First Year JD Program Applicants

The Admissions Committee does not conduct interviews. For this reason, every applicant is required to submit a Personal Statement and is encouraged to also provide 1 Optional Essay and, if applying via BSAP, 1 BSAP Essay.

After a University of Toronto JD program has been selected, you may enter the contents for each document in its designated text box in the School Submissions section of the OLSAS application.

Use as many of these documents as permitted, to highlight your academic, personal and professional accomplishments, and share with the Committee a more 3-dimensional picture of yourself and your vision for your legal education at the University of Toronto. Successful personal statements and essays tend to be those that feature clear and authentic writing. In all your written submissions, try to avoid repetition when you write about your candidacy.

All personal statements and essays of applicants who are offered admission are read independently by at least 3 (and as many as 6) Admissions Committee members that include students, senior administrative staff and faculty members. The BSAP Essay will include Black-identified readers and alumni. The statements and essays are not anonymized for review.

Personal Statement

The context of the mandatory Personal Statement (maximum 5,000 characters) is not prescribed; however, you may wish to outline the following:

• How your identity, background and experiences will contribute to the diversity of the law school.
• Your choice of undergraduate program and institution.
• How your experiences have prepared you to study law.

The Personal Statement is also an opportunity to highlight your non-academic accomplishments and any circumstances that may have contributed to, or detracted from, your academic and non-academic success, such as:

• the response to disadvantage due to adverse personal or socio-economic circumstances,
• the response to barriers faced by cultural (including racial and ethnic) or linguistic minorities and
• the impact of temporary or permanent disabilities and/or health conditions.

As warranted, briefly discuss any anomalies in your academic record, including false starts, fewer than 5 courses over 2 terms and introductory courses taken in third or fourth year of a program.

You may want to write to the Committee about the different ways you see yourself contributing to the law school and legal community.

Applicants in the Indigenous category are strongly encouraged to discuss why they have chosen to apply through this category in their Personal Statement and/or Optional Essay. For example, you might reflect on your identification with, involvement in and connection to your Indigenous community or communities.

Optional Essay

You may choose to add 1 Optional Essay (maximum 2,500 characters) to provide additional personal information (if not already addressed in the Personal Statement) that addresses 1 of these topics:

• A meaningful intellectual experience
• A vision of your future goals
• How you overcame obstacles to achievement
• How your identity, background and experiences will contribute to the diversity of the law school

BSAP Essay

For Black applicants, in addition to the mandatory Personal Statement and 1 Optional Essay, you must submit 1 BSAP Essay (maximum 2,500 characters). The BSAP Essay offers a unique opportunity to describe your strengths and accomplishments, vision for your own legal education and to tell your story.

Highlight why you choose this stream. Other topics you may choose to discuss include an issue that you feel is important to the Black community or sharing your motivations and inspirations. Whether you choose to use or reference any of these topics, you should relate what you write about to a legal issue and/or the study or practice of law.

• The LSAT is mandatory, no exceptions.
• For entry in 2026, the earliest acceptable test is the June 2020 test, and the last acceptable test is the January 2026 test.

Taking the Test

• You are strongly encouraged to take the LSAT on an earlier test date, instead of relying on the last acceptable test date. You must have a completed the LSAT comprising both the Multiple Choice portion and the LSAT Writing portion for admission consideration.
• You must add your LSAC account number (e.g., L1234567890) to your OLSAS account for OLSAS to retrieve your LSAT results and distribute them to us. If you register for a test that will be held after you submit your OLSAS application, then you must add or revise the future test date in your OLSAS account.
• For your score(s) to be released, you must confirm the status of your registration with LSAC, as they will provide LSAT reports to OLSAS only if you are an LSAC “current registrant”.

• References are not requested and, if submitted, will not form part of your file.

• Interviews are not used for admission.

• Resumés are required and considered for Mature applicant category candidates only, since years were spent outside of academic study. There is no limit to the length or style of the resumé.

• All candidates must complete the Autobiographical Sketch for their OLSAS application, regardless of application category.

A test of English language proficiency is not required or requested.

If you completed your undergraduate degree (or completed more than 1 academic year of study) at a postsecondary institution outside of Canada or the United States, you are expected to submit a third-party course-by-course evaluation of your transcripts from World Education Services (WES) for admission review.

WES evaluations are not required for:

• NCA applicants
• Law school and graduate (master’s, doctorate) transcripts for transfer and Letter of Permission applicants.

For student exchange and study abroad coursework, you must arrange separately for both your host and your home institution to submit their official transcripts to OLSAS directly. This is in addition to the submission of the official transcript by your home institution. A WES evaluation is not required for courses taken as part of an exchange or study abroad program, as long as either the transfer credits or the grades for these courses appear on your home institution’s transcript.

The process is the same for domestic and international candidates. Arrange for the submission of these application components directly to OLSAS by November 1, 2025.

Application Components

1. OLSAS application, including the Autobiographical Sketch
2. Official and original copies of all postsecondary academic transcripts
3. LSAT score(s)
4. A Personal Statement
5. Optional Essay
6. The BSAP Essay (mandatory for BSAP stream applicants)
7. Resumé (for Mature applicants only) – submitted using the Secure Applicant Messaging (SAM) in the OLSAS application
8. Indigenous substantiation supporting evidence and Attestation form (Indigenous applicants only) – submitted using SAM in the OLSAS application

If you are a Mature applicant, you must submit your resumé using SAM in the OLSAS application.

OLSAS applications are due by 11:59 pm (ET) on November 1, 2025. You must submit your application, including components (1), (4), (5), (6,) and (7), by the listed deadline even if other required application components are not yet complete or available.

