Looking for best law schools in Canada? Law school acceptance rates can be extremely intimidating! But finding a school where your statistics and profile are a good match is the first step to your success.

We are here to help you find the right fit for you! Navigate to the table below to find the school name, number of matriculants per year, number of applications received each year, the average GPA of accepted students, as well as average accepted LSAT score. You can choose to hide any column that may not be relevant to your search.

Please note: although we have made every effort to provide the most accurate information, admissions information changes frequently. Therefore, we encourage you to verify these details with the official university admissions office. You are responsible for your own results.


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Article Contents
8 min read

Canadian Law School Admissions Statistics What is the Best Law School in Canada? 7 Expert Tips for Applying to Law Schools in Canada FAQs

Canadian Law School Admissions Statistics

Below are the most up-to-date law school admissions stats in Canada, including the overall acceptance rate, average GPA and LSAT scores, and more. You can organize the table from highest to lowest acceptance rates, LSAT, or GPA by clicking on the appropriate section at the top of the table. You can also use the toggles to hide any information that you find impertinent.

What is the Best Law School in Canada?

Many law schools in Canada boast the title of being the best, most prestigious, or most selective. Schools such as the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the Osgoode Hall Law School, the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, Queen's law at Queen's University, and many others, are considered to be not only some of the best law schools in the country but in the world.  

The truth is, the question of what is the best law school in Canada is quite subjective. While there are schools that have ridiculously low acceptance rates or really high GPA and LSAT thresholds, this does not mean that these schools will be a good fit for you. The best law schools in Canada are those that can help you achieve your academic and professional goals. 

To choose the best school for you, reflect on what each Canadian law school has to offer. For example, are you interested in marine and environmental law? Then maybe the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University would be the right fit for you. If you are an applicant of Aboriginal ancestry, interested in diversity, equality, and human rights, perhaps the University of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous Law Center may be intriguing to you. Not only does this center facilitate access to legal education for Indigenous peoples, but they promote and affect the development of the legal system to protect and advance Indigenous communities all over Canada. Furthermore, if you are looking to pursue a combined degree, such as JD/MBA, then you are in luck since many law schools in Canada offer these kinds of programs, such as the University of Toronto, McGill, the University of Ottawa, the University of Calgary, and more. Be sure to check out their law school requirements and admissions processes before you submit your application.

Essentially, the best law school in Canada is the one where you can achieve your aspirations in the legal profession. Each school offers quality education and a variety of specializations you can check out on your own. Researching law programs and making a list of schools to apply to is the first step. The second, and the most important part of the application process, is making sure that you make your application stand out. Read on below for our top tips.

7 Expert Tips for Applying to Law Schools in Canada

Apply Strategically

First and foremost, before we leave this topic of conversation, try to apply to schools where your statistics and background are competitive. Apply to schools where your GPA and LSAT at least meet the requirements, but it is even better if they exceed the requirements of the programs you are applying to. These statistics are not necessarily the end all be all of your abilities, but they are valuable indicators of your academic and cognitive skills. Plus, there is just no way to ignore this: admissions committees care about these stats.

If you have not written your LSAT yet, make sure to learn how to study for the LSAT

Follow Instructions

The legal profession demands high attention to detail. Your application must demonstrate that you can follow instructions to a tee. If the application instructions ask you to submit a law school resume, make sure your submission is fitting for law school, and is not a job resume or an MBA resume, for example. If the instructions indicate that your law school personal statement must be no longer than 500 words, then make sure your essay does not exceed this word limit.

For the admissions committee, there is nothing worse than reviewing an application that does not follow the guidelines. Nothing will get your submission tossed faster than inattention and carelessness.

Wondering what to include in your law school resume?

Create a Holistic Application

Application planning is an intricate and time-consuming process. You must plan each component in a way that contributes to a holistic picture of you as an applicant. After your submission, the admissions committee must have some idea of who you are as a student, a professional, and something of your personal life as well, such as hobbies or commitments. This is a tall order!

In other words, you have to coordinate your application components to tell a story of why you want to be a lawyer and why you would be a great fit for your chosen school. Your resume, essays, references, and transcripts should all come together to demonstrate why the admissions committee needs to choose you. 

Start Early

Starting early is essential. This tip is closely linked to our previous point, since creating a captivating, holistic application is a true challenge. Not only does brainstorming and drafting your application components take time, but you must also take care of items that may be less in your control, such as transcripts, LSAT score submissions, and even references. Ordering transcripts and making sure they arrive on time will take some planning. You must also ensure that the schools receive your LSAT score on time before the deadline. Finding references and making sure they stay on top of your recommendation letter is vital. Your writers are most likely very busy professionals, so make sure to approach them at least 2 months before the application deadline to make sure they are enthusiastic about writing a strong letter of reference for you. As the deadline approaches, remind your writers of the due date via email.

While you are completing all the steps I described above, you must also work on the rest of your application, which leads me to my next point…

Spend Time on Your Personal Statement

While you may somewhat contribute to the recommendations that are written for you by providing the writers with your GPA, LSAT score, or even your resume, you can’t really control what your writers include in your letters. But you have your own chance to demonstrate your strengths, aspirations, and experiences via your law school personal statement. Perhaps the most important application component of them all, your personal statement makes your statistics and your resume come alive. Because it’s not just a list of accomplishments and grades, it’s a narrative – and you have total control of what you share and how you present yourself. This is the real value of a personal statement.

