Are Canadian law schools undergraduate or graduate programs?

[gobears]

I'm just wondering, are Canadian law schools undergraduate programs or graduate programs, where you need a bachelor's degree before you can even apply (like in the US)?  Just wondering...

Thanks!

[Silversoma]

Yeah, I'm Canadian and I'm not really clear on this...

From what I understand about the U of Calgary, law school is considered an undergraduate program.  Technically, this means that you can get into law school without an undergrad degree, though they do specify that you need at least 2 years of post-secondary education before you can apply.  In reality, very few (<<<1%) of successful applicants to the law school actually get in without having an undergraduate degree, so in this way, it definitely isn't a regular undergraduate faculty, either.

And I think that most schools in Canada operate the same way, though correct me if I am wrong, because I'm not really certain.

BTW, I'm gonna apply with 2 undergraduate degrees under my belt 

[Cheeks]

Silversoma was pretty much correct on this ...

However, some schools required more education than others.  For example, UofCalgary requires 2 years, some schools may require 3 ... and others 4.  Typically, most schools say that it is very unlikely for an applicant to be admitted without a undergraduate degree.

I think some U.S. schools are the same.  Cornell for example, will admit a student after 3 years of undergrad in certain circumstances even if they don't have a degree (I'm not a 100% on this ... but i seem to remember their website saying something like this).

[JBI]

Some Canadian schools have a mature student category where if you've been out of school for a certain amount of time and are above a certain age, you can apply, even if you don't have any University experience. I'm not sure the percentage of people who get in under this category with no University.

[gobears]

Cool, thanks guys!  That's pretty interesting.  So just to make sure I understand this right... it's not at all like in the UK where, if you're admitted to a college or university, you can just then study "law," get a bachelor in laws or whatever it's called, and then become a lawyer?  But it's more like the US where you pretty much have to have a bachelor's degree and then you get a law degree too?  I was mostly wondering 'cos I thought maybe Canada would have something more like in the UK.

[long_gone]

Cool, thanks guys!  That's pretty interesting.  So just to make sure I understand this right... it's not at all like in the UK where, if you're admitted to a college or university, you can just then study "law," get a bachelor in laws or whatever it's called, and then become a lawyer?  But it's more like the US where you pretty much have to have a bachelor's degree and then you get a law degree too?  I was mostly wondering 'cos I thought maybe Canada would have something more like in the UK.

It's much more like the US.  While, technically, you can get into certain places after two years, a maximum of about 5% have not finished degrees of some kind.  Where it is similar to the UK is that after you're done, you don't enter the bar right away but must spend a year as an apprentice (a period known as articleship).  The difference is that in UK this is a two-year, not a one-year training experience.

BTW, UK's system is really sneaky.  While you can get in right after high school, the actual weeding off phase there is finding employement.  While the job market for lawyers in Canada is not the best in the world, you can find a job quite easily in the major metros (and the situation is really expected to improve drastically by 2010) once you're done school, whereas in UK finding a job is really the hardest part of becoming a lawyer.

[gobears]

Cool thanks caecilius!  That was exactly the info I was looking for!  Although now I'm really glad I'm not in the UK.

[long_gone]

Cool thanks caecilius!  That was exactly the info I was looking for!  Although now I'm really glad I'm not in the UK.

Yes, I remember thinking about going to UK when I finished HS because I was too lazy about going through one degree first.  But thankfully I did some research and talked to some people.  Turned out it was a bad idea.  Still would have been kind of nice to not have to go through undergrad or the LSAT, but thankfully the latter is weighted considerably less here so staying was not a bad idea.  Not to mention the screwball fact that it is easier to get hired as a Canadian to work in London than an Englishman, as long as you have about 2 years of Canadian experience.

PS: A few reputable UK schools are starting their own standardized test, which is almost a direct rip-off of the LSAT.  Yet they don't mention it once that this is where their insipration comes from.