JD admission FAQs

The minimum academic requirement for admission to UVic Law is 45 UVic equivalent units (90 credits) leading towards a bachelor's degree. The degree does not have to be completed prior to admission to law school, but there must be a logical progression from first to second to third and fourth year courses. During the year that you apply for law school, it is important that you submit updated transcripts after you complete the fall semester, so that your GPA can be updated.

It does not matter what major you pursue for your undergraduate degree. We accept students each year from a wide variety of programs, everything from fine arts to computer engineering. We do not discriminate between applicants on the basis of the degree program or majors they have completed. We recommend that students take a degree program they are passionate about and in which they will excel academically. Include courses in your program that will develop research, writing and analytical skills, all of which are essential for success in law school. Additionally, it is important that you develop excellent time management, study habits and exam writing skills during your undergraduate degree.

Performance based courses will not be included in your GPA calculation.

Yes. Students who meet the appropriate criteria may apply as follows:

First-year admission streams:

• General
• Inclusive
• Indigenous

Upper-year admission streams:

• Transfer
• Visiting
• Joint Common Law/Civil Law (JD/BCL)
• National Committee on Accreditation (NCA)
• Summer session

No.

A number of factors determines the ranges of GPAs and LSAT scores that are competitive in any given year. Foremost of these factors is the quality of the applicant pool. If we receive a large number of applications from people with very high GPAs and LSAT scores, admission in that year is going to be more competitive.

Generally, to be a competitive JD law school applicant in the General category, you need an A-/A average and an LSAT score into the 160s. However, if you have a really high LSAT score, you may be admitted with a GPA that is lower than an A- and vice versa.

To give you an idea of what has been competitive in the most recent admission cycle in the General stream, please consult our First Year Class Demographics-General stream chart.

As a matter of policy, we do not set a minimum GPA.

Applicants whose first language is not English and who have not completed a minimum of three full academic years of post-secondary study that was taught and assessed in English, must write the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Applicants who have written the TOEFL iBT need a minimum score of 100, with no less than 25 on each of the individual components. Those who have written the paper and pencil test need a score of 600 out of a possible 677. Applicants who do not meet these TOEFL minimums will not normally be admitted to the Law Faculty.

Our preference is for law applicants to write the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). However, when applicants cannot reasonably take TOEFL and have already taken IELTS, we require an IELTS result of 7.0, but with no scores below 6.5 in the individual sections.

Personal statement guidelines can be found online. Review them carefully before writing your personal statement.

$101.75 for first year and upper year applicants.

$40.25 for summer session applicants.

You can pay by credit card or INTERAC online.

The application opens September 1

The application closes at 4 p.m. PST:

• December 1 for entry as a first-year student
• March 31 for entry as an upper-year summer session student
• April 30 for entry as an upper-year student
• July 31 for entry as an upper-year visiting student (January entry term only)

The deadlines above apply only to the application.

Please be aware these are firm deadlines in that the online application system locks at 4pm (PST). Your application must be complete and payment made before then. Because law school applications take considerable time to prepare, you are encouraged to begin the process early.

Foreign transcripts should be evaluated by a foreign credential evaluation service (course-by-course evaluation), such as the World Education Service (WES). This does not apply to exchange transcripts or Graduate transcripts.

Neither. Residency is not a factor in our admissions decisions.

Four or five courses per semester.

All college courses, which qualify as university transfer courses, are treated in the same manner as university courses.

All students seeking admission to the Faculty of Law are required to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The LSAT is administered through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). Information about the LSAT including the fee waiver form and criteria can be found on the LSAC website at lsac.org.

No. We do not subscribe to that service.

All applicants are required to take the LSAT. We accept LSAT scores that are up to 5 years old. The January test date is the last date that you can write the LSAT and still be eligible for admission in September.

The LSAT consists of two portions: a Multiple Choice portion (scored) and an LSAT Writing (formerly called the Writing Sample) (unscored).

If you are a first-time test taker, you should complete your LSAT Writing as close as possible to the date that the Multiple Choice score is released to test takers. Beginning in August 2020, candidates will be required to have a completed writing sample in their LSAC file in order to see their test score or have their score released to law schools.

If you already have a writing sample on file, you do not need to complete LSAT Writing.

As a matter of policy, we do not set minimum GPA or LSAT requirements. GPA is weighted at 50% and LSAT is weighted at 50%. The ranges of GPAs and LSAT scores that are competitive in any given year are determined by a number of factors. Foremost among them is the quality of the applicant pool. If we receive a large number of applications from people with very high GPAs and LSAT scores, admission in that year is going to be more competitive.

Only you can be the judge of that based on the time you have available to prepare for the test. You should write when you are ready. You can determine your readiness by the scores you obtain on multiple practice tests in simulated conditions. We will accept LSAT scores that are up to five years old.

Many students report multiple benefits from taking a course. Whether you should take a course, and which one, depends on your learning style, the time and resources you have available, what is offered in your region, whether you wish to learn in-class, online, or both, and whether you need more preparation on one area of the test over another.

About 110 students are enrolled in the first-year JD program each year. However, with upper-year admissions, exchange students and other program options, we usually have 360 to 380 students enrolled during the academic year. Approximately 59% of the students are women and approximately 20% are visible minorities. Typically, 36% of UVic Law students are from outside of British Columbia.

When an applicant is borderline competitive, the admissions committee may consider the applicant's personal statement. If an applicant is borderline-competitive based on their GPA and LSAT score, this assessment may lead to an offer.

It is important to note that these subjective factors will not compensate for an LSAT score or GPA that is significantly lower than the competitive level.

