We hope that you’re as excited as we are that you’re coming to U of T Law in September. If this is your first time here, please register! Please note that the last day you can register is AUGUST 15.
Registration is now closed. See you all September 4!
A few radical and not-so-radical ways to save some money in law school:
Esther Lexchin is going into 2L.
Law school is demanding. Law is a rigorous program with a lot of material to absorb. On top of academic demands, law school offers opportunities to become involved in many extra-curricular activities, including volunteering at legal clinics, editing at journals, and taking part in clubs – activities that add positively to the law school experience, but which can add up to be overwhelming. Learning how to manage your time and prioritise activities can be difficult.
Plan
During first year, I often caught myself spending more time thinking about the enormous amount of work I had to do than actually doing the work. There are two lessons to be drawn from this. The first is to plan: make a list of your priorities and ensure that you appropriately allocate time to each activity. This helps you keep track of your tasks and to discover inefficiencies (when a task takes an hour longer than it should, you know that the Facebook/Slate/Redditbreaks are too frequent). The second lesson is that while it can be easy to find yourself caught up in the inertia of feeling stressed or having too much to do, oftentimes, you simply need to start working to start feeling motivated and get things done. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll finish.
Set Reasonable Expectations and Don’t Take On Too Much
One of the wonderful things about attending the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law is the engaged student body and the number of opportunities that are available to anyone who is interested. The deluge of e-mails and posts talking about new opportunities, however, can become overwhelming. You will want to join more activities than you can feasibly commit to.
How do you pick the “correct” activities and appropriately balance academic and extra-curricular demands? Start by being judicious about extra-curricular involvement. Sign up only for activities that you are truly interested in. Don’t do more than one journal – they will all provide you with very similar experiences. Don’t do more than one clinic – you will overwhelm yourself. Be clear and honest with yourself about exactly how much time you are willing to put into extracurricular and academic commitments, as well as how much time you will need to relax, so that you don’t burn out. Regardless of how worried you are about getting a job this early in you academic career, and regardless of how many events the CDO (Career Development Office) puts on, attend only those that you are genuinely interested in and think will provide genuine value.
It’s tempting to feel pressured into attending events when everyone else seems to be going to them, but only you know what will be useful for you. No amount of free pizza is worth the sinking feeling and the late nights that you’ll be forced into as a result of overcommitting. Have perspective about the very real demands of your work and extra-curricular activities. Set reasonable, achievable goals for your commitments, and start working on them now.
And Then Ignore Everyone Else
You don’t have to, and should not, ignore other students, but you should ignore the stress that accompanies the students at times and pervades the school. When you sense that the atmosphere in Bora is getting thick enough to cut with a knife (especially in December, March, and April), study elsewhere. Do your best to avoid the stress-induced herd mentality of the student body. Stop worrying about the grades that everyone else received. Getting stressed about doing well on exams or finding jobs is one of the most avoidable but also one of the most common experiences in law school. Remember that you are hurting your work as well as your mental health by getting caught up in panic.
Think of the Big Picture
Sometimes, things don’t work out. You won’t get 7 Honours. You may not even get a single Honours. You may get a Low Pass. You may have to drop some of your favourite activities. In the end, it will all work out. Keep in mind that you got into a highly competitive program with some of the most brilliant people of your age group in the country. Chiding yourself as an underachiever – which all of us have done at some point over the last year – is, frankly, ridiculous.
tl;dr: Don’t Panic
Don’t panic yourself into paralysis – when it seems to start to get overwhelming, take a deep breath, make a task list, and cross them off as you finish, because time you spent panicking could more usefully have been spent doing other things. Don’t panic because of stress or because other people are worried. Don’t panic because your plan for the year didn’t go as you wanted it to – everything will work out in the end. Best of luck this year – not that you’ll need it.
Bhuvana Sankar will be a 2L this coming September.
Hey, are you worried about what you’re going to do with all your free time in law school? Never fear, clubs are here! Check out the clubs under the “Good to know” tab – this isn’t even all the clubs at school, plus there are clinics and journals too. And be sure to come to the Clubs and Services Fair on Friday from 1:30-3:30 – you’ll never have to worry about free time again!
You’re going to be reading a lot about getting involved, making connections, friends, clubs, and so on for the next few weeks. That’s all fine and good, but anyone familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ™ will tell you that keeping yourself fed and healthy takes precedence. Hence, this guide to eating well and affordably near Flavelle (the primary law building).