Indigenous applicants must submit their supporting evidence and Attestation form (8) by November 14, 2025.

Arrange for the submission of application components (2) and (3) directly to OLSAS as soon as they become available. Applications will be reviewed only after all documents are received.

JD Combined Programs

• In your OLSAS application, select both the First Year JD program and your desired JD Combined program(s) to alert the law school of your interest in pursuing the partner graduate program(s).

• You must also apply separately for admission to the partner graduate programs you are eligible for by their application procedures and deadlines.

Late Applications

• If you believe you will not meet the application deadline due to the late arrival of supporting documents, then it is best that you still apply by the application deadline, instead of waiting for all your documents before you apply. By applying by the deadline, you will avoid the need to make a written request to allow a late application.

• We will consider requests to submit late applications on a case-by-case basis, from which permission is neither automatic nor guaranteed. For first-year entry, requests received after December 31, 2025, will be too late for consideration. 

• We will be more receptive to requests for late applications that are accompanied by unofficial copies of all postsecondary transcripts (and LSAT scores, if the LSAT was taken by the time of the request).

There are no quotas for any category of applicant. Applications will be reviewed only after all required application components are received. You are responsible for ensuring that your file is complete. A full-person holistic review will be based one-third on the personal profile and two-thirds on the academic record and LSAT.

We will notify you of the admission decision by email. We expect to make 3 main rounds of offers of admission:

1. In early December
2. In mid-February
3. In mid- to late March

We will establish a waiting list when we expect that all the places in the class may be filled (by the beginning of April).

Conditional Offers of Admission

• If you apply to the JD first year with undergraduate or graduate courses or degrees in progress, we may admit you on the condition that you complete those courses or degrees prior to enrollment.

• We will list admission conditions in your offer letter. Official final transcripts are due to OLSAS by June 30, 2026.

Deferrals

Deferrals of admission for 1 academic year may be granted at the discretion of the Chair of the Admissions Committee. During the period of deferral, you are not permitted to apply to any other law school. We consider written requests for deferrals on an individual basis after you are offered admission, and have accepted our offer and paid the admission tuition deposit.

Re-application

Candidates who wish to re-apply in a subsequent application cycle must submit a brand new application to OLSAS, including all required application components and supporting documents, since OLSAS does not retain them after a cycle has ended.

Admission consideration will be based on the strength of the new application submitted for the subsequent cycle.

The OLSAS processing fee is CAD $200 plus a University Fee of $115 for each law school selection. All fees are non-refundable.

The University Fee, collected by OLSAS but remitted directly to the Faculty of Law, assists us in covering a portion of our costs associated with the admission assessment. Please see the OLSAS Application Guide for detailed fee information.

• For the 2025-2026 test cycle, the test registration fee is USD$248. An approved LSAC registration fee waiver will entitle you to either one or two free LSAT sittings for a period of up to two years from the date of approval of your LSAC fee waiver.
• Note that the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) provided by LSAC is not to be used for applying to Jackman Law.
• All LSAC fee waiver applications are handled by the LSAC entirely.  The fee waiver application form and required supporting documents must be submitted to the LSAC directly.
• Details regarding eligibility, application requirements and entitlements can be found on the LSAC Fee Waiver Website.
• For any questions about the LSAT fee wavier please contact LSAC by phone at 1.800.336.3982 or via the online LSAC candidate help form.

An approved fee waiver will exempt you from the payment of the OLSAS $115 University Fee for Jackman Law, prior to the submission of your OLSAS application by the OLSAS deadline.

Eligibility

1. At the time of submission of the waiver application, must be one of:
   • Canadian Citizen
     • Permanent Resident
     • Protected Person
     • Convention Refugee
2. Open to JD first-year and JD transfer applicants only
3. Open to students who have received approval for a LSAC fee waiver for the LSAT dated January 1^st, 2023 or later.
   • Applicants who have not received an LSAC fee waiver on or after January 1^st 2023, please email law.admissions@utoronto.ca for more information.
   • Fee waiver applications without an LSAC fee waiver will be reviewed on a case by case basis. 

Applying for the Jackman Law OLSAS Fee Waiver

Required Documentation 

2025-2026 Jackman Law OLSAS Application Fee Waiver

Required Supporting Documents:

1. Proof of official immigration status in Canada
   1. e.g. Canadian passport, Permanent Resident Card, birth certificate etc.
2. Proof of approval for a LSAC fee waiver for the LSAT dated January 1st, 2023 or later
   1. The appropriate document is the LSAC pdf letter that is emailed to candidates includes:
      1. letter date
      2. the candidate's LSAC number
      3. the candidates name

Application Submission: 

1. Submit the completed, signed and dated waiver application form with supporting documents (provide the supporting documents in PDF format only) to JD Admissions by email to admissions.law@utoronto.ca
2. Please await the review of the waiver application submission for our notification of the decision to either approve or decline a fee waiver.

Timing

• Jackman Law OLSAS fee waivers are not retroactive and must be obtained prior to submission of the OLSAS application.
• The OLSAS fee waivers are only valid for ONE admissions cycle, which will be the current admission cycle.
• Please allow at least two weeks for processing of a Jackman Law OLSAS Fee Waiver application.
• The JD Admissions Office will notify via email regarding the outcome of the waiver application. 

In order to process your request for a Jackman Law OLSAS fee waiver, you are required to submit the completed, signed and dated application accompanied with all the relevant documentation. Incomplete applications will not be processed.

HELP

For any questions, clarifications or for submission please email: admissions.law@utoronto.ca