I am having a HUGE dilemma deciding between UofT, UBC, or McGill for my undergraduate degree. All three schools are great - however, my end goal is to attend Law School.
I understand that UofT and McGill are notorious for grade deflation and getting lower GPA’s (please correct me if this assumption is incorrect), but they have a better ranking/reputation than UBC (once again, please correct me if I’m wrong - but looking at rankings it seems that UofT and McGill are more respected in the international community). I am torn because my parents and I value “prestige” but my priority is still to get into a good law school.
Any input/advice is appreciated (the UBC deposit is due this Friday)!!!
Thank you in advance!
Go where you’ll be happiest. A happy student leads to a higher GPA and that’s what you’ll need to get into law school. Once you get into law school, no one will care about where you went for undergrad. That having been said, all 3 schools are equally prestigious and I went to U of T.
Almost all Canadian law schools are excellent. (Not as much variation in quality as there is with US law schools.)
Now is the time to focus on your undergraduate education.
If your desire is to attend law school in the US, then–unlike Canada-- undergraduate GPA is less important than an applicant’s LSAT score.
P.S. Important to understand that undergraduate GPAs for the law school admission process is different for Canadian law school applications than it is for applications to US law schools.
US law schools’ undergraduate GPA calculation includes all grades earned during an applicant’s coursework for a first undergraduate degree.
When applying to Canadian law schools, certain grades earned during one’s undergraduate study are not included in the GPA calculation.
They’re going to be more similar than not (all big top Canadian publics) and from the perspective of North American law schools, equally prestigious. So yes, go where you would be happiest.