<p>So at McGill, UofT, Waterloo, Queens, McMaster; how hard is it to have a > 3.7 gpa? I believe to get into law school one needed a gpa higher than 3.7.</p>
<p>My friend wanted to go to an "easy" university like Ryerson and get a good gpa for law school however she's definitely got the marks to make it to the higher cut offs. </p>
<p>I've heard especially that at UofT, it's really hard to get a good gpa and the bell curve worsens your mark. </p>
<p>All of these opinions are second hand and hence I'd like to hear from somebody with first hand experience. Thanks!</p>
<p>go to a small size school like queen’s. you’ll have a better access to profs and they’ll help you get the marks you want if you really show your hard work. as you said, u of t is too large and therefore too competitive. try either queen’s or mcgill</p>
<p>Taking what you perceive as an easy route is no way to prepare for law school. Choose a school where you can study something you’ll enjoy, work hard, and if you still are interested in law school by the end of your second year, prepare well for the LSAT. My H is a lawyer, I have a D who is a lawyer who attended U of T, and know hundreds of lawyers. Canadian law schools are filled with U of T undergrads.</p>
<p>Also, a 3.7 gpa is not a requirement for entry to a Canadian law school.</p>
<p>That is what I said too. She said the law schools only look at your gpa regardless of where you have earned it from and that just skewed my perspective for a while. What would a competitive gpa for law school be?</p>
<p>I’m only in grade 11 and pardon me for asking but how does one get marked in university? Is it the same averages which form the gpa?</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, gpa is very important for law school admissions, more important in Canada than the LSAT. My point was that you don’t necessarily need to get a 3.7 in order to be accepted to a Canadian law school. U of T is the most difficult school to get into in Canada and their medians for the current 1L class are 3.8 and 168 LSAT. Other schools’ medians are lower than that. In Canada, law schools each have a different method of evaluating applicants. It’s far too much information to share here, particularly for a grade 11 student. You are way too far ahead of yourself, or for you friend! Once you’re in university and still thinking of law school, there is an excellent online forum for Canadian schools at law students dot ca.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your help! I’m currently thinking of applying to the US and the UK too. The counsellor I spoke to said that the triple cost for the US is worth it! </p>
<p>"Let me counter what the guidance counselors are saying and tell you that with the large Canadian universities marking on a bell curve, it has been my experience that even the brightest of my undergraduate students have a very tough time getting the high marks they need for grad school. One guy at Queen’s (brilliant, amazing writer) took a fifth year but even then only managed to squeeze up to a 3.5, not enough for his choice of law school, though with that extra year he did get a law school acceptance.</p>
<p>Yes, the undergrad in the US is a lot of money, but you have small classes, full professors who know you by name from day one, get you engaged in and excited about your learning, offer research opportunities … AND write fabulous recommendations for you for whatever program you want as a grad students, wherever that may be. Undergrad is more general; by grad school you know, for example, that you want “Generative Linguistics,” and the best programs are at MIT and UC Santa Cruz; or “Medieval Studies” and a top school is U of T. Your choice of program governs your choice of school, and the location matters less."</p>
<p>True if you are able to get into an Ivy League school or a handful of other universities or top liberal arts colleges. Otherwise, I’d question what your guidance counselor has been smoking.</p>
<p>These are gross generalizations. Even at the Ivies, you often have quite large classes at the outset. Professors do not necessarily know you by name. And be assured, that at such schools, grad students and TAs and sessionals are also teaching the classes, not just ‘full professors’ (I was once such a graduate student!). </p>
<p>And as a professor who has taught in both countries, I have sent many students from Canada to US graduate programs. Canadian universities train their students very well and American graduate schools know this. </p>
<p>It is not difficult at all to get to know your professors or do research even at the large universities, if you take just a bit of initative. An undergrad costing $200k extra is simply not worth it at all if you are planning on graduate school. </p>
<p>I should add I see every year a ton of American and Canadian students applying to our graduate program. Faculty the world over write “fabulous letters” for students that work with them, and research opportunities come to students doing undergrad in almost any country. </p>
<p>Finally, the quote you have there doesn’t sound like it was written by an adult. Canadian law schools and med schools and graduate programs are filled with students that did their undergrad in Canada…clearly the “bright” students were able to get the grades they needed. At most schools there is not a ‘bell curve’ but a distribution that naturally emerges because Canadian schools attract a wide range of student abilities.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your input. That’s exactly what I needed, insight from an individual with first hand experience. Canadian universities make more sense now. I guess the trick is to learn how to be “bright” and not for apparent brighter opportunities. I thank you again starbright, your input has been extremely helpful!</p>
You are way too far ahead of yourself, or for you friend! Once you’re in university and still thinking of law school, there is an excellent online forum for Canadian schools at law students dot ca.</p>