We do not consider letters of reference in our general stream.

We do require two letters of reference for our inclusive stream, one of which must be an academic reference. The other letter should be a character or employment reference. Your referees should send their letters to us by email to lclerk2@uvic.ca.

We also require two letters of reference for our Indigenous stream, one of which must fully describe an applicant's connection(s) to the Indigenous community and the second must be an academic reference. Your referees should send their letters to us by email to lclerk2@uvic.ca.

The deadline for reference letters is March 1.

We begin evaluating an application when all of the supporting documentation has been received. We begin making offers as early as November to candidates whose files are complete and who clearly meet our admission standards. We maintain what is often referred to as a "rolling" admissions process. Offers of admission are only open for acceptance for a limited period of time.

If the offer is not accepted within the time specified, the place will be offered to another applicant. We anticipate having all our decisions made by mid-May. At that time, we may ask a number of applicants whether they wish to remain on a "waiting list". If places become available, offers may be made to applicants on the waiting list up until the last business day prior to registration day.

First-year class sizes vary from 25 to 60 students. Upper-year class sizes are 10 to 24 students in seminar courses, and 25 to 50 students in lecture courses.

A limited number of positions in the Faculty of Law are available for part-time legal studies. Students must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the faculty that they are unable to attend on a full-time basis because of health reasons, physical disability, exceptional family circumstances or financial hardship.

A request to participate in part-time studies should be made in writing and submitted to the Law Admissions Office once the applicant has been admitted to the faculty.

Please be advised that there is no separate program for part-time students. Part-time students simply take a reduced course load, so their courses may be scheduled throughout the day. In first year, courses are typically scheduled between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Upper-year courses are scheduled throughout the day, as well as in the evening. Consequently, it is difficult for a part-time student to maintain full-time employment during regular working hours, unless her or his employer is willing to be flexible to accommodate the student's course timetable.

There are opportunities for experiential learning through the following programs and research centres:

• Law co-op program
• Environmental Law Centre
• Business Law Clinic (BLC)
• Environmental Law Centre clinic
• The Law Centre clinic
• Criminal law term

The Faculty of Law offers the following double degree programs:

• Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration (JD/MBA)
• Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration (JD/MPA)

Students who apply and are accepted into both the Faculty of Law and the other faculty in question may earn both degrees concurrently in four years, with modified requirements for each.

The law school also offers a joint Common Law/Civil Law Degree (JD/BCL) program for upper level students who have completed their Civil Law Degree in Quebec.

Applicants coming from a Canadian law school will be given preference over applicants coming from law schools outside of Canada.

We only consider transfer applicants from non-Canadian common law schools who have at least an upper second class standing or a B+ average in their law courses and who are not required to complete a substantial number of our first year courses. Usually, we do not consider non-Canadian transfer applicants until they have completed two full years of study in a common law program. If you are offered admission as a transfer student, you would have to complete a minimum of two full years (29.0 units) at our faculty in order to receive our JD.

Accepted applicants are automatically considered for entrance scholarships. There is no separate application form. In the past, these scholarships have ranged between $1,000 and $12,000 and they are awarded to the most qualified students in our applicant pool.

We endeavour to inform the successful scholarship recipients as soon as possible after we have made an offer of admission, but sometimes notification is not made until August or later.

Entrance scholarships in the Faculty of Law are governed by the University of Victoria's General Regulation on Undergraduate Awards mutatis mutandis. The general regulations on entrance scholarships do not apply to the Faculty of Law because our students do not enter the law program immediately after high school or transfer in from another Canadian College or University.

The applicable portions of the Regulation state:

Except where the terms and conditions of an undergraduate award specifically state otherwise, award winners must normally return to UVic in the next Winter Session (Sept - April) and enroll as a full-time student (12 units) to receive the award.

Students who enroll as a full-time student and subsequently withdraw from courses, so that they fall below 12 units, may have the value of their award reduced accordingly if the value of the award exceeds their assessed tuition and fees.

The Faculty of Law has a sizeable bursary program available for those students with demonstrated financial need and who can show that they have made reasonable efforts to earn income and save for the upcoming academic term(s) during the pre-study period (usually the summer months).

In order to be eligible to receive bursary funding, a student must first apply for a government student loan. Denial of a student loan does not necessarily preclude a student from being considered for bursary funding.

Law bursary applications are available online, starting in early summer. Notices are sent out to students via email in advance of each deadline to remind students to apply and to supply other pertinent information, however students are responsible for ensuring that deadlines are met.

UVic Law does not offer a distance education program leading to a JD, nor do we anticipate that there will be a distance education option at any time in the future. 

Most law students live off-campus. Popular neighbourhoods are Gordon Head, Fernwood, Royal Oak, James Bay, Fairfield and Downtown. Finding a place on or near a bus route is good if you will not have a vehicle with you. Bus service to the university is quick and convenient from most parts of the city. Many people do bike though.

On-campus housing information is available at UVic Residence Services. JD students are classified as undergraduate students; however, for the purposes of on-campus housing applications ONLY, law students are considered as graduate students. If you apply for on-campus housing, use the graduate application for on-campus housing. You will potentially have access to apartment and cluster style housing.

UVic Residence services also maintains an off-campus housing registry you can check out. You may also want to consider listings on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Oodle Listing, or Used Victoria.

The information is provided solely for the convenience of incoming UVic Law students. The Law Faculty does not endorse any of the resources contained in this list and accepts no responsibility for the content of individual websites.

Please review our website at https://www.uvic.ca/law/admissions/index.php. If you have further questions please feel free to contact us at lclerk2@uvic.ca or 250-721-8151.