Factors Associated with Hiring in the Toronto Summer 2025 2L Recruit

Yet another statistical analysis

Editor’s Note: The information below is meant to express correlations between certain factors and job offers in the formal recruit. The data does not suggest that these factors caused these outcomes nor that a student must have certain qualities (such as a specific GPA) in order to be successful. Important factors, such as personality and interviewing skills, are not accounted for in this analysis.

After months of drafting application materials, preparing for interviews, and participating in in-firms, students officially completed the Toronto Summer 2025 2L Recruit on Wednesday, November 6, 2024. Following tradition, Ultra Vires sent our annual survey to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s Class of 2026 to collect data on the recruit and students’ thoughts and experiences. The purpose of the survey is to better inform future applicants, raise awareness on matters of student concern, and provide a historical record of year-to-year changes or trends associated with the recruit.

This year, 88 students—representing 41.1% of the class—responded to this year’s survey. The survey provided for abstention in all of its questions. Of the 88 students, 82 were JDs, 2 were JD/MBAs, one was in a JD/other combined degree, and one was a GPLLM. 54 students identified as female, 29 as male, and one as non-binary. In addition, 36 students identified as racialized and 43 as non-racialized. 

A total of 77 students reported participating in the recruit. When asked whether they accepted an offer through the Toronto recruitment process, 65 students responded that they received and accepted an offer. Otherwise, nine students reported not receiving an offer, and two reported they had declined all offers. One student did not respond to the question. 

Among the students who accepted an offer, 63.5% went to large firms, 9.5% went to mid-size firms, 20.6% went to boutique firms, and 6.4% accepted positions in the government. 

Students were asked whether their debt load affected their final choice of employer, with an answer of “1” meaning that their expected debt load was of “no influence” and “5” meaning that it was the “primary influence”. A little less than half of the survey respondents (46.6%) responded that their expected debt level was of no influence on their recruitment decisions. In contrast, only 4.1% of students expressed that their debt load was the primary influence. 

Students were also asked how helpful they found the Career Development Office (CDO) in preparing for the recruitment process. A response of “1” meant “not at all helpful” while “5” meant “very helpful.” No students rated the CDO as “not at all helpful,” and the vast majority found the office to be somewhat or very helpful.

All students participated in some sort of networking during the recruitment process, with coffee chats and virtual and in-person firm tours being the most popular forms. 

Correlations Between Grades, On-Campus Interviews (OCIs), In-Firm Interviews, and Offers Received 

Only 60 responses of the 88 total were included in this section, as the remaining responses had incomplete reports of 1L grades. As in previous years, we expect that students who performed better academically or were satisfied with the outcome of the recruit may be more likely to participate in the survey. As a result of this self-selection bias, students with HHs and Hs are likely to be overrepresented at the expense of those reporting Ps. The expected grade percentage is based on the Faculty’s grade distribution guidelines to instructors. 

When conducting our analysis, we assigned a numerical GPA to each letter grade (i.e., HH = 5, H = 4, P = 3, LP = 1, and F = 0) and treated courses as equivalent in weight under the assumption that employers do not take into account each course’s weight.

From our sample, the median U of T Law applicant in the 2025 Toronto 2L Recruit had a GPA of 25. The 25th percentile was 24, the 75th percentile was 28, and distinction standing was 30. This year, the 25th percentile and median GPA were slightly lower compared to last year’s results (25 for the 25th percentile and 26 for the median, respectively). However, the 75th percentile and distinction standing GPAs remained the same. 

As in previous years, there was generally an upward trend in the average number of on-campus interviews (OCIs) received as GPA increased. This trend did not continue for the number of in-firms and offers received. 

