Now that I have completed my foreign legal education I feel it pertinent to bestow some words of advice upon those who are seeking to do the same. I'm also going to do another comparison of Canada vs UK. and this time the topics are more annoying than not having buttered popcorn.
Education (with a rambling back story...)
Most people who know me well, know that when I started university becoming a lawyer was not remotely in my sights. I thought I wanted to be a doctor, hence why I started a BScH in Biology*. But after a much 'party hardy' first year at Queen's University, my lowly 70 something average, was never going to get my ass in to med school. So I looked in different directions. First, Pharmacy, then Occupational therapy then finally... Law! The first time law was even put on my radar was actually by a pharmacist. I was working as a pharmacy technician during my pharmacy phase, and one of the pharmacist, who was rather apathetic towards his career choice actually said to me, "don't become a pharmacist, become a patent lawyer, that's where the money is."I laughed it off at the time, but would actually like to tell him some day how that off-the-cuff statement has stuck with me. Not that money is everything, but oh my google law is far more interesting than pharmacology (in my personal opinion). I can't actually remember when I was spurred on to law exactly, but a large reason is my good friend's mother who is an awesome lady and a lawyer. Once I decided this though it was too late for me to get a minor in politics or anything that might really help prepare me for law, but I took as many arts courses as I could and got a second undergrad just to help boost my average. But alas, I wasn't able to drag my average up high enough to get considered for an Ontario law school without an exceptional LSAT (law school application test). I wrote that twice and despite a pretty good result, I then learned about Buckingham Uni I decided not to apply to Ontario schools as it costs a pretty penny and even if I had a hope in heck of getting in I wouldn't be starting until Sept 2011. Applying to Bucks was free and I got my response within 2 weeks. Therefore in April 2010 I knew I'd be starting Law School in Jan 2011 AND it would only take me 2 years (as we went straight through the summers). Plus as everyone can see from previous posts, there were massive opportunities for travel, which I fully took advantage of (didn't write about my trip to Spain in Sept 2012 oops). All the great stuff aside there are major drawbacks to being educated abroad. The cost is very high, not tuition particularly as it was about $50000 for two years, which is on par with Ontario schools, but the living costs are certainly more than expected. Buckingham is a small town with a population of about 10,000 and the rent is on par with a city like Ottawa. Then there's the other costs... I may have gotten out of the application costs for Ontario schools but am getting slapped with test fees for the equivalency exams I have to take when I get back. I will have to take a minimum of 5 tests, and they are around $350 each, plus the $450 just to apply to the accreditation board. All this was expected I might add, so I'm not complaining (well maybe a little as I'm fresh out of school and broke as a joke). I am going to be applying soon and should be writing the exams in October or January.
Overall I am satisfied with my experience as I truly don't think I would have gotten in to a Canadian school without work experience and a killer LSAT since I drank my way through my first undergrad. Oh well, live and learn, but I will give a warning to anyone considering the same. A lot of Canadians are starting to follow suit so in the years to come I image that the Law Society will be more strict on foreign lawyers and make this route more difficult than it already is. I also think this may potentially unfairly prejudice actual foreign lawyers who are simply looking to move to Canada as it is a better place to live, and just aren't lazy people who didn't get good enough grades (like myself), or don't even want to bother with an undergrad, at all. In addition this may flood our legal system with more people unable to get Articling positions, and stuck in limbo with massive student debt. I am fully aware of how hypocritical this warning may be, and that's probably why thus far I've only accumulated undergrad degrees, but think it's worth keeping in mind.
I haven't yet started on the job hunt back home, but this is another thing that I foresee being a downfall of being educated abroad. If I went to Oxford or Cambridge, an internationally recognized school this would be of no concern, but I went to a small private university that is well respected here, but that means next to nil across the pond. If you're taking this route, be sure to have some connections in the legal (or whatever) field as it's going to be tough to get a job applying cold. I don't have any connections directly in the areas I wish to pursue, so we'll see how things work out. Strangely I'm not worried, but that's just me. So to wrap up this barrage of personal anecdotes, all in all, if you think you can get in to a Canadian school, do that. As much as I love my experience abroad, do it in your undergrad, not your professional qualification. I'm of course only speaking about law, I know nothing about any other educational areas.