As we already mentioned, your personal statement cannot be a dry summary of your experiences. It must tell your story in a vibrant way. To do this, format your statement as an academic essay, with an intro, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Try to tell the story of how you came to the decision of becoming a lawyer, what motivated you, what goals you have in life, and the legal profession. To craft your narrative, use 2-3 major experiences or events that affected your decision to apply to law school. Do not use more than 3. Including more experiences will remove the depth and immediacy you want to relate in your statement. Remember, this is a narrative and not a list of your experiences.

Do not underestimate this task. Writing a quality statement will take weeks, if not months. Give yourself at least 8 weeks to brainstorm, draft, and finalize your essay. If you are at a loss for where to start, check out law school personal statement examples to see the level of writing that is expected of you. If possible, ask for professionals to look over your statement. We cannot stress enough how important this application component is, and therefore you want to make sure that your essay is outstanding. 

Check out our video for some stellar law school personal statement examples!

Submit Optional Essays if Available

Many law schools also provide you with opportunities to submit supplemental components, such as law school optional essays. These essays are meant to provide the admissions committee with a further understanding of who you are as an applicant. In optional essays, you are encouraged to include experiences and talk about skills that you have not had the chance to discuss in other applicational components.

For example, the law school diversity statement is a commonly required supplemental essay in the US and Canada. This is your opportunity to discuss your diversity experiences and share what kind of experiences shaped your worldview. And while you are certainly welcome to discuss the traditional categories of diversity, such as ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, economic class, and so on, the diversity categories you can discuss in your statement are much broader. They can include personal experiences, like your childhood, academic experiences, such as your involvement on a college campus, sports accomplishments, like being on a curling team, or art experiences, like participating in a play.

The key to acing your optional essay is to create a captivating narrative that tells more about where you came from, what influenced your decision to pursue law, what can your classmates learn from you – what can you contribute to their understanding of the world? Use this opportunity to further prove that you are the right candidate for your chosen school. Whether you are faced with a diversity prompt, an adversity prompt, or a common prompt of “why our school?”, take this chance to showcase your self-reflection, written communication skills, and creativity. An optional essay may be your golden opportunity to make your application memorable.

Keep in mind: optional essays are not mandatory but do not miss the opportunity to strengthen your application. If you think that you will only hurt your application by submitting an optional essay, then you can skip this component. However, if that’s your mindset, then perhaps you should also reflect on the rest of your application and its strength.

Ace Your Interview

If your law school holds admissions interviews, your must make sure to prepare. The interview is the last hurdle before the admissions committee makes its decision, so you got to give it your all to make the best possible impression.

In addition to doing your own independent prep, we strongly suggest using professional help, such as law school admissions consulting. Not only will these professionals help you prepare answer strategies for some of the most common law school interview questions, but they will also help you with interview etiquette. The interview is about more than what you say, though that’s important. It’s about how you conduct yourself in a professional setting. You may not even be aware that you crack your knuckles, for example, or play with buttons on your blouse when you are nervous. These kinds of interview behaviors can be off-putting to admissions committees, so you must learn how to properly carry yourself in the interview. Professionals can help you prepare for the format, the questions, and the pressure you will face. 

FAQs

1. What are the best law schools in Canada?

There are many prestigious law schools in Canada, and it’s very difficult to say which one is objectively the best. In truth, the best law school is the one that allows you to achieve your professional goals. 

2. How many law schools in Canada are there?

There are 18 law schools in Canada. Two law schools provide legal education in French as well as English: the University of Ottawa and McGill. 

3. How can I choose which law schools to apply to?

Firstly, try to find schools where your statistics and background make you a competitive applicant, i.e., where your LSAT score and GPA at least meet the requirements. Secondly, pick schools where you will be able to pursue the kind of courses and work that you are interested in. While all law schools in Canada provide quality education, you should try to select schools where you will enjoy the curriculum and the learning opportunities they provide. 

4. How do I apply to law schools in Canada?

Most law schools in Canada have their own application system and portal, except for Ontario schools. In Ontario, you must apply via the OLSAS application system. 

5. Do I need to write the LSAT to apply to law schools in Canada?

All law schools in Canada, with the exception of McGill University, have the LSAT as a requirement. At McGill, the LSAT is not a requirement but if you sit the LSAT, the admissions committee will review your score whether they have a good or bad score. 

6. Do I need to submit a personal statement to apply to law schools in Canada?

Yes, most law schools in Canada require the submission of a personal statement. 

7. Do I need to submit reference letters to apply to law schools in Canada?

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law does not require the submission of recommendations. However, most schools in Canada require 2 reference letters.

8. Are there admissions interviews for law schools in Canada?

Most law schools do not invite applicants to admissions interviews, but there are some special cases when an interview may be conducted. 

To your success,

Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting  


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2 Comments

Azell

Can I apply to law school with a degree in health sciences

Reply

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hello Azell! Thanks for your question! There is absolutely no requirement that states that you cannot apply to law school with a health sciences degree. As long as you have a strong GPA, impressive letters of reference, good LSAT score, and experiences that prove that you have gone to great lengths to become a law school student, your major can be in anything.

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Seaquest

Do the law schools determine GPA based on all four years or the last two years? Can you add that information into the chart?

Reply

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hi Seaquest! Thanks for your comment! It depends on the school. Some schools use cumulative GPA, some will use only the final 2 years of your undergrad, and some my use the 3 best years of your undergrad. Make sure to research the schools you are applying to in order to find this information.

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