Admissions

An undergraduate degree, or at least the first three years (90 credits) of a program leading to an undergraduate degree. The degree or credits must be from the University of Alberta or an institution recognized by the University of Alberta, and must be completed prior to beginning law school.

Applicants of outstanding academic ability without a degree, who have completed two years (60 credits) or equivalent of a full program of studies for credit toward a degree at the University of Alberta may be admitted. Offers of admission to two-year applicants are conditional upon successful completion of enrolled credits.

Applicants who have a degree or credits in a degree program that are not recognized by the University of Alberta will not be considered. At this time, diplomas or certificates as stand alone designations are not recognized for the purpose of admission to the JD program.

Admission is based on an applicant’s pre-law academic record and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score. Please note that admissions to the Juris Doctor (JD) program are competitive and meeting the minimum requirements for application does not guarantee admission.

An applicant's admission average will be calculated based on the most recently completed 60 credits and weighted against the highest valid LSAT score for the Fall 2023 admission cycle. Please refer to the Admitted Applicant Profile Card to view the score combinations of last year’s admitted students.

The Admission GPA is calculated using the applicant's most recent 60 units/credits (equivalent to 2 years of full time study) in a recognized university degree (undergraduate or graduate), provided those units of course weight are completed by February 1st in the year in which admission is sought. This is the minimum number of units/credits or courses that will be used in the assessment of an applicant's GPA.

Courses must be considered transferable to the University of Alberta in order to be used in the GPA calculation.

Courses that are transferable to the U of A, completed as a "special student" or "unclassified student", will be used in the admission GPA, so long as they are not introductory level courses (1XX level, or transferable to the University of Alberta as 1XX level)

Courses completed in the Winter/second term of the year admission is sought are not used in the assessment of an application except in the case of two year applicants

Grades from universities other than the University of Alberta will be converted to the grading scale in use at the University, for the purpose of comparative evaluation.

How will Winter 2020 grades impact admission?

The LSAT is administered through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). You can obtain information about the LSAT and register online at www.lsac.org.

Applicants must present an LSAT written within five years prior to the September in which admission is sought but no later than January of that year. LSAT scores are valid for 5 years.

The Faculty of Law will obtain applicants’ LSAT scores directly from the LSAC and you do not need to sign up for their Credit Assembly Service.

We are currently using the highest LSAT score for our admission purposes. The last acceptable LSAT writing date for September admission is January of the year in which admission is sought.

English is the primary language of instruction at the University of Alberta. All undergraduate applicants to English-speaking and bilingual programs need an adequate level of English Language Proficiency prior to admission, regardless of citizenship status or country of origin.

If you have completed at least three years of full-time education (or equivalent) in English, in Canada or another country where the primary language of instruction is English (excluding ESL), you will meet the ELP requirement automatically.

If you do not meet the English Language Proficiency Requirements automatically there are several ways that you can demonstrate ELP explained in the link.

International students require appropriate visa approvals for admission and study in Canada.

Applicants of outstanding academic ability without a degree, who have completed between 60 - 89 credits or the equivalent of a full program of study for credit toward a degree, may be admitted.

Applicants must present a 3.7 minimum GPA on the 4.0 scale and score in the 90th percentile on the LSAT in order to be considered for admission. Offers of admission to two-year applicants are conditional upon successful completion of enrolled credits.

If your institution is only issuing electronic transcripts at this time, please arrange to have them sent to transcript@ualberta.ca

In order for your application to be considered complete, your final, official transcripts must be received by the university, along with any other required documents, by the document deadline.

Applicants who are done attending: Transcripts must be official and complete and indicate any degree(s) received.

Applicants who are still attending: If you are enrolled in post-secondary studies at the time of the application, please wait until your fall/ first term work is completed to send in your transcript(s).

Please arrange to have your transcript(s) sent to the Registrar's Office directly from the issuing institution to:

Administration Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2M7

Please submit a PDF version of your personal statement. The word limit for the personal statement is 1,000 words.

In reviewing applicants’ personal statements, the Admissions Committee is guided by the following objectives:

• Ensuring access to legal education for underrepresented groups, minorities and individuals who have faced extraordinary life circumstances;

• Ensuring a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds to enrich the student body; and

• Ensuring wide-ranging forms of excellence within the student body.

