Hello

Wondering how the following universities compare. Especially in relation to:
1) reputation
2) quality of education
3) difficulty of selection (ie: how hard is it to get in? - are any harder than others?)
4) Can they be ranked? If so, which would be most "desireable"?

- University of British Colombia
- University of Toronto
- Osgoode Hall
- McGill University

Thanks very much for any help.

Hi,

McGill University and UofT are in a class appart in Canada, especially for law programs. They both have strong reputations as well as high quality programs. If you want to specialize in Business Law, UofT would be a better choice since it has a specific program (Business Law and Institutions LLM) and it is well-known here that it has the number one faculty in Canada in that field of law. For international law, I would say that they are both equal. If you intend to do research (the thesis option LLM), I think that McGill is actually a better institution. Youll also have the opportunity at McGill to discover the great city of Montreal, which has a great night life and a huge culture diversity (maybe youll learn some french!).

How is it hard to get in? At McGill, you should have a minimum GPA of 3.0/ 4.0. Two of my friends got in with GPAs around 3.4 / 4.3 and one of them got a $5,000 grant. It is harder to get in the undergraduate program (competition is really strong because you can graduate in common law and civil law in only 4 years). At UofT, the mimimum requirement is 3.3 / 4.0 so I think it is harder to get in than McGill for the graduate program.

UBC and Osgoode are really good universities too; they also stand in the Ivy leagues. Osgoode is well-known for business law and UBC for research and quality of education. I really dont know however if it is hard to get in...but it should be easier than McGill or UofT. You should also take into consideration that Vancouver is one of Canadas greatest city.

Usually, the overall standing is:

1) McGill or UofT
2) 2) UBC
3) 3) Osgoode Hall

For my part, I will apply this year to UofT, McGill and maybe some UK and USA universities (I do my Quebec bar exams this year).

Hope this will help you!

Good luck!

Nick

Sorry, I made a mistake in my last post. UBC should rank 3 instead of 2 and, indeed, Osgoode should be 2. I guess I was tired when I posted the message!

Nick