Admissions Policies & Holistic Review

Jackman Law seeks to identify and select a student body of diverse interests and backgrounds that demonstrates unusual promise for distinguished performance at the law school, and, subsequently, in the legal profession and community.

The law school is enriched by a student body made up of students from various ethnic, racial, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, from different regions of Canada, as well as a range of academic disciplines, careers and community and extracurricular experiences.

The Admissions Committee, chaired by a faculty member and including the Assistant Dean, JD Program, several other faculty members and a number of third-year students, chooses those applicants it judges are likely to complete the program with the greatest intellectual return. The Faculty believes that the qualities of mind and personality necessary to satisfy its requirements are:

1. high intelligence;
2. sound judgment;
3. the capacity and motivation for demanding intellectual effort;
4. the capacity and motivation to engage in sophisticated legal reasoning; and
5. an understanding of and sensitivity to human interaction.

As evidence of these qualities, the Admissions Committee looks to a number of factors. These include:

• academic achievement;
• The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) score(s);
• non-academic achievement;
• the response to disadvantage due to adverse personal or socio-economic circumstances or to barriers faced by cultural (including racial or ethnic) or linguistic minorities;
• motivation and involvement in academic and non-academic activities; and
• the impact of temporary or permanent disabilities.

The Faculty seeks a diverse, stimulating and highly motivated student body. Thus, the Admissions Committee also gives weight to work experience, graduate study, outstanding accomplishment in a non-academic activity, and other special circumstances brought to its attention.

Admission to the Jackman Law is selective. In each cycle, generally 2,000 applications are received for about 210 first-year places in the JD program, with fewer than 400 offers of admission. There are three categories of admission: General, Mature and Indigenous. Within each admissions group, an applicant's file is reviewed carefully in its entirety. Black students may apply through the Black Student Application Process (BSAP). The Committee reviews applications taking into account a wide array of considerations. Accordingly, it is not possible to predict the probability of admission using numerical indices.

The Admissions Committee's approach means that it gives a full reading to the materials submitted, and considers many academic, professional and personal factors in its attempt to evaluate each candidate's demonstrated potential for enriching the Faculty and, thereafter, for contributing meaningfully to the legal community and society. However, in view of the large number of candidates whose applications disclose excellent academic records, strong LSAT scores and worthy non-academic accomplishments, candidates without these characteristics are less competitive for admission.

Because of the large number of applications, no formal interviews or in person meetings are conducted.

Our review of an applicant's undergraduate record is based on the principle that undergraduate records should be compared as fairly as possible across applicants. For this reason, we examine the pattern of the intensity of the course work taken across an applicant's undergraduate career (light versus heavy, full-time versus part-time, co-op versus regular, introductory versus upper-year courses, courses on exchange, courses during the summer term). We also examine the patterns of results the applicant achieved in that coursework (increasing trends, sustained periods of strong performance, short-term deviations, cumulative results, etc). Moreover, we take into account the nature of the program and the undergraduate institution (or institutions) at which an applicant has studied. Specifically, programs and institutions have varying grading practices, which we take into account in our assessment. In general, the Admissions Committee examines each applicant's academic record with a view to meaningful and fair comparisons of undergraduate performance.

The Faculty does not recommend particular graduate or undergraduate courses for those seeking admission. Many outstanding law students come to law school from undergraduate disciplines or other experiences seemingly unrelated to the study of law. It is suggested that students treat these experiences as ends in themselves rather than as preparation for law school.

The most competitive applicants are those with a consistent record of academic achievement over three or four years in a challenging undergraduate program, and, if applicable, in graduate work as well. In the absence of special circumstances, an inconsistent undergraduate record will normally be less competitive. In borderline cases, a very strong performance in a graduate program may overcome modest weaknesses in an undergraduate record, but will not usually overcome an undergraduate record which is otherwise uncompetitive. An applicant's academic record and LSAT score(s) are considered together and in context. An applicant with a superior academic record may be admitted with less competitive LSAT results. Similarly, an applicant with superior LSAT results may be admitted with a less competitive academic record.