The personal statement should feature clear and authentic writing. Where appropriate, the statement should comment on the following considerations to assist the Committee in assessing the applicant’s candidacy and desire and ability to succeed in law:

• demonstrated aptitude based on personal and professional achievements and work experience;

• contributions to community;

• extraordinary personal challenges or the difficulty and quality of the pre law academic program;

• family, community, leadership or similar responsibilities;

• social, political, economic or other factors;

• exceptional circumstances that adversely affected particular grades or academic performance and/or LSAT score(s), but do not pose an ongoing issue in terms of the Applicant’s ability to succeed in law school.

For applicants in the Indigenous Applicants category, the personal statement may draw on aspects of the applicant’s resumé, but should not repeat information that is included in the resumé.

The TRC Final Report and the MMIWG National Inquiry Report, as well as many previous reports, have documented the historic and ongoing colonialism and systemic racism Indigenous peoples face in Canada. If these realities have affected your life experience or your decision to pursue legal education, you are welcome to explain that in your Personal Statement, should you wish to do so.

The deadline to submit personal statements is February 1, 23:59:59 (Mountain Time). Applicants can upload a copy of their Personal Statement to the UAlberta Launchpad portal after their application has been submitted. 

An undergraduate degree, or at least the first two years (60 credits) of a program leading to a degree, at the University of Alberta or from a university recognized by the University of Alberta, completed prior to the September in which admission is sought. Consideration may be given to Indigenous Applicants with a minimum of one year (30 credits) leading to a degree, or equivalent, if they exhibit evidence of past achievements in non-academic areas indicative of an ability to succeed in law school.

All applicants who apply to the University of Alberta Faculty of Law are first assessed under the Regular admissions category. In order to help increase representation of Indigenous people in the legal profession, we offer another category for Indigenous admissions. If someone who declares Indigenous status is not eligible under the regular category, we do a secondary holistic assessment for Indigenous applicants, to look for additional strengths that demonstrate that they will be successful in law school. Admissions in this category are competitive and dependent on many factors.

The LSAT is administered through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). You can obtain information about the LSAT and register online at www.lsac.org.

Applicants must present an LSAT written within five years prior to the September in which admission is sought but no later than January of that year. LSAT scores are valid for 5 years.

The Faculty of Law will obtain applicants’ LSAT scores directly from the LSAC and you do not need to sign up for their Credit Assembly Service.

We are currently using the highest LSAT score for our admission purposes. The last acceptable LSAT writing date for September admission is January of the year in which admission is sought.

English is the primary language of instruction at the University of Alberta. All undergraduate applicants to English-speaking and bilingual programs need an adequate level of English Language Proficiency prior to admission, regardless of citizenship status or country of origin.

If you have completed at least three years of full-time education (or equivalent) in English, in Canada or another country where the primary language of instruction is English (excluding ESL), you will meet the ELP requirement automatically.

If you do not meet the English Language Proficiency Requirements automatically, there are several ways that you can demonstrate ELP explained in the link.

Documentation to verify status (such as a Band Membership or Métis Nation membership).

If your institution is only issuing electronic transcripts at this time, please arrange to have them sent to transcript@ualberta.ca

In order for your application to be considered complete, your final, official transcripts must be received by the university, along with any other required documents, by the document deadline.

Applicants who are done attending: Transcripts must be official and complete and indicate any degree(s) received.

Applicants who are still attending: If you are enrolled in post-secondary studies at the time of the application, please wait until your fall/ first term work is completed to send in your transcript(s).

Please arrange to have your transcript(s) sent to the Registrar's Office directly from the issuing institution to:

Administration Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2M7

Please submit a PDF version of your personal statement. The word limit for the personal statement is 1,000 words.

In reviewing applicants’ personal statements, the Admissions Committee is guided by the following objectives:

• Ensuring access to legal education for underrepresented groups, minorities and individuals who have faced extraordinary life circumstances;

• Ensuring a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds to enrich the student body; and

• Ensuring wide-ranging forms of excellence within the student body.

