Hi everyone,
I am in a dilemma as I don't think I'll be able to get any academic letters of reference. I graduated with a 3-year Bachelor in 2014, went to paralegal school from 2014-2015, then went back part-time to finish my 4th year for the Honours program. I graduated with an Hons. B.Sc. in 2016. I got a job right after graduating and I've been working full-time every since. I'm looking to apply to Canadian law schools and most of them ask for academic LOR. I haven't kept in touch with any of my professors and I don't think they would remember me. I could probably get professional LOR from supervisors (manager and lawyer).
Is an academic LOR really important? Can anyone comment on my chances of getting into law school without any academic LOR?
@bluetoronto7277 said:
@joshowens16691 said:
Hey There,
So I think it is important to realize that undergraduate GPA by no means necessarily dictates how well you would do in law school. If you have made a correction in the way you study and absorb information you should be able to put in the work and do well. Also, LSAT scores are weighed much more heavily in the application process than GPA, I've seen rough estimates that law schools value of the LSAT to GPA ratio is something like 70% (LSAT) and 30% (GPA). This is the optimistic side of things. By no means could someone get into a law school with a 4.0 GPA BUT a 140 on the LSAT, however you are not in that situation. So getting a better score on the LSAT is definitely worth your time.
As far as the January LSAT goes, I would say that the majority of schools will accept a score this late in the cycle, however, remember that applying later in the application process lessons your chance of being offered a seat (because they've already began to fill your seat).
The last piece of advice I would give is do WHATEVER you can that is completely within your control to make a law school look at you. Imagine you and 99 other applicants applied with the same GPA and LSAT score, what would make them pick you? This is where personal statements and all that other good stuff come into play.
I am by no means an expert about this, this is just my personal opinion mixed with some of my knowledge.
Thanks for your response @joshowens16691
Sorry, I accidentally pressed enter and my comment posted.
Thanks again @joshowens16691. Your response provides a lot of insight. Definitely need to work on my LSAT score in January.