All applicants are required to submit a personal statement of no more than 750 words for the Regular category (up to three pages for all other categories). Personal statements must include the applicant’s name and date of birth on each page. Personal statements may be used to assess admissibility and will be used in conjunction with academic performance and LSAT score to evaluate candidates for entrance scholarships.
Generally, the purpose of the personal statement is to provide the Admissions Committee with any information an applicant considers relevant to the consideration of her or his application. The Admissions Committee would like to see several kinds of information from you in order to make its decision. First, if your academic performance in some limited period was affected by a short-term medical condition or other circumstances, information about this should be provided, along with supporting documentation. Second, a personal statement should also highlight those aspects of your personal history that enhance your application. For example, a personal statement should set out the relevant information about: academically related extra-curricular activities, community involvement, work (both paid and volunteer) experience, parental or caregiver responsibilities, and relevant personal characteristics and attributes. And lastly, the Admissions Committee is particularly interested in you telling us why you want to study law, what makes you well-suited to the study of law (e.g., the particular skills, interests and/or experiences you have), and what contributions you think you would make to the UBC Faculty of Law.
Beginning this year, personal statements must be submitted electronically through this form. You will not be able to proceed with this application until you have submitted a personal statement. Please have your personal statement ready in pdf, doc or docx format (2 MB max) and click the link below when you are ready.
