If you look at all the medical schools and their requirements, there are only two that with which I actually stand a chance – the rest have branded me with a scarlet letter that I simply cannot shake. In times when doctors are so hard to come by, you’d think that they might relax the criteria a bit… nope.

I’ve been accepted to schools in Australia, Ireland, Scotland and France but for some reason, I’m not good enough to practice, or even study, medicine in my own country – that is truly shameful. What I cannot understand is the rationale behind these admissions criteria. They don’t make any sense. The whole system is backwards. Ask any med student – once you gain acceptance to a program, it’s downhill. This is ridiculous. A person should be evaluated based on their performance in medical school. not before it. It’s a system that is widely used in European countries. In France, everyone can enter into the first year of medical school. If you make it into the second year, you’ve earned the right to stay there.

I did a very hard degree my first time around and yet there are people gaining acceptance into medical school based on Arts degrees that have absolutely nothing to do with medicine. We’ve adopted this ridiculous system where medical schools would rather students have a wide and varied breadth of knowledge! This is insane… I would rather have a doctor treating me who has been devoted to the study of one thing for a long period of time that one who did an undergrad in basket weaving and middle eastern foreign policy. Why are we making our future doctors such pussies?

I sympathize with this girl because the thought of doing what she did has crossed my mind before. In the end, however, the pleasure that I will get once I finally get into medical school is worth the work I have to put in to fix my grades. Even if I didn’t get caught, in the end, I’d only be selling myself short, another quality you don’t want in a doctor… or a lawyer for that matter.

Should Law School be the only source to learn the law?
NO.

Who told you that is the only WAY to learn the law?

Society has been the cause and will always be the cause for you not to succeed.

All schools, including Law Schools; are there to make money just as any other business outhere.

There is no rule or law that says you must go to law school because this is the only way ( Again, let say it again) THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN THE LAW? Come, people! think. Use your intelligence and your common sense. Look at for example at Abraham Lincoln. Did he go to Law School? I don’t think so. Before applying to any Law School in the United States. First find out what are the requirements to practice law in that state that you intend to practice.

Before you start blowing your money. Contact your local BAR ASSOCIATION. (Emphasis added)

Let me brake it down.

1. Contact your local Bar Association what requirements do they want you to have before being admitted.

2. Ask if you can be admitted to take the Bar exam without JD or any other degree. ( JD stands for Juris Degree)
3. Now, if you have a Bachelors degree then, ask if you can take the Bar exam.

To make this short, contact your local Bar association. DO THIS FIRST before you start spending tremendous amounts of money.

These Bars Associations control their local Law Schools in your area. So before start applying and your money; contact them first and see what is the requirement to take the bar.

Also, don’t just look in your state. Look at other states bars associations as to what they require you to take the Bar Exam.

That’s it. Good luck.

Marks, both in undergrad and in law school, have poor correlation with intelligence, knowledge of the law, or prediction of success in the legal field. With the exception of people on the Dean’s List like Jacob, they also have little effect on job prospects, outside of initial hires right out of school.

Similarly, the LSAT is usually only a predictor of exam writing ability, such as the bar admissions course. There have been some parallels shown between the LSAT and IQ tests, but again this is more likely indicative of standardized testing than any actual measure of intelligence (the definition of which is also debated). Even with forged high marks, Fredrick would still have to perform well on the LSAT. There is absolutely no way to cheat this, and they even take thumbprints to ensure identity (LSAC probably should verify her thumbprint at this point, just in case).

No, the system doesn’t work because it allows people to lie, and get away with it. Fredrick is hardly the only person to fake her marks to apply to law schools. Several individuals were caught in recent years at UofT. And there are countless more I am sure that are never detected at all. I am curious how The Star initially discovered this incident so that similar safeguards can be implemented more uniformly.

There is another side to this story here that is glossed over, which is what would drive an individual to go this far. Law schools are becoming increasingly difficult to get into in Canada, and usually only the best performers in any undergraduate program are admitted. Having served on university admissions committees in other programs, I know that schools do this as a simple means to filter through the thousands of applications that they have, and not because it guarantees a better practitioner in any way.

As a result, Osgoode Hall has modified its admissions criteria this year to have a sizable cohort of their incoming class using criteria beyond GPA/LSAT, with more weight afforded to the personal statement. Other law schools, as is Canadian tradition, will likely follow suit over time.

Private practice, which is the most competitive area of law job applications, also uses grades as a screening tool. But this area of law is also the most financially driven. And as is often stated, law firms are the most poorly organized and managed businesses in our society. The more successful firms of the future will seek out specific personality types to meet their internal needs better.

But one thing we can all agree is that, regardless of the area of practice, the last thing any employer should want is someone who cheats on their applications. There are some studies indicating people that cheat on tests are more likely to cheat on their taxes, lie to friends, defraud clients, and even cheat on their spouse. It’s usually a habit that is better to avoid developing in life, and as Fredrick demonstrated, once someone starts there is a higher likelihood they will continue. The unfortunate thing is that there are some unscrupulous firms for which such ethos would actually be an asset.

Are you a law student who legitimately got accepted to law school? or worse, are you a person who was waitlisted at osgoode for the 2006-07 year?