Right off the bat, O-Week is going to be a dream. There’s going to be free food pretty much every day, and you won’t have to worry about making any actual decisions. Then for the next two weeks or so, clubs are going to be holding information sessions each day at lunch where they will serve pizza from one of Toronto’s oldest and most venerable institutions, Pizza Pizza. I don’t run any clubs, so I don’t know why Pizza Pizza is the only pizza they ever order from, but one night I was heading home after a long night in Bora (the law library), and saw Mayo Moran (the Dean), Albert Lin (the SLS President) and a high ranking Pizza Pizza executive furtively sneaking out the back of the building. Draw your own conclusions (I think they were planning a pizza party in my honor).
Back to business. At some point during that two weeks of free pizza bliss, Merril Randell (Academic Program Coordinator and Assistant to Assistant Dean of Students) is going to send out an email saying not to snipe free pizza from these meetings and then leave. You should treat this as a challenge.
Sometime after those two weeks you are going to start to wonder why you are hungry around lunchtime and what to do about it. Therefore, you should probably bookmark this post, and come back to it around then. The options around Flavelle are slim because it’s a commercial area, not really a neighborhood that lends itself to creative and affordable food. But you can do alright. Your best bet is probably to bring something from home, but for some reason you won’t do that.
Legend:
I’ll be breaking these down based on three criteria, each of which can earn a maximum of four stars.
Quality: Is the food good?
Value: How affordable is it?
Convenience: How close and fast is it?
Subway (at Bloor and Avenue): Nobody wants to go to Subway, but no one really doesn’t want to go to Subway. In a cruel twist of fate, Friday is tuna day. [Quality: *; Value: ***; Convenience: ***]
Wymilwood (across Avenue): This is a university-run cafeteria in the basement of a residence. You can get a sandwich for approximately $5.50, which is not really a good deal. But there are daily blue plate specials for about $4 for a small (which is enough for lunch) and $7 for a large. The large includes a side salad. The staff there can usually be talked into adding extras for free, like peppers from the sandwich bar. During winter you can use the subway entrance to cross the street so you barely have to go outside! [Quality: **; Value: ***; Convenience: ****]
Whole Foods (about three sizable blocks north on Avenue, in a mall): At some point someone is going to convince you that the customizable stir-fries here are a good deal because they are big enough for “two meals.” This is not true, but it is probably the best option for a decent meal without breaking the bank. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll be lucky to get out of here for under $10, but at least you’re not eating at Subway again. [Quality: ***; Value: *; Convenience: *]
The hotdog stand (corner of Bloor and Avenue): Tourists visiting the ROM love this stand. When things get really bad, you might also want to give it a chance. It’s only $3 and you can load as much hot peppers, kraut, and other junk on it as you want. [Quality: *; Value: ****; Convenience: ****]
McDonald’s (A few doors west of Subway): You know what McDonald’s is. Maybe you don’t know that you can get a small coffee and a (surprisingly decent) muffin for $1.29. Pro tip: sometimes Kent Roach (Crim professor) brings a small McD’s coffee to class and he gives mad respect to anyone who does the same. [Quality: *; Value: ****; Convenience: ***]
Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner (across Avenue, also accessible by the tunnel): This is the restaurant in the Gardiner Museum across the street from the law building. Just tell the ladies up front that you are going to the café so you won’t have to pay to see the exhibits. Jamie Kennedy is a local celebrity chef, but this place is run by one guy who does all the cooking, cleaning, bussing, and serving. It is really close, but the turn around is about 15 minutes. Try the chicken sandwich pressed with pesto or the salmon salad, which is actually shredded smoke salmon tossed with mayo and other herbs. Both come on house-baked bread with chips for $8. [Quality: ***; Value: ***; Convenience: **]
Hart House (across Hoskin, it’s the main student union building): There is a restaurant in the basement called Sammy’s Student Exchange. They have shawarma plates, wraps and salads for a little less than $10. There is also a blue plate special that is somehow always beef stew. Gun to my head, this would be my first choice out of the above, but it’s too pricey to be an everyday place. Any time spent contemplating the name is a waste of time. [Quality: ***; Value: **; Convenience: **]
Other options, which have not been vetted by me: B Café across Philosopher’s walk has some food, as well pretty good coffee. Ustav is an Indian restaurant in Yorkville with lunch specials under $10.
About the author (Jason Chin):
You’re not going to find my bio on the Lawgwarts website, but if you want to connect a face with a name, just browse over to the law homepage. That’s me with the pink v-neck and awkward hand gesture. And just for your comfort and familiarity, I’ll be wearing that shirt each day of O-Week. (In all seriousness, starting law school is a big transition. Feel free to drop me a line at Jason.chin@mail.utoronto.ca about food or anything that’s on your mind.)
