Did anyone manage to get into Law school with a "B" average?

[Sgt_Strider]

Things don't look too good for me now. My first year marks are dragging down my overall average. Realistically I think by the time I graduate next year, my average will hover around the 74-75% range. I guess if there is any luck then I'll strike the "B+" average by the time I graduate. My question is that mark competitive enough to apply to the top law schools in Canada? I understand that the LSAT score is important too, but I heard the GPA is important as well. I don't know if all Law schools look at the cumulative average. I know UBC does which really ticks me off as some of my worst marks are from my first year.

[TenzoR]

LSAT and reference/work experiences might offset it ...but honestly when it comes down to it, they want the candidate to have all three before they consider you

[iamfat]

If you consider the US, you have a LOT of choice. They have 4 tiers of law schools in the states, with Tier 1 being Harvard level. CDN universities are roughly Tier 2 (across the board, the CDN law schools are pretty consistent with their teachings, unlike the US)

I think a Tier 4 school will admit pretty much any student (those with below average LSAT scores). So consider the US if you want to get your Law degree.

[Octavius]

I'm currently sitting at a B overall from 1st to 4th year. My first, second and first half of my third year marks were so-so (being a B- each year or so), but 2nd semester 3rd year I did very well and last semester I did extremely well

If I can replicate my last semester's result, I'll be on the Dean's list this year. However, I can almost pretty much *bet* that what I have, even with the killer 4th year and decent 3rd year will not be enough for ANY law schools in Canada.

I'm going back next year to take a victory lap and add a minor to my degree. If I can do as well next year as I can this year...only then might I have a shot.

Some law schools look only at your last 2 full years (PT Years and PT/Summer courses are excluded), others take your most recent 20 credits, others will drop your lowest 3 marks, etc.

What I'm saying is that with a B, if you are planning to stay in Canada and going to law school, I'd suggest you do what I'm doing and bite the bullet and do another year of undergrad.

[Nikita]

If you want to come to Ontario, Windsor Law School puts a lot of emphasis on life experience, especially if you're an older student returning to school. That would include work experience of just about any kind. They are looking at what you can bring to the School in terms of diversity. Work experience, social background, volunteer work etc, are very important. Windsor is very different than other Ontario Law Schools this way.

[lint]

Things don't look too good for me now. My first year marks are dragging down my overall average. Realistically I think by the time I graduate next year, my average will hover around the 74-75% range. I guess if there is any luck then I'll strike the "B+" average by the time I graduate. My question is that mark competitive enough to apply to the top law schools in Canada? I understand that the LSAT score is important too, but I heard the GPA is important as well. I don't know if all Law schools look at the cumulative average. I know UBC does which really ticks me off as some of my worst marks are from my first year.

If you've researched what the average entering marks are for the top law schools in canada (most are posted on their websites), or called/emailed any of the admissions offices, they would be able to tell you. You'd also be able to find out what entrance criteria they use, whether holistic or weighted percentage (70% gpa, 30% lsat), what they use to determine gpa (last 20 courses, last 30, last 2 years, cumulative)

But "lucky B+", "competative" and "top law schools in canada" don't really mesh well

[Sgt_Strider]

I know my luck at UBC is out. I have been told that they don't place any special emphasis on the last two years of my undergraduate degree. I'm waiting for a response from the University of Toronto and York University. I'm hoping they will count only the last two years, but I'm not sure right now. I haven't looked at schools in the U.S, but I might have to. My dad is telling me right now that if I do want to go to graduate school, he wants me to stay in Canada. I"m thinking of spending another year at UBC to finish off my double major, but maybe that would be a mistake?

[TheGame]

UBC does subtract your worst 12 credits, so that may raise your gpa a bit

[Sgt_Strider]

UBC does subtract your worst 12 credits, so that may raise your gpa a bit

I know, but I have more than 12 bad credits. Part of the reason why I end up in this position was that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in my first and second year. I took a variety of courses that were quite hard and end up hurting me in the long run.

[lint]

check out the forum at www.lawstudents.ca some pretty good info in there, but I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Someone compiled some application data as well.
http://canlawstats.web1000.com/

UofT is here:
http://canlawstats.web1000.com/Toronto.html