If you found your way here because you want to transfer law schools, I was in your position not too long ago. I knew from the first week at my original law school that I wanted to transfer back to a school closer to home, yet the pressure of not knowing what was required of me made me nervous. Would I be able to attain the grades needed to get accepted back home? How hard is law school, really? What are the chances of getting in? With these questions looming in the back of my mind, it pushed me to work harder because I had a specific goal in mind, and I knew that I had to put my best foot forward to increase my chances.
There are many reasons why someone would want to transfer law schools, despite the extra work and almost-crippling anxiety involved in having to go through the application process all over again—to be closer to home, to be closer to the jurisdiction in which one wants to practice, or to be in a school which offers more courses and resources that one would like to have access to. It goes without saying that the process is tedious—one must revise their personal statement, obtain law professor references, and attain strong grades (all while in law school) to secure a transfer spot. One must also be ready to leave behind connections made in their current law school and be willing to start anew in another school, which means meeting new people, meeting the new school’s graduation requirements (which may likely involve taking extra 1L courses), and figuring out your way around campus and its resources. It is almost like re-living 1L all over again.
I sent in my transfer applications sometime in February, although the due date was on May 1. The reason for doing this is that I did not want to be completing my applications near the upcoming exam season—I wanted to complete it early in the semester so that I no longer had to worry about it once the semester got busy. I highly recommend doing this—you can prepare your applications during the December break and submit it once the OLSAS opens for transfers. This way, you can focus on getting those grades needed to transfer.
When it came to law professor references, I was nervous about who to ask. Many Ontario schools require at least one law professor as a reference, others require more. I was not particularly “close” with any of my professors and one of my references was from a professor whom I never went to for office hours, but still did well in his class. I chose professors who I thought were friendly and had no issues receiving a reference at all. Just to note: you do not need to have an A in the course to obtain a reference. A B-range grade in a course will suffice.
Regarding my personal statement, I took my initial personal statement from my first application round and revised it to include what I did in law school. I was only involved in Pro Bono Students Canada during my first year, and my midterm grades were strong. I touched on both of those things, as well as my reason for transfer: I wanted to be closer to home and in the jurisdiction in which I wanted to practice.
Now the most important thing for transferring (in most cases) are one’s grades, and this made me anxious. I thought that you had to have straight As to transfer, which is not always the case. When I received my midterm marks, it made me confident in my chances to transfer, although I was not certain. Most of the information I received was from a law student forum online, and information on that site was not always accurate. I spoke with individuals who successfully transferred with a B average, and being ahead of the curve, I was cautiously optimistic about my chances. Most people that I have spoken to, and from my experience, had a first-year average in the B+ to A range to successfully transfer. There are also some cases in which extenuating circumstances may be taken into consideration.
The lack of information regarding people’s experiences while transferring caused me more unease than I care to admit. I reached out to individuals online, and in real life, who have transferred to ask about the process and their experience. In my experience, Osgoode and the University of Toronto are the first Ontario law schools to start giving out transfer acceptances. The University of Toronto acceptances and rejections were released sometime in mid-June, and the Osgoode decision was released about a week later. Although I rescinded my applications to the other law schools that I applied to for transfer, I have read that most of the remaining Ontario law school decisions come out sometime in July. Osgoode had a large transfer group this year, with approximately fifty transfer students. Some other schools, from what I have heard, only accepted ten to twelve this year. It should be stated that sometimes, there may be no space in some schools for transfer students at all.
It is no doubt that this experience was stressful. I spent the first month of my summer eagerly waiting for an acceptance, and when it came, I felt relieved. Regardless of the stress and anxiety that I experienced while applying, I am excited to finally be home in a city where I have the support of those I’ve known my whole life and where I can network with legal professionals in the jurisdiction in which I wish to practice. To all the hopeful transfer students: With hard work and patience, transferring to your dream school is certainly within reach.