Jason Chin is a 2L, and a pretty hoopy frood who knows where his towel’s at.
Before starting 1L, everyone told me not to worry about beginning law school. I’m sure everyone, certainly every upper year law student, has said the same to you, and I’m going to repeat that advice, but I think some worrying is inevitable. The summer before 1L, I didn’t know what to expect from law school, and as someone who likes to be prepared, I worried about a couple of things in particular.
My undergrad was not exactly traditional: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Theatre, with only one poli-sci class and nothing business to my name. I worried that my classmates would be better prepared for law school. Many of my classes in undergrad involved memorizing lines, analyzing a character and then acting as that character in a scene or a play. I couldn’t see how that prepared me for law school.
I also identify on the LGBTQ spectrum, and I worried about the change of community. I’d heard that U of T was a more conservative school, and I didn’t know what that would mean in terms of support for LGBTQ issues. My friends in theatre were incredibly liberal, and about 4 out of 5 of them identified as LGBTQ. I felt very comfortable with them, and didn’t know whether I would fit in at law school.
I was out to all my friends in undergrad, and in such a small program (only about 26 in my year), it was frankly very easy to do. When I came out, one of my friends spread his arms wide, and in a highly dramatic fashion, declared, “Welcome.” Everyone gossiped and knew everyone else’s business, so after initially coming out to a few, I essentially never had to come out again. It was so easy that since then I’ve been lazy about coming out. I do think it’s important for my close friends to know, but it gets kind of repetitive and sometimes feels like a chore. I wasn’t looking forward to coming out all over again.
Upon starting at U of T, I quickly learned that on both fronts I didn’t need to worry. Everyone comes to law school with different backgrounds, and I found that all the time I spent reading and analyzing plays actually prepared me very well for reading and distilling judgments. And I found an amazing group of friends, some LGBTQ, and all supportive. During my O-Week, I signed up for Out in Law’s mailing list, and already felt that there was a great community on campus. I was slow to come out, but it’s an ongoing process — one person at a time.
Of course, nothing is perfect. There are people at law school with a range of opinions on LGBTQ issues. Personally, I don’t mind hearing diverse opinions when debating legal issues, as long as the people expressing them are respectful and focussed on the law. Certainly class discussions have always been professional and courteous, with a vast majority of speakers supportive and inclusive. Overall, I’ve found an overwhelming amount of support — visible, warm and welcoming support. I haven’t had a negative experience yet. On the theatre side of things, I’ve also found a bit of an artistic community. Coffeehouses throughout the year gave law students the opportunity to showcase their talents, and if there’s one thing that I learned from 1L, it’s that law students are all incredibly talented, in so many ways.
A couple weeks ago, Brendan (my Out in Law co-president) and I organized a meet and greet for LGBTQ students and allies, for both incoming 1Ls and current students. The turnout was great, and I spent a fantastic evening getting to know new friends. I know I speak for Brendan and myself when I say we’re looking forward to doing whatever we can to make sure incoming students feel as welcome as we did. We’d like to encourage any 1Ls to visit our booth during O-Week, or email us at outinlaw.universityoftoronto@gmail.com if you’d like to chat. Best of luck, and I look forward to meeting the incoming class!
Lauren Binhammer is a 2L and Out in Law’s Co-President.
When I decided to come to UofT, I had no doubt in my mind that I would continue to live with my parents in the west end of Mississauga and commute into the downtown core. I did a ~50 minute commute to McMaster University in Hamilton for my entire undergraduate degree with little regret. I graduated debt free, made plenty of friends, and became a couch-surfing master.
But as September approached, I began to have my doubts. I realized that getting to Flavelle House would require taking both GO Transit and TTC, which would take upwards of an hour of time and ~$300 a month of transit fees. But I also wanted to stay with my parents, I knew nothing about finding an apartment or living on my own, and I didn’t want to take on an astronomical debt. To cover my bases, I sent in a late application to Grad House and just forgot about the issue for much of the summer.
I ended up moving to Grad House in early November of the school year and moving back home in the beginning of April. The decision to commute or live downtown is a complicated one and is dependent on a lot of factors such as how much commuting costs you, what conditions you are willing to live in, personal factors keeping you in your current city, etc…. And as someone who did both during the school year I thought it would be good to mention a few key points to know about both options.
