Canadian Law Schools vs. American Schools

[kate999]

I dont know what to do.  I bombed the june lsat (think 147).  My gpa is 3.5.  The problem is there is only around 12 law schools in Canada to apply to, and they require a high lsat.  I dont know anything about applying to schools in the states.  How do you know if they are good? How much does an education down there cost? what is the difference between ABA and Non-ABA approved? this laverne college sends me a flier every week!  Help please!

[Andrew]

Price is in the neighborhood of USD $25k/year.  (3 year program, I'll assume that's the same for the Canadian schools)

I'm going to let someone else tackle your "how to know if it's good" question, but ABA approved is definitly the way to go.

[Kate Annis]

How does one get financing for that???  In canada, law school is at most 10 000 cdn a year!  and that is probably one of the most expensive schools?  Do you know anything about how americans pay for school? Thats crazy.  What is this tier system all about?

[Canuck]

Hi Kate,

Actually, you're a little bit off on the 10k tuition figure  

Below is a list of Canadian law school tuitions. Also, I'd advise you to wait and retake the LSAT, and attend school in Canada. Unless, of course, your intent all along was to practise in the US. Anways, here's your info.

Tuition
McGill - $2,971(quebec)/$5,472(out-of-quebec)
Victoria - $6,000
UBC - $7,000
Manitoba - $7,000(2003), $10,000(2004), $12,000(2005)
U of Alberta - $7,169
Windsor - $8,200
Ottawa - $8,899
Queen's - $8,961(2003), $10,663(2004), $12,856(2005)
Western - $10,601
Osgoode - $12,800
U of T - $18,000(2003), $20,000(2004), $22,000(2005)

LSAT
165 - U of Toronto
163 - U of Victoria
161 - UBC
160 - McGill, Osgoode
159 - Queen's, Western, Ottawa, UNB
156 - U of Alberta, U of Saskatchewan
155 - U of Manitoba, U of Calgary
153 - Windsor
GPA
3.8 - Toronto, Victoria
3.7 - Alberta, UBC, Dalhousie, Manitoba, McGill, Osgoode, Ottawa, Western
3.6 - Queen's, Saskatchewan
3.5 - Calgary, New Brunswick

Cheers!

[Andrew]

Are those Canadian $s?  I should have gone to school up there.

Kate to answer your question - how we afford it - we don't.  Most everyone in the U.S. graduates law school with massive debt.

Note that I've started a section on this board dedicated to Canadian law school discussion:

http://lawschooldiscussion.org/cgi-bin/prelaw/YaBB.cgi?board=Canada

[Canuck]

Andrew,

Those are indeed Canadian dollars! Most of us graduate with massive debt too.

[u of t]

just one nitpicky correction: U of T tuition is 16,000$ for 2003, not 18,000$ as reported above.

[uoft2]

Although the requirements are ridiculous for some of the Canadian law schools, there are opportunities to get in under special circumstances. The grades and lsat scores that were previously posted are only for the regular/general ctaegory. Some schools, have mature, aboriginal and access categories that have lower grade requirements but require more community service.