Ohhh England how you frustrate me...
After living in England for two years I can say with authority this country can frustrate me in ways I've never experienced back home. I'll try and keep this to two specific areas, driving and renting.
When you get to the UK you can drive on a foreign license for 1 year then you either have to take a test or if you come from a 'cooperating state' you can exchange your foreign license for a UK driver's license. So I did this after my year, but unless you take a road test you get some restrictions on your license. The main one of annoyance being that you can only drive automatic vehicles. I personally much prefer driving manual cars, and it is much easier to find a rental car that is manual. That's totally manageable and my brilliant mother bought us an automatic, so no issue there. But having access to said car has put me in contact with the UK Highway Code. First issue, SPEED CAMERAS. Fuck that fucking shit. And they snap your pic if you're going only 10% over the posted speed limit!! Soooo needless to say I have some points on my license. Another frustrating thing that we came to realize as a result of these speed cameras, is that their car insurance is retarded. I went home to Canada for the holidays and my mom called her car insurance and they said 'no problem your daughter (in fact anyone) can drive your car as a visiter as long as she has your permission." That is not the case here at all. Even if you have insurance on your car, and your friend has insurance on their's, there is no guarantee you can drive their car or vice versa. That lead me to taking the fall for a speed camera ticket as a friend of mine was driving my car and turns out she wasn't covered under my insurance, and had I said it was her, she would get slapped with a 1000 pound fine. That sucked because then subsequently I got another speed camera ticket. FML.
Now to the stupidest thing, by far, about England... Letting agents. In December, as I had finished school, I was moving out of our rental house in Buckingham. This is when I came to truly HATE letting agents. Letting agents act as a go-between for landlords and tenants. They make a landlords life really effing easy. All they have to do is surrender about 10% of the rent and they don't have to deal with annoying tenants. But they make life for tenants expensive as all hell. First, there are admin fees when signing the lease. Fair enough. But then there's house inspections, every quarter. For which they barge in and take pictures of YOUR premises and make you feel like you're doing things wrong (they do give you notice, but I was considering refusing entry based on my legal rights as this is ridiculous). But if you have something wrong, then they have to get approval from the landlord to get things fixed, which takes time... When you want to leave you are charged check out fees, and try, just TRY to get all your deposit back. HA! They charge you for everything. They expect some 'minor wear and tear' but believe me that means it should be pretty much in the exact same condition it was when you got the house. I cleaned the absolute shit out of my house and still got charge 185 pounds for cleaning, and another 140 for gardening. To top it all off, they charged me 75 pounds for disputing something on the check out!! I'm sorry I didn't want to pay to have the grass cut in DECEMBER since it didn't need to be cut when I left! Bullshit. Letting agents are a completely superfluous business venture, yet they are EVERYWHERE in the UK. Get off your asses landlords! For shit sakes you're making tenants miserable. Letting agents literally make their money by charging tenants for things that are completely unnecessary. It's thievery! Wow that was a lot of exclamation points, I apologize.
Thankfully I will (hopefully) never again be dealing with these scum of the real estate industry.
Well now it's time to actually give up my professional student days and jump in to the working world... Well maybe not quite yet. I'm sticking around in the UK for a few extra months to be with my toy boy and I'll find work wherever I can, and taking a trip to Australia for four weeks next month. Sorry this was such a long post, I'll write another after my Aus trip. I may even keep this up as I wade in to the working world.
Keep on keeping on y'all!
A.J.
xx
*Something I just want to add to that, I had TERRIBLE advice from my high school guidance counselor. When applying to Queen's there was the option of applying to Life Sciences which is what nearly everyone who wants to go to med school does, and when deciding between the options, my counselor told me it didn't really matter which one you apply to, you can change easily when you're there. That is just a bold faced lie. LifeSci is more difficult to get in to, and trying to change programs when you've already started is a pain in the ass, I would have had to wait to the end of first year and hope someone dropped out. Not that any of this is of particular importance now that I'm pursuing law, but had I applied to LifeSci and gotten in, things would have turned out much differently I imagine...
