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Information for applicants from Canada

Information for applicants from Canada

The information on this page is intended for students interested in full degree study. If you are looking for a semester or year of undergraduate study please see our Study Abroad programme pages.

These notes are not exhaustive and are for guidance only, if you have any questions please contact us.

Welcome

Queen Mary has a long history of welcoming students from around the world. Over the years, many thousands of international students have graduated from the college and gone on to pursue successful careers. Today, we are home to students from more than 100 different countries. This diversity contributes to a lively and welcoming community which should make you feel comfortable and at home.

One of the largest colleges of the University of London and one of the few with fully integrated teaching, research and residential facilities, our setting gives you the benefits both of a large campus environment and of the countless academic and social opportunities of London.

There are currently more than 40 Canadian students at Queen Mary studying a variety of courses both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels including: Law, Business, Politics, English, History and Economics. 

Financing your studies

Possible sources of funding for Canadian students can be found on the British Council Canada website.

Queen Mary is an approved institution for the use of International Student Loan. Our institution code is 006697

Entry requirements

Recognition of Canadian qualifications for Undergraduate Entry
An increasing number of Canadian students are choosing Queen Mary for their first degree because of the opportunity to gain an international perspective and earn a world class qualification and at a competitive price. There are some large differences between UK and Canadian undergraduate degrees - such as the shorter duration and the more specific subject focus of a UK degree - other differences are explained on the British Council Canada website.

Applications for undergraduate degrees in the UK are made through the UCAS system, information on the procedure can be found in Undergraduate Study under the section 'How to Apply'.

For information on entry requirements for the five year Medicine degree (A100 MB BS) please click here.

International Baccalaureate Diploma

Holders of the International Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 30 points and marks of at least 4 or above in three higher level subjects will be considered for admission to first degree programmes.

High School Diploma and Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations

Students studying for Canadian High School or Secondary School Diplomas will be considered for entry to our undergraduate degree programmes. Students must have achieved at least 5 Grade 12 courses with 75% (Grade B) or higher . The High School Diploma will also be considered if accompanied by AP examinations; students must achieve scores of 4 or above in at least two subjects relevant to the degree applied for. For specific Medicine and Dentistry requirements- please see below. 

Applications for Medicine and Dentistry

Applicants must have taken either the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) or the Advanced Placement Program (AP).

AP
Students must have achieved an average of 85% (A) or higher in their High School Diploma, including a minimum grade B in English. Students must also have taken at least 3 Advanced Placement (AP) examinations and achieve grades of 5, 5, 4 or higher. Two of these subjects must be Biology and Chemistry.

IB
Students are required to achieve an overall score of 36 points with grades 665 at higher level. A score of 6 must be achieved in Chemistry or Biology at Higher Level. English should be offered at either Higher or Subsidiary level.

University transfer students

Canadian students who have completed one year at University level are eligible to apply for first year entry at Queen Mary. Students who have completed at least 2 years of a Canadian degree and are in good academic standing may be considered for transfer into the second year of a Queen Mary undergraduate degree. No students are permitted to transfer into the third (i.e. final) year of the degree.

N.B. For Medicine and Dentistry, no transfer students are accepted. Students are required to have a BSc (Hons) Science degree with a GPA of 3.6.
For further information, please see: http://www.smd.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/

Foundation Programmes

Queen Mary also offers one year foundation programmes for entry into undergraduate programmes Business, Arts, Law & Social Sciences and Science & Engineering.

Recognition of Canadian qualifications for Graduate Entry

Queen Mary regularly welcomes Canadian students to our postgraduate courses each year - the majority on one-year taught Masters courses with a smaller number undertaking research programmes towards a Phd.

The one-year duration of UK Masters courses allied to their international reputation for quality makes them a cost-effective choice for Canadian students. The British Council Canada website includes a useful section on postgraduate study in the UK.

Holders of a Bachelor degree, from an accredited institution, with a good grade point averages (3.2 or above), will be considered for postgraduate study. This will normally be a postgraduate diploma or a taught Masters degree (usually one year in duration).   Holders of Canadian Master's degrees will be considered for PhD study.

Applications for postgraduate courses are made directly to the institution. Information on applying to study for a postgraduate degree at Queen Mary can be found in http://www.smd.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/ .