Using the Spearman rank correlation test, the relationship between GPA and application-to-OCI conversion rate was statistically significant.¹ In comparison, neither the relationship between GPA and OCI-to-in-firm conversion rate² nor the relationship between GPA and in-firm-to-offer conversation rate was statistically significant.³ 

Upon reviewing the factors that impact obtaining an offer of employment through the recruit, logistic regression revealed a statistically significant association between the number of in-firms received and employment⁴ and the number of in-firms attended and employment.⁵ There was no statistically significant association between the number of OCIs received and employment⁶ or between a student’s GPA and employment.⁷ The data indicated that students who both received and attended more in-firm interviews were more likely to secure employment. 

As was the case in previous years, these results ultimately suggest that while students with higher GPAs tend to secure more OCIs, GPA alone is not a strong indicator of whether a student is likely to secure an offer. 

Effect of Gender and Race  

We also used 60 student responses for this section of our analysis. Responses that did not provide the necessary gender or race information were excluded. Of the 60 responses, there was an overrepresentation of female students who completed the survey (63.3% versus 58%). There was also a slight overrepresentation of non-racialized students (58.3% versus 41%). These numbers were compared to the U of T Law Class of 2026 profile statistics. 

Gender

When looking at the effects of gender on recruit success, females were more successful at every stage other than converting applications to OCIs (55.2% for females versus 48.6% for males at the OCI-to-in-firm stage,⁸ and 39.9% for females versus 36.5% for males at the in-firm-to-offer stage).⁹ Based on survey responses, applications from male students were more likely to convert to OCIs (49.0% for females versus 54.6% for males).¹⁰ The difference at each stage, however, was not statistically significant under the Mann-Whitney U test. A slightly greater percentage of females secured employment compared to males (86.8% for females versus 81.8% for males); however, the difference in overall employment was also not statistically significant.¹¹

Race

Non-racialized students were more successful at converting applications to OCIs (45.7% for racialized students versus 54.1% for non-racialized students).¹² By comparison, racialized students were more likely to succeed at both other stages: at converting OCIs to in-firms (53.9% for racialized students versus 52.2% for non-racialized students)¹³—albeit by a relatively small margin—and at converting in-firms to offers of employment (43.3% for racialized students versus 35.8% for non-racialized students).¹⁴ The differences between non-racialized and racialized students at each stage were not statistically significant under the Mann-Whitney U test. As for overall employment, non-racialized students were more successful in securing a position out of the recruit (80.0% for racialized students versus 88.6% for non-racialized students).¹⁵ This result was also not statistically significant.

Gender and Race Combined

Finally, when looking at the effects of gender and race combined, the data again did not demonstrate statistical significance at any recruitment stage. Based on our survey responses, racialized males had the highest conversion rates at all stages (60.9% at the application-to-OCI stage, 57.7% at the OCI-to-in-firm stage, and 44.4% at the in-firm-to-offer stage). However, non-racialized females were the most successful at obtaining employment overall, with 94.4% of survey respondents securing a summer position through the recruit. 

Editor’s Note: Analysis was limited to male and female genders due to the limited number of non-binary responses.

1. rs = 0.65536, p (2-tailed) = 0 ↩︎
2. rs = 0.10175, p (2-tailed) = 0.43918 ↩︎
3. rs = 0.123, p (2-tailed) = 0.34914 ↩︎
4. β = 0.1955 | p = 0.0811 ↩︎
5. β = 0.5256 | p = 0.0274 ↩︎
6. β = 0.0559 | p = 0.2962 ↩︎
7. β = 0.0639 | p = 0.6027 ↩︎
8. U-Score = 404, Z-Score = 0.215, Cut-Off = 1.960 ↩︎
9. U-Score = 409, Z-Score = 0.138, Cut-Off = 1.960 ↩︎
10. U-Score = 354, Z-Score = 0.982, Cut-Off = 1.960 ↩︎
11. Chi-square = 0.599 ↩︎
12. U-Score = 424, Z-Score = 0.202, Cut-Off = 1.96 ↩︎
13. U-Score = 427.50, Z-Score = 0.150, Cut-Off = 1.960 ↩︎
14. U-Score = 398, Z-Score = 0.592, Cut-Off = 1.960 ↩︎
15. Chi-square = 0.359 ↩︎