Survey reveals the diversity among 2L recruit participants
Over 60 students who participated in the anonymous Ultra Vires 2L recruit survey also completed an anonymous demographic survey. Although the sample size is relatively small, it is consistent with past sample sizes and the data still gives us a snapshot of the 2Ls who participated in the Toronto recruit.
Age, Gender, and Group Identities
The age distribution of the demographic survey respondents is the following, with an average age of 24.2 years old. The oldest reported student was over 28-years-old and the youngest reported students were 22-years-old.
68 students responded to the gender identity question. 46 students identified as female, and 22 students identified as male.
Of the 66 students who provided information about their racial identity, 26 students identified as a visible minority.
67 students provided information about their sexual orientations. Over 70 percent of students identified as straight, and 20 percent of students identified as LGBTQ2+.
67 students also reported their country of birth. 48 students were born in Canada, and 19 students were born outside of Canada. 25 students’ parents were both born in Canada, while 42 students have one or both parents born outside of Canada.
Religion, Languages, and Personality
We also asked students whether they held religious beliefs, and how important their religion is to them. 60 students gave responses to the religion question; the results are shown below. 64 students rated the importance of religion to them on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being least important and 5 being most important. The mean value was 2.03, while the 25th percentile was 1 and the 75th percentile was 3.
67 students responded to the language proficiency questions. 41 students knew two or more languages at conversational level, and the average number of proficient languages was 1.94. Apart from English, the most common language spoken was French (36.36%), followed by Mandarin (7.48%), Spanish (6.06%), and Korean (6.06%). Respondents speak 19 unique languages.
68 students rated their personality type on an introverted/extroverted scale, with 1 being introverted and 5 being extroverted. The average number was 3.07, while the 25th percentile was 2 and the 75th percentile was 4. Overall, students who responded to this question fell more on the extroverted side of the scale. The average score of male-identifying respondents was 3.19, which is slightly higher than the average score of female-identifying respondents, 3.02.
Financial and Family Education History
The respondents’ most used sources of funding was loans, followed by family contributions and grants, bursaries, or scholarships.
77 percent of respondents were the first in their families to attend law school. The majority of students had one or more family members with university education, with only 12 percent of students being the first in their families to attend university.
Academic Record, Work Experience, and Study Habits
Of those who provided information on their pre-law academic records, the average undergraduate GPA was 3.83, and the average LSAT score was 166.57, with 164 being the 25th percentile and 168 being the 75th percentile.
The average number of work years before law school was 0.62. Around half of the students who responded to the work experience questions had no work experience prior to law school. 25 percent of students had one year of work experience, and 14 percent of students had two or three years of work experience. The maximum number of work years reported was three.
Finally, we asked students to provide information about their study habits in 1L on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being mostly independently and 5 being mostly in groups. The average number was 1.99. While 36 percent of students studied mostly independently, 35 percent and 22 percent of students reported a score of 2 and 3 respectively, meaning they sometimes studied in groups.
Editor’s Note: Respondents were permitted to opt out of answering any questions. The raw data was processed and aggregated by question before being given to the writers.