As an obvious disclaimer, I should mention that what I’m going to say is based entirely on my experiences and mine alone. As such, my experiences downtown and commuting may not be similar to yours at all, so don’t take this blog as gospel. Now that I’ve attempted to rid myself of any and all liability, here are some things that I think people should know about commuting to UofT:
Commuting did not save me a noticeable amount of money
It would make sense to assume that living at home with a $0/month lease, and a $0/month grocery bill would be cheaper than living in downtown Toronto. But the way UofT’s financial aid system and OSAP work means this may not be true. As of now, the maximum debt OSAP allows you to take on a year is $7300. Any money they give you after that is a bursary. So when I moved out, my OSAP loan increased, because I had more financial need, but since I was already passed the $7300 mark, the extra “loan” given to me was actually a bursary. Likewise, my UofT bursary also increased, because that bursary is calculated based on my expenses and how much of those expenses are unmet. The combined total of my increase in UofT and OSAP bursary ended up covering most of the difference between the cost of living in Grad House and spending $300 a month commuting. The extra debt I took on from moving out was negligible.
As I mentioned before, this may not be the same experience for you. I am not a financial aid officer. I don’t know how much your commute costs, nor do I know what your lease will look like. All I am suggesting is that you speak to one of our fantastic financial aid officers about what your aid situation will look like if you choose to move downtown before you automatically assume it is not worth the money.
But if it turns out that it you can’t afford to move, or you have personal factors keeping you in your current city it’s key for you to know that…
The Commute is Definitely Do-Able
Law school is hard. But it’s not hard to the point that if you are spending an hour or so on a train twice a day, your marks will suffer. On the contrary, the hustle and bustle of catching a train in the morning meant that I was actually alert for the 9 am classes I had four times a week. The fact that I had to catch the train with my father or else end up stranded in Mississauga for the entire day also meant that I never slept in for class when I commuted. This was a stark contrast to when I moved into the downtown core, and I found myself sleeping in and missing far more classes than I should admit to on a public blog.
That being said, the commute definitely takes a physical toll over time. Waking up early and getting home late is never fun. You also feel like you are just wasting time if you spend two hours of your day sitting on a bus. So here are some tips to making the commute easier:
1. If you can, study on the bus
Reading on a noisy or bumpy train is hard. When the book is a law textbook that can be even harder. But I found that when I made manageable goals for how much to read on the train, I accomplished them quite often. Reading 10 pages of legalese is actually quite a feat. If you read 10 pages on the way to school and 10 pages on the way home, you can typically cover a lecture’s worth of readings on your commute.
2. If you can’t study on the bus, make your commute fun.
In the chaos of 1L, it’s often hard to remember to take some time for yourself and do things you enjoy like watch television or read *gasp* for fun. But if you really feel like you can’t study during your commute, you are essentially forced to devote 2 hours a day to downtime. So take a nap, read a novel, catch up on your favourite show, write, draw; do whatever it is that you love to do during your commute. Don’t see it as a waste. Don’t try and make it pass by doing a crossword (unless you really love crosswords). Value that time.
3. Make tupperware your best friend
With the amount of free food the law school gives out, tupperware is every student’s best friend, regardless of how close they live to the law school. But if you are commuting, bringing plastic tupps with food every morning is a necessity. Law school, particularly in second semester, can be filled with long days at the library. And if you decide to go home around dinnertime, you probably won’t have a lot of energy to cook or to study by the time you get home. Leaving the library to buy fast food to bring back to your study session is a long-term disaster for both your wallet and your waistline. So get used to packing 3 meals in the morning and heating them up throughout the day. Flavelle house has a kitchen with a fridge, microwave, kettle, and even dish soap and sponges to facilitate this need.
4. Don’t be afraid of napping in public
Yup. I’m saying it. To the entire internet. There is no shame in curling up on a couch during your lunch break and catching up on sleep. My favourite nap location is Emmanuel College, conveniently located right across the street from Flavelle House. But the couches on the 2nd floor of Bora Laskin Library can be transformed into nap-worthy beds as well.
5. Never let the commute stop you from doing something you want to do
There are a lot of activities held by the law school. And a lot of them happen at night. But don’t ever let the fact that you have to commute stop you from attending a social event or joining an extra curricular that you really want to do. If something ends after the last train/bus to your home leaves, there will always be someone who will gladly let you crash on their couch. Contrary to any rumours out there, UofT Law is a very collegiate atmosphere, and it is filled with people who want you to have the best law school experience you can have. So speak up if a meeting time doesn’t work for you, or if you need a place to stay, and your peers will accommodate. Commuting is only a barrier if you let it be one.
Katherine Georgious is a 2L who thinks Mississauga is the greatest city in Canada purely because of its shawarma selection.
