No, this isn’t an ode to Tofino, though I could write one. Honestly, the vibes are good. It’s a great place for a weekend getaway from Victoria for surfing, camping, looking for whale spouts, storm watching, or eating tacos from a food truck. There are even a couple of cool galleries in town.
Sorry – we were talking about admission waves, and I got distracted.
UVic Law utilizes what we call admission waves. That is, we send out offers to applicants in “waves,” or groups, at a time. This allows the Admissions Team to send out offers to applicants as we review them, rather than holding them all to one point in time. Starting mid-November, we send out a handful (up to 50) of offers most weeks. This allows offerees more time to plan and us more flexibility.
Generally, the admissions team and committee reviews applications as they are received, and they are only considered received when they are complete. This means that if you waited until January to write your first LSAT, your application doesn’t get into the queue until we have your score. While this is not necessarily a fatal decision, it does realistically put you a bit further down the list. Conversely, if you completed your application at the beginning of the intake cycle (September 1), rather than at the end (December 1), your application would be reviewed much sooner.
Offers are generally made to more applicants than the class size, knowing that there are a certain number of applicants who will not accept their offers. However, the Admissions Committee reserves and protects space for later applicants. This also helps protect spaces for applicants in all of the admission streams other than General.
All applicants who receive an offer of admission have a certain amount of time to accept. This generally means sending a photo and your official transcript (this may vary if you still have courses in progress), as well as paying the acceptance deposit fee. The deadline for all early offerees is generally March 31.
What happens after that first acceptance date?
Time will come and go for many of the early offerees who simply do not accept their offer to attend UVic Law. At that point, we will reassess how many spots we have left in the incoming class and make another wave of offers to people at the top of the waitlist (or presumptive offers if we haven’t reached the waitlist phase yet).
After the initial March 31 acceptance deadline, each wave of offerees will receive their own acceptance deadline. The next wave will generally have a few weeks to accept their offers, but these acceptance windows get shorter as the start of the school year nears.
What does it mean if I am waitlisted?
Applicants who are waitlisted will be notified of their waitlist status towards the end of spring. This will include which number they are on the waitlist. As time goes on, and we move down the waitlist, you will be updated with your new position.
That means that being waitlisted is NOT A NO!!! If you wind up waitlisted, you really, honestly, and truly do have a chance to receive an offer of admission. Some of these even come as late as a day or two before school starts, so it is really important that you decide for yourself how late you can accept an offer and still make it work.
Until you hear from us, cross your fingers. Good luck!