Education (with a rambling back story...)
Most people who know me well, know that when I started university becoming a lawyer was not remotely in my sights. I thought I wanted to be a doctor, hence why I started a BScH in Biology*. But after a much 'party hardy' first year at Queen's University, my lowly 70 something average, was never going to get my ass in to med school. So I looked in different directions. First, Pharmacy, then Occupational therapy then finally... Law! The first time law was even put on my radar was actually by a pharmacist. I was working as a pharmacy technician during my pharmacy phase, and one of the pharmacist, who was rather apathetic towards his career choice actually said to me, "don't become a pharmacist, become a patent lawyer, that's where the money is."I laughed it off at the time, but would actually like to tell him some day how that off-the-cuff statement has stuck with me. Not that money is everything, but oh my google law is far more interesting than pharmacology (in my personal opinion). I can't actually remember when I was spurred on to law exactly, but a large reason is my good friend's mother who is an awesome lady and a lawyer. Once I decided this though it was too late for me to get a minor in politics or anything that might really help prepare me for law, but I took as many arts courses as I could and got a second undergrad just to help boost my average. But alas, I wasn't able to drag my average up high enough to get considered for an Ontario law school without an exceptional LSAT (law school application test). I wrote that twice and despite a pretty good result, I then learned about Buckingham Uni I decided not to apply to Ontario schools as it costs a pretty penny and even if I had a hope in heck of getting in I wouldn't be starting until Sept 2011. Applying to Bucks was free and I got my response within 2 weeks. Therefore in April 2010 I knew I'd be starting Law School in Jan 2011 AND it would only take me 2 years (as we went straight through the summers). Plus as everyone can see from previous posts, there were massive opportunities for travel, which I fully took advantage of (didn't write about my trip to Spain in Sept 2012 oops). All the great stuff aside there are major drawbacks to being educated abroad. The cost is very high, not tuition particularly as it was about $50000 for two years, which is on par with Ontario schools, but the living costs are certainly more than expected. Buckingham is a small town with a population of about 10,000 and the rent is on par with a city like Ottawa. Then there's the other costs... I may have gotten out of the application costs for Ontario schools but am getting slapped with test fees for the equivalency exams I have to take when I get back. I will have to take a minimum of 5 tests, and they are around $350 each, plus the $450 just to apply to the accreditation board. All this was expected I might add, so I'm not complaining (well maybe a little as I'm fresh out of school and broke as a joke). I am going to be applying soon and should be writing the exams in October or January.
Overall I am satisfied with my experience as I truly don't think I would have gotten in to a Canadian school without work experience and a killer LSAT since I drank my way through my first undergrad. Oh well, live and learn, but I will give a warning to anyone considering the same. A lot of Canadians are starting to follow suit so in the years to come I image that the Law Society will be more strict on foreign lawyers and make this route more difficult than it already is. I also think this may potentially unfairly prejudice actual foreign lawyers who are simply looking to move to Canada as it is a better place to live, and just aren't lazy people who didn't get good enough grades (like myself), or don't even want to bother with an undergrad, at all. In addition this may flood our legal system with more people unable to get Articling positions, and stuck in limbo with massive student debt. I am fully aware of how hypocritical this warning may be, and that's probably why thus far I've only accumulated undergrad degrees, but think it's worth keeping in mind.
I haven't yet started on the job hunt back home, but this is another thing that I foresee being a downfall of being educated abroad. If I went to Oxford or Cambridge, an internationally recognized school this would be of no concern, but I went to a small private university that is well respected here, but that means next to nil across the pond. If you're taking this route, be sure to have some connections in the legal (or whatever) field as it's going to be tough to get a job applying cold. I don't have any connections directly in the areas I wish to pursue, so we'll see how things work out. Strangely I'm not worried, but that's just me. So to wrap up this barrage of personal anecdotes, all in all, if you think you can get in to a Canadian school, do that. As much as I love my experience abroad, do it in your undergrad, not your professional qualification. I'm of course only speaking about law, I know nothing about any other educational areas.