Petrificus Totalus: Getting Ready for Law School
Beginning law school is going to be one of the most exciting times of your life. However, it is completely natural that this significant step in your educational path might leave you with some questions about what to expect. I’m going to unabashedly appropriate the theme of one of the finest blog articles of last year’s Orientation Week blog (many thanks to Cary Ferguson, one of last year’s co-Chairs) and share some things I wish I had known last September that might make your transition to legal life just a little more seamless.
The notion of spending three years in the trenches of torts, tax and trusts amidst almost two hundred people you’ve never met before may understandably appear a little daunting. However, I think that with the benefit of hindsight, most of us would say that being hastily immersed in a diverse crowd of friendly, talented people with a vast array of different backgrounds was one of the most rewarding social experiences we’ve ever had. One year later, I would count many of the people I met that first week among my best friends.
You will inevitably make many friends at the beginning of law school. Law school activities, study groups and the narrow corridors of Flavelle House create ample – even unavoidable – opportunities to meet other 1Ls. However, the importance of using O-Week events as a venue for those first introductions cannot be sufficiently stressed. This week of events presents a unique window when everyone is equally busy learning names, exchanging awkward handshakes and trading anecdotes. Often a single night at Orientation Week will allow you to foster more first connections than a month of classes and late night encounters at the library. Lower your guard and introduce yourself to your new colleagues. If you know someone else, resist the urge to stick together all week and integrate as much as possible with new crowds. If you live elsewhere and need to stay in the city for a night or two, solicit a couch on one of our Facebook groups. Take advantage of this period of informal icebreakers and come out to the plethora of awesome functions the O-Week team has spent the summer putting together.
Missing an event is far from fatal. We know many of you will be coping with moving, commutes and other obligations. Orientation Week can also be stressful in itself; four days of early mornings and late nights will exhaust even the most resilient overachiever. But we all can’t wait to meet you, and joining the festivities will make it that much easier to get involved.
I know the agenda for the week has not yet been published. However, here is a list of sessions I guarantee will not be on the Orientation Week schedule:
I know this probably does not need to be said, but I also know that some people came with serious anxieties last year about whether the school had truly earned the hyperbolized reputation often perpetuated on internet forums (believe me, we’ve all seen the threads). Many people were nervous that even the very first day would be rife with competitive tension. Just to put any residual fears to rest, I have found my colleagues to be nothing but warm and collegial. The academic atmosphere fuels an environment of collaboration, not competition. Forget the rumours and come with an open mind.
I made the unfortunate mistake of spending very little time at our ClubsFest last year. But the time allocated on Friday is your best opportunity to meet with experienced executives of various law clubs and societies, ask questions about their activities and get your name onto their mailing lists. Most of the activities I ended up involved with over the course of the year were those I sought out and signed up for during the first week; I also found that contacting clubs after that first week took a bit more investigative effort. Whether you are into mooting, singing, acting, poetry, environmental advocacy, LGBTQ issues, political activism or gin*, there is something for everyone. While the information is right there in front of you, make sure to wander through all the pavilions and take advantage of the time allocated. You may want to even check out some of clubs beforehand so you know where you want to spend your time. It just might define a significant portion of your law school experience.
* (That club is called pub night, and we meet on Thursdays at the bar. Don’t miss it.)
I am more than a little type A when it comes to organizational matters (to be entirely frank, I don’t think this personality trait is overly anomalous at U of T Law). In the weeks preceding 1L, I was frantically seeking answers to such questions of monumental significance as: Where do I find my TCard? Where are my books sold? How will my locker be assigned? What is the best lit study carrel equidistant between the bathrooms and the exit?
Your TCard must be obtained from Robarts Library during opening hours. There is no rush to get it; you likely won’t be signing out books or doing any printing for the first couple of weeks. You will be shown where the book store is in Falconer Hall during O-Week, at which point you will simply present your credit card, receive a jaw dropping transaction receipt and take a neat stack of books in a tote bag. You should try to take out that toothbrush, buy some new hair gel and look good* on your first day for your U of T profile headshot; it will stay with you for three years. If you don’t feel like worrying about these details, rest assured that the O-Week team and administrative body of U of T law are utterly astounding organizational wizards**. So long as you are regularly checking your U of T e-mail address, you will be kept in the loop with respect to anything you need to handle.
* It’s a neck-up shot. Don’t suit up.
** No actual organizational witchcraft will be performed.
I’m always here to answer questions or concerns you might have (feel free to hit me up at ashvin.singh@utoronto.ca). Enjoy your last few weeks and welcome to law school!
Ashvin is a Fundraising member of the Orientation Week Executive Team.
