My Applications

The application process was quite difficult as I mentioned in the introduction. 


I applied to the following schools:
Ontario:
1. Osgoode Hall - Accepted 
2. Windsor Law School - Accepted
3. University of Toronto - Rejected


Others:
4. Howard Law school 
5. University of Illinois
6. Cornell Law 
7. Manitoba


I had an LSAT score of 160 so I knew that I had some chance to get into some of the schools. I think what really put me over the edge was my extracurricular activities, personal statement and community involvement. I will break this down into the different places in Ontario I applied and how the application process went.


Ontario
Windsor Law School - I applied to Windsor through OLSAS (Ontario law School Application Service). This was convenient that you could apply to more than one school through the same system. Windsor's system is very community based, so I knew I had a fair shot at acceptance. They do not rely strictly on ones LSAT and  GPA's. They have six components:

1. University Program
2. Work Experience
3. Community Involvement
4. Personal Accomplishments
5. Career Objectives
6. Personal Considerations
7. Law School Admission Test Scores

While applying I realized that this format bodes well for me. However, it made it quite difficult to apply. You have to know what you are going to say before hand to these questions. There are questions for each category that are designed to test your capability and whether or not you fall in line with each of their considerations


University of Toronto (UofT) - I applied to UofT just because. I knew I would not get in as they are purely numbers based. Although UofT has a section for the personal statement, I strongly believe, they place absolutely no emphasis on it. Possibly they only use it for cases where there are two students close to each other, as I was informed by one of the reps. This is a good school though, but I dont think I would have went to UofT had I been accepted. I would however recommend that almost everyone apply to UofT anyway, because you never know - you might be accepted, and it sets you up for some good future prospects. That being said you have as good a chance (in Ontario) to get into UofT as any of the other schools based on the numbers(about 8%).


Osgoode Hall - This is a long and complicated application, there are so many questions to answer, and they are each significant. Osgoode uses a relatively new holistic system, and their questions are geared towards this. It is clear that they are attempting to diversify legal education as there is a significant stress on ones diversity and background.