Black Admission Stream

What is the Black Admission stream? 

In our commitment to diversity, equity, and social justice at UVic Law, we acknowledge that our admissions processes have inadequately responded to the systemic discrimination experienced by Black students, and the underrepresentation of Black students in Canadian law schools.

We have created a Black Admission Stream to respond to these historic and ongoing inequities within the UVic Law community, and the profession more broadly, by intentionally seeking to admit more Black students. Students who self-identify as Black may, but are not required to, apply through our Black Admission Stream and submit a Black Admission statement.

Am I eligible to apply under the Black Admission stream?

Self-identified Black applicants will only be considered within the admission stream and the program for which they submit an application. Black applicants applying through the Black admission stream may choose to submit two applications, one for the JD and one for the JD/JID. Each application is reviewed holistically, and conventional metrics, as well as broader strengths and life experiences are considered. Considerable weight is given to your personal and additional statement.

Applications in this stream will be reviewed by Black members of the Admissions Committee. All Admission Committee members have been trained to approach their reviews recognizing and applying anti-Racism, decolonization and unconscious bias, equity and inclusion practices.

As with all of our admission streams, there is no quota to fill these spaces in our first year class. All applications will undergo the same holistic review. In a typical year, we expect to receive far more applications than we have space to accommodate.

What does a complete Black Admission stream application include?

Your application for the Black Admission stream will consist of several components. Please carefully review the following list of materials, and the associated commentary that follows.

All applicants to UVic Law must submit:

  1. Submission of the online application form;
  2. Payment of the application fee;
  3. Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score (written no later than the January test date of the year that you intend to start law school);
  4. Submit a Personal statement including both Part A and B, Part A not exceeding 750 words;
  5. One copy of a transcript for all post-secondary studies including exchange and study abroad transcripts; and
  6. Completed Law Admissions Equity & Diversity Survey.

Additionally, applicants to the Black Admisison Stream must include:

  1. Submit a Black Admission statement.

You may also be required to submit:

  1. TOEFL results, if your first language is not English, and you have not completed a minimum of three full academic years of post-secondary study that was taught and assessed in English.
  2. Applicants with foreign undergraduate transcripts should include an evaluation by a foreign credential evaluation service (course-by-course evaluation), such as the World Education Service (WES). This does not apply to exchange transcripts or Graduate transcripts.

The necessary materials must be included and uploaded with your application to UVic Law by the published admission deadline date. An incomplete application will not be considered.

Black Admission statement

The Black admission statement may address any number of factors.  There is no template to follow to express and describe yourself, and you are encouraged to bring your own voice and experience to this statement.  You may, for example, write about your connection to, interest in, and/or identification with Black community, your strengths, your achievements, the goals, aspirations and motivations that bring you to apply to law school, your reasons for applying in the Black admission category, and/ or further and greater detail about any other aspect of your application or experience that you wish to include.  

All information collected for the purposes of admission to the UVic Faculty of Law will be kept confidential. Your information may be shared with the Law Admissions staff and the Admissions subcommittee reviewing your file. If an offer of admission is extended and you accept, your admission file, in its entirety, will be forwarded to the Faculty of Law Academic and Student Relations Office.  Your admission file may be accessed by authorized staff, administrators, and members of the Admissions Committee for the purpose of carrying out their duties relating to your academic status and to provide educational and related services including assessment for awards and applying Faculty of Law and University of Victoria policies regarding academic integrity, accommodation and academic concessions. 

With this in mind, please redact sensitive identifying information. Should you have any questions about confidentiality or sensitive information, feel free to email the Admissions Officer at lawadmss@uvic.ca.

When is the application deadline?

The deadline for all first-year applications is December 1 (4 p.m. PST). All applications submitted must be complete and include all required documentation by this deadline.

The UVic Law Admissions Committee will review the pathway and the process after the first year of implementation and solicit feedback from Black applicants and members of the Admissions sub-committee that reviewed these applications.