Law School In Canada Forum

[memphisbelle]

Hi,

In researching my career goal of practicing aviation/labor law, I found that quite a few lawyers in major firms in that area went to McGill University and participated in their Air and Space Law Institute/ADR. I have done a bit of looking at this but I am not sure how the admissions process works for Canadian schools. There isn't much information on LSN.

What are their medians/25th/75th for GPA?

How do they calculate GPA? Do they have an LSAC-type service too?

According to the profile, taking the LSAT isn't necessary for admission. Does it help if you are close to or below the GPA median?

I'm American and not familiar with the Canadian LS admissions process at all, so I am wondering if there are any other TLSers out there that are doing this or have done this. Could you provide any advice? I think this could be an excellent choice for aviation/labor law. I'm having serious difficulty justifying 200k for Cornell (seemingly best US school for labor relations). This is around half the price and seems to have a decent reputation internationally. I do speak French, so I'm not worried about that aspect of it.

Anyway, thanks for any input/advice that you may have.

MB

[YaSvoboden]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/international.html

I think that has most of what you're asking for.

[memphisbelle]

Ok, thank you. I completely overlooked that and went to the school profile directly. This does raise a few more questions though. I see that their GPA median is 3.77. That's a good bit away from where I am (around 3.3). I've read in another thread on here that there is a lot of grade inflation in Canada due to more liberal grading scales (90-100 is an A, etc.). Is that true? If so, is this accounted for when evaluating international applicants? Does their non-GPA/LSAT based ranking system allow them to be more holistic in their admissions?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[CanadianWolf]

Canadian equivalent of LSDAS throws out each candidate's lowest grades.

[memphisbelle]

Really??!! That would be amazing. I have a couple of semesters 2.8 total and then I worked for a few years before coming back to school. I currently have a 3.98. What is the name of the Canadian LSAC equivalent? The only one that I have been able to find is one for law schools in Ontario. There is a small section of information on the US LSAC website regarding Canadian schools. It just mentions that they don't use the CAS to gather the transcripts. Does this mean that you submit them directly to the school?

Thanks wolf!

[echo]

Unfortunately I believe McGill looks at all of your grades. From their admissions FAQ:

Does the Faculty consider all undergraduate grades?

GPA (Grade Point Average) is calculated on all academic years, even if you have done three or four years and if you have done the same course more than once.

Canadian law schools use a lot of different methods to calculate admissions GPA, there is no universal form like LSDAS across Canada. OLSAS converts GPAs for Ontario schools, but even after that some schools only look at your best or last two years of school, while some allow you to "drop" a certain number of your worst credits. Generally at Canadian schools the LSAT carries less weight, and at McGill is not even required.

[Mal]

Ok, thank you. I completely overlooked that and went to the school profile directly. This does raise a few more questions though. I see that their GPA median is 3.77. That's a good bit away from where I am (around 3.3). I've read in another thread on here that there is a lot of grade inflation in Canada due to more liberal grading scales (90-100 is an A, etc.). Is that true? If so, is this accounted for when evaluating international applicants? Does their non-GPA/LSAT based ranking system allow them to be more holistic in their admissions?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

It is not true that there is a lot of grade inflation in Canada. Quite the opposite actually in contrast to the USA.

McGill requires you to be fluent in French, and is highly holistic in their admissions. They also consider all your grades. This might preclude the school from your consideration.