Law at Queen Mary and Law Accreditation in Canada

Queen Mary has one of the largest Law schools in the UK and an internationally renowned academic environment in which to study. Our excellence is reflected in the School achieving the highest possible rating of 5* in the 2010 Research Assessment Exercise.

The college also has a long history of welcoming Canadian students; currently there are over 100 Canadian students studying various undergraduate and postgraduate subjects. Law though is the most popular department at Queen Mary for students from Canada. A qualifying law degree at Queen Mary doesn’t require an undergraduate degree for admission to a three year LLB degree program. However, unlike Canadian law schools Queen Mary doesn’t require students to submit an LSAT score as a criterion for admission. Applicants are evaluated on the basis of their grades, a personal statement and an academic reference.  It is recommended that Canadian applicants intending to return to Canada either complete two years of university or university equivalent college courses prior to enrolment to meet Canadian approved legal education criteria.

It is possible for students to enrol with a high school diploma and obtain the two years of post secondary education through a series of summer and distance education courses when the law programme is not in session. The two most popular courses at Queen Mary are briefly described below. The Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and the LLB Law Senior Status are both professionally recognised degrees. The LLB Senior Status is restricted to graduate students while the LLB has no such restriction.

LLB Law, Senior Status (two years)

The most popular course for Canadian students is the LLB Law, Senior Status; this is a two-year LLB programme for advanced students (those with a degree in another discipline). It is primarily designed for graduates who wish to obtain a professionally qualifying Law degree but will also be of interest to those non-law graduates who have in an interest in reading law as a second academic degree.

A selection of typical entry requirements are as follows:

Carleton University B+ / 77 %
Dalhousie University – B+ / GPA 3.3
McGill University – B+ / GPA 3.3
McMaster University – B+ / 77%
Okanagan College (Validated by the University of British Colombia) – 76% / B+
Queens University B+ / 75%
Simon Fraser University – B+ / GPA .33
University of British Colombia – B+ / 76-79
University of Calgary – B+ / GPA 3.3
University of Guelph – B+ / 77%
University of Toronto – GPA 3.2
University of Victoria – GPA 5.5
University of Waterloo B+ / 77%
University of Western Ontario – overall 80%
York University – B+ / 7 / 75-79% / Very Good

The above are GUIDELINES ONLY. We treat every application on a case by case basis and do appreciate that students may have a combination of qualifications, experience etc.

LLB Law, (three years)

The standard LLB is a three-year programme. It includes compulsory modules in the first and second year covering property, trusts, contract, criminal law, tort, constitutional and administrative law and EU law. These satisfy professional requirements for the foundations of legal knowledge and skills. From these strong foundations, you are in a good position to choose options for your second and third years.

For further information and course descriptions please visit; http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk

Postgraduate programmes
Queen Mary has a wide range of taught and research based programmes. For full details please go to our Law School website where you will also find our minimum entry requirements.

Professional admission in Canada
To practice law in Canada there are certain steps that students must complete;

Accreditation
Students will need to obtain accreditation of their UK law degree. This is done through the National Committee on Accreditation (the ‘NCA’) of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada which issues a Certificate of Qualification (CTQ) to foreign law degree holders once they’ve met Canadian law degree accreditation criteria.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada is the national coordinating body for all the provincial law societies, (with the exception of Quebec).

Completion of Articles & Bar Admissions
Law graduates will need to complete articles and a bar admission course in the province in which they intend to practice. To be eligible for articles and a bar admission course in any of the common law provinces (again excluding Quebec), A UK University law graduate will need to file a CTQ issued by the NCA. The certificate will state that you have education and training equivalent to that of a graduate from a Canadian law school.

Equivalency consists of two years of university or university equivalent college credit or in Quebec a CEGEP diploma and three years of legal education consisting of a three year LLB degree or a two year accelerated LLB plus a one year LLM course.

Application is made to the NCA upon completion of the LLB degree program at Queen Mary. The NCA will assess your academic record and will ascertain whether further examinations in Canadian law must be completed in order to obtain a Certificate of Equivalence.