The personal statement should feature clear and authentic writing. Where appropriate, the statement should comment on the following considerations to assist the Committee in assessing the applicant’s candidacy and desire and ability to succeed in law:

• demonstrated aptitude based on personal and professional achievements and work experience;

• contributions to community;

• extraordinary personal challenges or the difficulty and quality of the pre law academic program;

• family, community, leadership or similar responsibilities;

• social, political, economic or other factors;

• exceptional circumstances that adversely affected particular grades or academic performance and/or LSAT score(s), but do not pose an ongoing issue in terms of the Applicant’s ability to succeed in law school.

For applicants in the Indigenous Applicants category, the personal statement may draw on aspects of the applicant’s resumé, but should not repeat information that is included in the resumé.

The TRC Final Report and the MMIWG National Inquiry Report, as well as many previous reports, have documented the historic and ongoing colonialism and systemic racism Indigenous peoples face in Canada. If these realities have affected your life experience or your decision to pursue legal education, you are welcome to explain that in your Personal Statement, should you wish to do so.

The deadline to submit personal statements is February 1, 23:59:59 (Mountain Time). Applicants can upload a copy of their Personal Statement to the UAlberta Launchpad portal after their application has been submitted. 

Two letters of reference.

A chronological resumé, including your educational background and work experience.

All JD students have a five-year period in which to complete their degree, with the first year usually done as full-time study.

However, there is a provision for first-year students to apply for part-time study.

Admission as a part time JD student for first year is limited to five per cent of places.

Requirements:

Applicants must have been already admitted through the normal admission process pertaining to full-time students (all application deadlines for regular or Indigenous applicants apply.)

Applicants must demonstrate in writing, to the satisfaction of the Admissions Committee, circumstances to justify admission to the part-time program, within one or more of the following categories:

1. Family obligations requiring care for dependents

2. Personal or family health problems

3. Physical or learning disability

4. Subject to space availability, circumstances such as employment commitments, financial hardship or other personal disadvantages not included in 1-3.

Applicants who are interested in part-time first-year studies must submit their written request to the admissions office before July1 in the year in which they wish to be considered.
All information and documentation pertaining to the relevant circumstances (e.g. personal statement, medical certificates, etc.) must accompany the applicant’s request, in order for it to be considered by the Admissions Committee. Successful candidates will be notified as soon as a decision has been made.

Please contact law.admissions@ualberta.ca for more details on this process.

Students who are attending another Canadian law school may apply as Transfer Students or Visiting/Letter of Permission students. The number admitted under this category varies from year to year.

Requirements

Assessment

In deciding which applicants to admit, the admissions committee will assess both the reasons the student wishes to attend the Faculty and the student's potential to succeed.

The University of Alberta Faculty of Law does NOT accept transfers from law programs outside of Canada. Any applicants currently attending law school in a foreign jurisdiction who wish to attend the Faculty must apply for entrance as a first-year regular applicant. If they are admitted, the vice-dean will review the law work completed by the applicant and determine what, if any, credit will be given. Students with a law degree from outside of Canada can refer to our Internationally Trained Lawyer Pathway.

Documentation

Transcripts

Electronic transcripts can be emailed to transcript@ualberta.ca.

Please arrange to have your transcript(s) sent to the Registrar's Office directly from the issuing institution to:

Administration Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2M7

Resumé

A chronological resumé, including your educational background and work experience.

Personal Statement

A personal statement explaining why you wish to transfer to the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

Letter of Reference

One academic letter of reference from a law professor.

Letter of Permission

A letter of permission from your dean/associate dean of law (does not apply to Transfer applicants).

All the documentation required for Transfer / Visiting students (resume and letters of reference, letters of permission but NOT transcripts), should be uploaded to the Launchpad portal.

Foreign lawyers or Canadians with a foreign law degree who wish to become members of a Canadian Law Society must apply to the National Committee on Accreditation for an evaluation of their legal credentials and experience. Please consider the Faculty’s Internationally Trained Lawyer Pathway.

If your university is an exchange partner of the University of Alberta, you can apply for a study abroad period at the International Office of your own university.

As an exchange student you pay tuition only to your home institution. You can choose from a wide selection of courses which are taught in English. The University of Alberta International provides guidance for exchange students.