way BigLaw or Bust, distance is 70% of the reason but I'll definitely go if that's the only law school that will take me. 

I assume you are articling in Ontario? I couldn't really find any information on Lakehead 's placement rate probably due to many/most Lakehead grads work in Northern Ontario and it being such a small school. I guess I just want to know that when you say "doing fine", you mean articling/practicing as normal?

[Arkr1s]

4 hours ago, Spinnaker said:

I agree with your assessment that you are 100% out of the running at UBC and UVic, especially as you applied General. Oz, U of A, and U of C are also very unlikely, especially as you applied General/did not write the optional Access statement.

TRU, Windsor, TMU, and UNB are likely the only ones you have a shot at, and likely a late cycle A if anything. That said, a late cycle A or an A off the waitlist is just as good as a December acceptance. You could also look at the possibility of transferring, but unless you have extenuating compassionate grounds, you'll need high grades to do this.

Good luck!

Thank you for the response. I'm just really happy to have a chance at Law aftering a pretty bad time adulting post-grad. I might have calculated my L2/B2 wrong since TRU assigned me a B+ and I see people with similar stats getting in around this time as well, and frankly I'd be grateful at TRU for sheer proximity reasons. 

Can you speak on 1L transferring? I assume I'd need at least a B+ to be competitive to transfer to schools like uVic or UBC, and I think I have a pretty good compassionate case since that's where all my family and most of my friends are, but would I be competing with only other 1L students or new admission as well?

Edited February 10 by Arkr1s

[Renerik]

47 minutes ago, Arkr1s said:

Can you speak on 1L transferring? I assume I'd need at least a B+ to be competitive to transfer to schools like uVic or UBC, and I think I have a pretty good compassionate case since that's where all my family and most of my friends are, but would I be competing with only other 1L students or new admission as well?

As a rule of thumb, assume that you won't be able to transfer. I have friends from the UofA who were denied a transfer to UBC with a GPA greater than a B+. 

To transfer on compassionate grounds, you need something more than a family connection with the target school. Osgoode lists the following as examples:

• persons who must relocate to the Toronto area due to their own medical condition or that of an immediate family member;
• persons who would be separated from their dependants where separation to date has been extensive and commuting is not a viable option; and
• persons who demonstrate extreme financial hardship occasioned by study outside of the Toronto area.

When applying for a transfer, you're only competing against other transfer applicants, not new admits. Though, you're competing for a very small number of spots (sometimes none). 

[SNAILS]

On 2/10/2025 at 12:16 PM, Arkr1s said:

I assume you are articling in Ontario? I couldn't really find any information on Lakehead 's placement rate probably due to many/most Lakehead grads work in Northern Ontario and it being such a small school. I guess I just want to know that when you say "doing fine", you mean articling/practicing as normal?

I have no specific statistics on how many Lakehead grads work in northern Ontario. I do know that Lakehead has quite a low placement rate with larger Toronto firms, and this will be due to Lakehead's lower reputation as a law school (for Big Law purposes, at least) as well as a correlation between those attending there and a desire of those students to work in more northern and rural areas.

I believe that Lakehead graduates are not disadvantaged in finding jobs outside of urban areas and major firms. Firms want to see a person licenced to practice law regardless of how they got there. They then look at that individual's qualification / fit. if there is any defined line between getting that degree in a "prestigious" or non-prestigious way, it would be a line between getting the degree from a Canadian vs a foreign law school.

There are other factors at play when comparing a Lakehead grad to (for example) a U of T grad. U of T attracted the best of the best GPA and LSAT wise. A very bright student will probably end up middle of the class. That same student might have excelled, and even been near the top of the class, at a less competitive school. Firms hiring will look at things like whether a person is a hard worker, has good people skills, and so on. When a firm looks at a Lakehead grad vs a U of T grad, there may be ten factors more important to to the firm than what school that person went to.

Disclaimer: I did not go to Lakehead, so I'll just talk about my perception of the job market in non-urban areas of Ontario.

Another thing is that working as a lawyer in non-urban areas is not so much about "placement" as it is about finding a good firm to work for. These jobs are much less likely to be through formal recruits, and more likely to be through job ads (even Indeed.ca), OBA / Criminal Lawyer's Association, and networking. 

I think a good start to such a conversation is to define what "northern" Ontario means to you. Look at this map:

Your legal practice may or may not be litigation focussed. However, the areas with fewer courthouses are also very sparsely populated, so you'll see fewer real estate deals being signed there, fewer estates being administered, and so on.

When you think about working outside the major cities, think about what "Northern Ontario" means to you. Working as a real estate lawyer near the outskirts of St. Thomas, or being a family lawyer near Orangeville is a lot different than working in a fly in community 200km north of Kenora! However, none of these are the types of firms likely to be participating in OCI's at major Toronto Law Schools. 

Typical Lakehead graduates are definitely not unemployed, nor is their law school a barrier to career progression.

To go back to your question, yes, Lakehead grads are articling/practicing as normal. There are roughly two dozen people in my hire back pool for province wide hiring (we are articling students seeking junior associate position). All major schools are represented (Lakehead, Queens, Western, Windsor, Osgoode, U of T). Nobody is is expecting preferential treatment for the grads of whatever law school you might think is the "best."

Out of interest, I took a broad look at the lawyers I think are most successfully locally and what school they went to. My location is neither in the "far north" nor is it urban. If I did not know any better, I'd be led to believe that Windsor law grads do better than grads of all other schools senior lawyers. (*** Windsor, like Lakehead, is usually not considered "the best"). When I consider that Lakehead (Bora Laskin) did not even have a law school prior to 2013, it is quite well represented among successful 1 to 10 year calls as well.  

 

Edited February 15 by SNAILS