Students who choose to attain the two year LLB will normally be required to write seven challenge examinations to which along with the two year senior status LLB is deemed to be equivalent to three years of legal education. Students who attain a “Combined” two year LLB plus one year LLM degree will be deemed to have completed three years of legal education and only be required to write challenge examinations in the number of courses they haven’t completed that are core to a Canadian law degree. This usually results in a requirement to write 2-3 challenge examinations but in theory a student who has demonstrated competency in all the Canadian courses is eligible for a CTQ upon submission of their qualifications.

The assessment is usually based on students being able to demonstrate competency in ten core courses:

1. Contracts
2. Torts
3. Property
4. Evidence
5. Corporate Law
6. Professional Responsibility
7. Principles of Canadian Administrative Law
8. Canadian Constitutional Law
9. Foundations of Canadian Law
10. Canadian Criminal Law and Procedure

The first six common law subjects are generic and can theoretically be studied anywhere in the world. The latter four subjects will usually be studied upon return to Canada.

The NCA requirement usually requires Queen Mary graduates from the two year senior status LLB degree program to write challenge examinations in the four core Canadian law courses numbered six through ten, plus three additional courses that are either selected from among the six generic courses they haven’t included in their legal studies or from among an optional list.

Examinations in these Canadian law subjects can only be taken: post-graduation at the completion of an evaluation of the degree by the NCA, either through self-study ‘challenge’ examinations administered by the NCA or through study at some Canadian law schools. The overwhelming majority of applicants choose the self-study challenge examination route.

Once the student meets NCA requirements and is issued a CTQ they are in the same category as domestic a law graduate and are eligible to apply for bar admissions in the province they wish to practice in. Bar admission consists of a combination of an articled clerkship in which the “articled clerk” works under the supervision of a lawyer and a provincial bar admission course.

Queen Mary University utilizes the services of Canada Law From Abroad as a registered UCAS advisor for LLB and LLM degree program recruitment. The organization has considerable expertise in foreign law degree accreditation. The organization maintains a web site at www.canadalawfromabroad.com and provides a cost free advisory service to prospective applicants to Queen Mary.

Staying in the UK to Practice Law
In order to stay in the UK to practice law graduates will need to be in possession of a work visa. This is a separate issue and students are encouraged to check UK immigration guidelines during their course of study. Often students will need to apply for work and graduate visas before the course of study finishes.

Canadian law graduates are automatically entitled to apply for bar admission in the UK and have the advantage of being eligible to practice law as a barrister or solicitor in the UK.

Please note this information is intended as a brief guide only, information changes frequently, therefore we urge you to conduct your own research and contact the relevant legal organisations in your province.

Student Ambassadors from Canada

The Department of Law has an international section that includes entry requirements that are specifically for the Departments' programmes. These pages also include our International Student Ambassadors from Canada. Please visit:

Law School Information and Ambassadors Canada

Overseas Representatives

Across the Pond; http://studyacrossthepond.com/

Barclay & Knap Educational Services; http://barclayknap.com/

GlobaLinks Learning Abroad; http://www.DegreesOverseas.ca

Student Solutions; http://www.studentssolution.co.uk/

Canada Law from Abroad; www.canadalawfromabroad.com

Useful contacts

The British Council
The British Council Canada website provides comprehensive advice on many aspects of study in Britain and can provide UCAS forms and Record of Prior Acceptance forms (for students applying to one institution only) for undergraduate applicants. Their website includes information on application procedures - including a sample UCAS form, guidance for completing the online UCAS application, funding etc.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
UCAS
Rosehill, New Barn Lane
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL52 3LZ
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1242 227788
http://www.ucas.com/ [New window]

What our students say?

Janta Quigley
Law Senior Status
Canada

As a graduate in business on a limited budget, studying a 2-year LLB at Queen Mary saves me both time and money, yet offers me an internationally recognised University of London degree.
In addition, my participation in Queen Mary’s student-led Pro Bono Group, Law Society, Bar Society, and Mooting Society have given me valuable voluntary experience and allowed me to establish important contacts within top City law firms.

Finally, Queen Mary’s law department demonstrates a very high quality of teaching. It is clear from the time and personal interest demonstrated by each of my lecturers and tutors that they are committed to helping me succeed, both scholastically and in my future career.

As a result of the skills I am gaining at Queen Mary, I am currently applying for training contracts in 2011 and hope to qualify as a solicitor in a UK commercial law firm by 2013.

To hear what other students have to say about Queen Mary, click over to the What our Students Say page.