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Cherryhill if you don’t mind not throwing parties and being hit on by 80-year-olds from time to time -
I am looking to begin my apartment hunt for the upcoming school year. What apartments do you recommend? Looking for a nice/clean 1 bedroom apartment -
By BlockedQuebecois · Posted
I graduated last year, so I'm probably in the best position I ever will be to do one of these. As a preliminary disclaimer, my experience with the zoom aspect was in the back half of my last semester, so I just didn't care about it at all. I'm also going to focus on things that, I think, set Osgoode apart from many other schools, particularly in Ontario. Every school has a "collegial environment" and fun clubs. I can't tell you if Osgoode's environment is more or less collegial than Queens, because I didn't do 1L at both schools. So me saying it does doesn't help you. Clinics – This was ultimately why I attended Osgoode, and I think it is Osgoode's one real defining characteristic compared to other schools. Osgoode offers a ton of clinics. Some of them are better than others—looking at you, Osgoode Business Clinic—but the overall quality is quite high and the number/diversity is unmatched by any Canadian law school. Career Prospects – Osgoode is one of a handful of schools in Canada that offers its graduates the ability to work anywhere in (English-speaking) Canada in more or less any setting. This isn't so much about Osgoode opening doors to you (I don't think any schools except perhaps McGill and U of T truly "open" doors that would otherwise be closed). Rather, it's about not closing doors before you've had the chance to prove you deserve to be considered. When it comes to hiring out of law school, either for summers or articling, there are firms that will just never consider applicants from certain schools. Bay Street Hiring – If you're dead set on working on Bay Street, don't speak French, and don't get into U of T, you should attend Osgoode. It routinely beats out the other non-U of T schools for placement rate in both the 1L and 2L recruits. (Appellate) Clerkships –This builds off the point about not closing doors, but Osgoode places a relatively large number of students at the ONSC, ONCA and SCC each year. It also does well with placing students in the Alberta and BC clerkship programs, although the raw numbers are lower due to a lack of interest in clerking out-of-province. You're still going to need very strong grades to get an appellate clerkship, and above average grades for a trial level clerkship, but all else being equal, your odds of getting a clerkship are better at Osgoode than a lot of other schools. Adjunct Professors – Osgoode benefits from a strong alumni network that includes a lot of alumni who serve as adjunct professors at the school. Osgoode is also purportedly located in Toronto. What that means for you is that you're going to have access to a lot of high end, practicing lawyers to learn from. Almost more importantly, it means you're going to be networking with high end, practicing lawyers regularly, many of whom can either give you a job or help you get one. I know people who articled at top litigation boutiques, top criminal law firms, and top family law firms who ended up there because one of the partners at the firm happened to serve as adjunct profs for trial advocacy or some similar course. Joint Programs – Osgoode offers four joint programs, including a joint program with U de M that lets you get a civil law degree with one additional year of study. I didn't do a joint program, but I heard nothing but good things from those who did. I also know several people who spun the JD/MES degree into articling positions at top firms practicing environmental law, which is otherwise quite difficult to break into. I imagine the JD/MES was instrumental in them receiving those jobs. Financial Aid (Your Mileage May Vary) – Osgoode has an overall pretty generous financial aid program, and a decent selection of upper year scholarships. I received an average of $13,000 or so per year from Osgoode, factoring in bursaries, scholarships, and course prizes. How much you get will vary depending on your financial need and academic performance, but it brings the price down to be relatively comparable to the other Ontario schools. Or at least, it did for me. Course Selection – Osgoode has what I understand to be the widest selection of courses available in any school across Canada. That means you can really customize your experience and tailor your course selection to your career. I considered applying for a letter of permission to UBC or UVic during 3L, and unfortunately found those schools didn't have the diversity of course offerings I had come to expect from my school (not to knock those schools; I'd take fewer courses in exchange for a 14k tuition cut). I took a lot of general courses, but people I know (particularly those who were passionate about family or crim) essentially only took courses in their area of interests in 2 and 3L. Diversity – Osgoode's class is one of the more diverse classes in Canada. There is still room for a lot of improvement, particularly when it comes to socioeconomic diversity, but the school is trying and it's reflected in the student body. As an example, Osgoode is the only university in Ontario that admitted more black students than their proportion of the populating in Ontario during the last two years. If you're a member of a minority group, Osgoode has very well funded clubs that can provide some really wonderful mentorship and networking opportunities (this also applies to women – OWN has a lot of good events). The JCR – I know what you're thinking: "BQ, did you run out of things to say and so you're resorting to mentioning the Wednesday night pop-up pub located in the law school where you routinely got drunk before going to class?" Yes. Yes I did. But, it's a fun and relatively unique part of Osgoode culture. You go, you buy a shot, you buy a beer, you sneak it out of the JCR and into your Securities Litigation class. Suddenly, being at school until 8:00 pm learning about National Instrument 51-102 is palatable. And it's the day before Thursday pub nights, so if you're doing it right you can just think of it as a pre-game for that!* *Don't do that. Drinking for more than 24 hours straight is generally inadvisable. As for the strikes, they're really what you make of them. I had a strike in my 1L year. All the profs went to online teaching, although you could still attend in class for most of them, if you wanted. You could also pass/fail your courses for that semester if you wanted. For some students it added a lot of stress, but I found it to be relatively chill. -
By HarryCrane · Posted
I have similar stats to you and also had undiagnosed ADHD until a couple years ago (once I was diagnosed and got treatment, my LSAT jumped from a 156 to 166, funny how that works). I got into TRU and still have a couple applications outstanding. Definitely worth applying next fall, but I don't think retaking the LSAT is worth it. In the Osgoode school forum, there is a thread where a former admissions committee member answers questions. Its worth a read on its own, but also mentions how they consider factors like ADHD or other extenuating circumstances when evaluating applications. Being able to point to a 168 after you were diagnosed with ADHD I think would go a ways to supporting your application. -
Absolutely, assuming a reasonable starting point in terms of natural aptitudes, just about anyone could learn to be a good lawyer. Just like I could learn to be a good accountant. But here's an important qualifier. I never would learn to be a good accountant because I am not interested in that work. In fact, on standardized testing, I apparently have very strong mathematical aptitudes - stronger than my language aptitude. And yet I've gravitated into a career that's entirely about language and not at all about math. And I've gotten good at it (I hope) because I find it interesting and it holds my attention. My concern, framed around the OP's many threads, is this. You seem to keep asking about a career in law like you're looking to settle into a job that pays well, looks good on LinkedIn, and doesn't otherwise demand too much of you. I may be being unfair to you right now, and you might actually have very strong motivations towards legal work that are not otherwise apparent in what you've posted. If so, great. But if not, I really think you might want to consider this problem. Saying that you could if sufficiently motivated learn to be a good lawyer isn't much help if you aren't actually motivated. If you're really looking for a career that will give you maximum output in exchange for minimum input, you clearly aren't that motivated. Do something you care about and many of your repeated concerns take care of themselves. The advice may be trite, but it's also very true. If you really want to do law - and I mean if you want to do it for the sake of doing it, not because you think law will be the best return on effort you can find - I'm sure you have the capacity to become good at it. If not, find something else you actually want to do and get good at that.
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