Ohhh England how you frustrate me...
After living in England for two years I can say with authority this country can frustrate me in ways I've never experienced back home. I'll try and keep this to two specific areas, driving and renting.
When you get to the UK you can drive on a foreign license for 1 year then you either have to take a test or if you come from a 'cooperating state' you can exchange your foreign license for a UK driver's license. So I did this after my year, but unless you take a road test you get some restrictions on your license. The main one of annoyance being that you can only drive automatic vehicles. I personally much prefer driving manual cars, and it is much easier to find a rental car that is manual. That's totally manageable and my brilliant mother bought us an automatic, so no issue there. But having access to said car has put me in contact with the UK Highway Code. First issue, SPEED CAMERAS. Fuck that fucking shit. And they snap your pic if you're going only 10% over the posted speed limit!! Soooo needless to say I have some points on my license. Another frustrating thing that we came to realize as a result of these speed cameras, is that their car insurance is retarded. I went home to Canada for the holidays and my mom called her car insurance and they said 'no problem your daughter (in fact anyone) can drive your car as a visiter as long as she has your permission." That is not the case here at all. Even if you have insurance on your car, and your friend has insurance on their's, there is no guarantee you can drive their car or vice versa. That lead me to taking the fall for a speed camera ticket as a friend of mine was driving my car and turns out she wasn't covered under my insurance, and had I said it was her, she would get slapped with a 1000 pound fine. That sucked because then subsequently I got another speed camera ticket. FML.
Now to the stupidest thing, by far, about England... Letting agents. In December, as I had finished school, I was moving out of our rental house in Buckingham. This is when I came to truly HATE letting agents. Letting agents act as a go-between for landlords and tenants. They make a landlords life really effing easy. All they have to do is surrender about 10% of the rent and they don't have to deal with annoying tenants. But they make life for tenants expensive as all hell. First, there are admin fees when signing the lease. Fair enough. But then there's house inspections, every quarter. For which they barge in and take pictures of YOUR premises and make you feel like you're doing things wrong (they do give you notice, but I was considering refusing entry based on my legal rights as this is ridiculous). But if you have something wrong, then they have to get approval from the landlord to get things fixed, which takes time... When you want to leave you are charged check out fees, and try, just TRY to get all your deposit back. HA! They charge you for everything. They expect some 'minor wear and tear' but believe me that means it should be pretty much in the exact same condition it was when you got the house. I cleaned the absolute shit out of my house and still got charge 185 pounds for cleaning, and another 140 for gardening. To top it all off, they charged me 75 pounds for disputing something on the check out!! I'm sorry I didn't want to pay to have the grass cut in DECEMBER since it didn't need to be cut when I left! Bullshit. Letting agents are a completely superfluous business venture, yet they are EVERYWHERE in the UK. Get off your asses landlords! For shit sakes you're making tenants miserable. Letting agents literally make their money by charging tenants for things that are completely unnecessary. It's thievery! Wow that was a lot of exclamation points, I apologize.
Thankfully I will (hopefully) never again be dealing with these scum of the real estate industry.
Well now it's time to actually give up my professional student days and jump in to the working world... Well maybe not quite yet. I'm sticking around in the UK for a few extra months to be with my toy boy and I'll find work wherever I can, and taking a trip to Australia for four weeks next month. Sorry this was such a long post, I'll write another after my Aus trip. I may even keep this up as I wade in to the working world.
Keep on keeping on y'all!
A.J.
xx
*Something I just want to add to that, I had TERRIBLE advice from my high school guidance counselor. When applying to Queen's there was the option of applying to Life Sciences which is what nearly everyone who wants to go to med school does, and when deciding between the options, my counselor told me it didn't really matter which one you apply to, you can change easily when you're there. That is just a bold faced lie. LifeSci is more difficult to get in to, and trying to change programs when you've already started is a pain in the ass, I would have had to wait to the end of first year and hope someone dropped out. Not that any of this is of particular importance now that I'm pursuing law, but had I applied to LifeSci and gotten in, things would have turned out much differently I imagine...
No comments:
Post a Comment