One of the questions we get the most often is whether applicants who are applying for a second (or third, etc.) time to UVic Law can just reuse their last submission. In short, you *can.* You can reuse your last submission in the same way you can eat day-old onion rings out of your fridge. You can absolutely do it, but it likely won’t get you the result you wanted. That strategy won’t give you the best chance of getting into UVic Law on subsequent tries.
Why is this? It isn’t that we want to make you work any harder or jump through more hoops. Let’s take a look at those onion rings. The onion rings were good when they were fresh. But the next day, time has passed, and they aren’t fresh anymore. However, we all know you can put them in the air fryer to give them a refresh, and they will maybe even taste better than they did the first time they were served. It’s a ridiculous analogy, but it applies. At least a year has passed since you last wrote your Personal Statement (or other statements). You have had at least a year of life experiences and changes in worldview/perspectives. Please, at the very least, refresh your statements. Add the things you have done in the last year (or more). What has changed? How have you grown? What have you learned?
It may be that not much has changed over the past year. That happens. But you are applying to a professional degree program. We do expect you to take that seriously. We expect you to put some work into your application. We expect you to review your application and see if it really was your best work. Applicants who are not willing to do that are really showing us that they don’t want to be at UVic Law, that applying is an afterthought or back-up plan, rather than what they want to do.
However, there is one more thing to consider when reapplying. This one involves a little bit lot of hard truth. Have you asked yourself why you didn’t get an offer to UVic Law the last time you applied? Have you asked us why you didn’t get an offer the last time you applied? Resubmitting the same application time after time assumes that the problem is a too-competitive field in a given year. It assumes the problem is with us and our process and takes no accountability for what you might do to strengthen your application.
The reality is that our application field is likely to be as competitive (or moreso) year after year. The flaws that might have been in your application will not go away by resubmitting the same application year after year. It’s a good idea to ask yourself what you can do to make your application stronger, what is within your control to better. Where is your weak point? Can/should you retake the LSAT for a better score? Were your grades strong enough and is it feasible to upgrade?
For many applicants, the issue isn’t with grades or LSAT score, particularly if they apply under any of our admission streams other than our General Admission Stream. The issue is with their Personal Statement (Part A and/or B), Inclusive Statement, Statement of Connection to Community, Black Admission Statement, or references. Keep in mind that we are asking a lot from our applicants when we ask them to talk about who they are. We are not asking for resume-surface-level-canned-response answers you would give to a generic company in an interview. We are asking you to ask yourself who you really are, why you really want to study law, and why you want to really study law at UVic. We are asking where you come from, where you see yourself going, what your passions are, and what has inspired you. We ask you to position and identify yourself. A lot of applicants who don’t get offers simply don’t do those things when they write. Ask yourself whether you have done those things and whether you can do them better before you reapply.