Graduate Guide
Congratulations on your admission to UofT Law!
As we ourselves know that coming to the grad program can be not only exciting but also stressful, especially for those of us who are not yet Torontonians, the Graduate Law Students’ Association has made this short guide. The guide includes tips that will help you get rid of some of your worries, and also suggestions that can ease your way into the program and Toronto. Whether you are doing a LLM. or a SJD, international student or a local – you can find something in this guide that can be good for you! The guide is based on current students’ personal experience and opinions.
ACORN : is University of Toronto’s student information service, and a hub for everything you need to manage your student life.
UTLC : U of T Law Careers ("UTLC"): the Faculty’s career management platform. It offers extensive career information, tools, and resources, including: licensing information, job postings, guides on a vast range of topics, workshop and event access, interview database, career advising appointments, recordings, and much more.
UTGSU: The University of Toronto Graduate Students Union engages you through community building events and campaigns, organized by the various Committees and Caucuses. They also offer you a variety of services, such as: health and dental insurance, confidential advice, various grants and bursaries, and access to the gym space.
Quercus : is all things academic related to your course of study. The tools in your Quercus Academic Toolbox can assist in keeping your course content organized and easy for your students to find.
CLNX : Career & Co-Curricular Learning Network is a tri-campus community that brings connects University of Toronto students and recent graduates with career opportunities, campus events and services.
Student Clubs : Extra-curricular activities are an important component of the overall law school experience. The Faculty of Law offers a diverse array of opportunities to engage in the law school community, including student-led clubs and initiatives clubs focusing on areas of law, sports, arts, personal identity, etc.
Residence Accomodation : StarRez is the University of Toronto's residence application and information system.
University Family Housing : offers apartments for students with families and new faculty members in the heart of the city.
Housing
● The housing market has become too competitive and finding a place close to campus has become really hard. Its highly recommended to start your search early on. Find people on social network who are also looking to rent as that gives you extra bargaining power.
● If you are eligible for student family housing in UofT check it out. It’s close, cheap, and in kept in good condition. It is for students living with a partner or with one or more children.
● Good sites to look for places include: FacebookMarketplace, StudentLife, Kijiji, Craigslist, and Padmapper (aggregates listings from multiple listings)
● Massey College is a stimulating interdisciplinary community that offers housing as well as social, academic, and networking activities.
Scholarships, funding, and tuition
● The Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) is a financial aid program for Canadian Citizens/Permanent Residents living in Ontario that can help you pay for college or university. OSAP offers funding through:
grants: money you don’t have to pay back
a student loan: money you need to repay once you’re done school
● Try to apply Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) as early as possible, even if you have not been admitted yet. Yes, international students are eligible for it!
● English Language and WritingCentre hold free consultation sessions that can help with submissions for funding.
● SJDs – you will be required to apply for scholarships, and some of the deadlines will be as early as September or October. It is a good idea to start working on your application to ○ Vanier: ○ Trudeau : ○ SSHRC scholarship early on.
● Check out these websites for more info on scholarships and fellowships
Course Selection
● Intensive workshops: you can only take one per semester.
● LL.M. candidates are eligible to select most courses at UofT Law, but there are some courses not open to LL.M. candidates.
● LL.M. candidates may audit one course during their study, so choose wisely. For SJDs it is one per year.
● For LL.M. candidates wishing to use LL.M. courses to satisfy their NCA requirements in order to practice in Ontario, they may plan to choose Canadian Administrative Law and Business Organizations to satisfy the core NCA requirements. For other electives should you be assigned to complete, please consult with the NCA.
● When choosing your courses, look at how you will be evaluated for each course and consider whether the overall workload is manageable. For example, if you choose 4 classes that are all assessed by a research paper this will be extremely busy at the end of the term. (Note, generally “final paper” means that you don’t have to do any or much external research but “research paper” is a paper based on your own original research, which generally takes more time).
● Many classes require you to write a series of “comments” or other short written assignments during the term as well as a final paper or exam - again if you have a lot of classes all requiring a lot of these assignments this will be a heavy workload. If in doubt the grad program staff can advise whether you are taking on too much.
● You can apply for an “alternative form of evaluation”, e.g. one long paper instead of a series of seminar responses. Or, you can do take-home instead of 2- or 3-hours in-class exam. Do take advantage of it. Subject to faculty approval.
● English Language and Writing Centre holds free consultation sessions that can help with any writings - from papers, through thesis to abstracts for conferences and grant applications
● The LLM program gets busy, if you are required to do presentations or short papers for classes during the term and you can choose when to do it, try not to leave it until the end of the term. This will make the end of term less stressful and allow you to focus on final exams or papers.
Favourite Places around UofT
● Best Shwarama/ finger foods - Zaad, Pita Way
● Best coffee shop for studying on Queen West: RSquare
● Trinity Bellwoods park
● Hyatt rooftop bar
● Distillery District - cool shops, bars and restaurants
● Hanlan’s Point - nude beach
● Don Valley - amazing park
● Church Street - gay village
● Crews and Tangos - gay bar with drag shows every night
● Graffiti Alley - amazing murals
● Kensington market - an all around cool market
● The Art Gallery of Ontario is free Wednesday nights
● The Royal Ontario Museum is right next to the law faculty and has student rate memberships
● Explore the U of T campus! Trinity College, University College and Hart House all have beautiful courtyards and/or gardens. There is also a lot going on other than academics, for example musical performances and art shows. The colleges also have dinning halls, in which you can have lunch even if you are not a member of the college.
● 5 buck lunch – every now and then Hart House offers a two-course $5 lunch. Keep an eye out.
● El furniture warehouse/ Queen st. Warehouse – pub/restaurant in which all food is $5 and pretty delicious. Only downside, there’s a line and it is pretty noisy.
● Also, there is this blog about free stuff in or around the campus:
Favourite Libraries
Bora Laskin
Graham Library
Gerstein Library
The Music Faculty library is right next to the law faculty and has an extensive collection of discs and scores.
Driving
In case your driving license is not issued in English bring an international driving license which can let you drive for around 1 year in Ontario.
Although Parking is too expensive but you can use municipal parking via GreenP to located and pay for your parking.
Driving permits change from province to province.
Don't forget to get your driving record extract if you are experienced driver. This will help you to get full G license right after G1. You will need to provide the driving extract at the time you take the G1 test.
Transportation
Monthly metro pass is $143 for students, to use the student pass you need to have a TTC student ID card which costs ~$7 (you can’t use your U of T student ID). You can buy the ID card at TTC stations or there are sessions on campus on specific dates where you can get it. There are sometimes checks on the TTC and if you are found without the right ID you can be fined.
If you're close by, biking might be the best form of transportation, you can get bikeshare Toronto city bikes for $99 per year.
You can also look for e scooters as they are becoming quite popular.