research
OK, what I learned today.
The international office at Oxford considers it possible that letters from Mark and Amanda and Tom and Ruth to say I was residing in the UK for six weeks in 2003, a letter from Liz, my Director of Studies at Interlang, to say I was working there on temporary contracts (ie, it was a temporary absence for work purposes, not ongoing residence), and a letter from my mother to say I was on holiday and not residing or intending to stay in Canada during the summer of 2005 would be sufficient for her to classify me as "ordinarily resident" in the UK since 30 September 2003. This would make me a Home student for fees purposes. However, she can make no promises until the documents are in front of her.
Meanwhile, on the law front.
The one-year Graduate Diploma in Law (conversion course) will not get me any transfer credit or advanced standing at McGill or UBC law schools. However, the Graduate Diploma in Law plus the Bar Vocational Course (if I got both from the College of Law, they'd also award me an LLB) could almost certainly get me advanced standing at McGill which would cut my course down from four years to two and a half years if I wanted to go there. Alternatively, it would also be an acceptable qualification if I wanted to apply to McGill for graduate studies in law, to become a legal academic.
The word from UBC (the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver) is less conclusive. I would need to apply for a certificate of accreditation from the National Committe on Accreditation and they would recommend how many courses or credits I would need to take at a British Columbia law school in order to practise there. By the time I learned this, the NCA, which is in Ottawa, was closed. It was past five p.m. Eastern Standard Time, y'see. So I'm going to ring them again tomorrow.
Of course if I did law -- or even if I went to Oxford, it is still possible I could decide to stay in the UK with my career and not move it anywhere else. But I don't want gates closed and I want to know how much ajar they would be if I went this route before I go it. I do not want it to be incredibly difficult for me to move to Vancouver and work.
And the fact is, even if the National Committee on Accreditation decided my LLB was good enough, even in the impossible best-case scenario where they somehow miraculously decided to accept a British LLB and a knowledge of British common law as an appropriate substitute for a thorough knowledge of Canadian common law, and said I didn't have to do any courses or credits with a Canadian law school, I would still then have to apply to a Law Society Admissions course which involves nine months of articling and a ten week Professional Legal Training Course. These could be reduced if I'd done a pupillage/worked in the UK for any number of years.
But it's still sounding like it would be somewhat difficult to go back. Not exactly clear sailing.
And not clear sailing on the Home fees thing, at Oxford, either.
I'm back to two bad decisions again, instead of having two that are so wonderful I can't choose between them. Well, kind of. The careers are still both so wonderful I can't choose between them. The idea of being at law school this fall in my nice little north London home vs the idea of making pots of money teaching doddley little English lessons to Turkish children in Istanbul are also both so nice and rosy I can't choose between them.
But the practicalities... all look messy and daunting and horrible again. Everything sounds very inconclusive on both sides and I don't feel I'm closer to a decision.
I also emailed my trio of professors: Professor Polzer (Natalie), my mentor at McGill; Professor Jahanbakhsh (Forough), my master's essay advisor; and Dr Kerslake (Celia) who will be my supervisor if I go to Oxford because she's their Turkish expert. I just explained my situation to all of them, without really asking for advice, and coaching it to Natalie and Forough as just an update on what's going on with me. Celia, I asked what alumnis from the programme do (even though I've asked other professors there the same question and been told, either careers, many in NGOs or thinktanks; or else academia; or, a few, off to law school -- HAHAHAHAHAHAH... I guess I just want to hear it again). I also asked if any of the current students would be willing to email me about their impressions of the programme/plans for the future.
I am flailing, flailing madly.
And still not making a decision.
I hate this. I am tearing my hair out here. I hate this.
The international office at Oxford considers it possible that letters from Mark and Amanda and Tom and Ruth to say I was residing in the UK for six weeks in 2003, a letter from Liz, my Director of Studies at Interlang, to say I was working there on temporary contracts (ie, it was a temporary absence for work purposes, not ongoing residence), and a letter from my mother to say I was on holiday and not residing or intending to stay in Canada during the summer of 2005 would be sufficient for her to classify me as "ordinarily resident" in the UK since 30 September 2003. This would make me a Home student for fees purposes. However, she can make no promises until the documents are in front of her.
Meanwhile, on the law front.
The one-year Graduate Diploma in Law (conversion course) will not get me any transfer credit or advanced standing at McGill or UBC law schools. However, the Graduate Diploma in Law plus the Bar Vocational Course (if I got both from the College of Law, they'd also award me an LLB) could almost certainly get me advanced standing at McGill which would cut my course down from four years to two and a half years if I wanted to go there. Alternatively, it would also be an acceptable qualification if I wanted to apply to McGill for graduate studies in law, to become a legal academic.
The word from UBC (the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver) is less conclusive. I would need to apply for a certificate of accreditation from the National Committe on Accreditation and they would recommend how many courses or credits I would need to take at a British Columbia law school in order to practise there. By the time I learned this, the NCA, which is in Ottawa, was closed. It was past five p.m. Eastern Standard Time, y'see. So I'm going to ring them again tomorrow.
Of course if I did law -- or even if I went to Oxford, it is still possible I could decide to stay in the UK with my career and not move it anywhere else. But I don't want gates closed and I want to know how much ajar they would be if I went this route before I go it. I do not want it to be incredibly difficult for me to move to Vancouver and work.
And the fact is, even if the National Committee on Accreditation decided my LLB was good enough, even in the impossible best-case scenario where they somehow miraculously decided to accept a British LLB and a knowledge of British common law as an appropriate substitute for a thorough knowledge of Canadian common law, and said I didn't have to do any courses or credits with a Canadian law school, I would still then have to apply to a Law Society Admissions course which involves nine months of articling and a ten week Professional Legal Training Course. These could be reduced if I'd done a pupillage/worked in the UK for any number of years.
But it's still sounding like it would be somewhat difficult to go back. Not exactly clear sailing.
And not clear sailing on the Home fees thing, at Oxford, either.
I'm back to two bad decisions again, instead of having two that are so wonderful I can't choose between them. Well, kind of. The careers are still both so wonderful I can't choose between them. The idea of being at law school this fall in my nice little north London home vs the idea of making pots of money teaching doddley little English lessons to Turkish children in Istanbul are also both so nice and rosy I can't choose between them.
But the practicalities... all look messy and daunting and horrible again. Everything sounds very inconclusive on both sides and I don't feel I'm closer to a decision.
I also emailed my trio of professors: Professor Polzer (Natalie), my mentor at McGill; Professor Jahanbakhsh (Forough), my master's essay advisor; and Dr Kerslake (Celia) who will be my supervisor if I go to Oxford because she's their Turkish expert. I just explained my situation to all of them, without really asking for advice, and coaching it to Natalie and Forough as just an update on what's going on with me. Celia, I asked what alumnis from the programme do (even though I've asked other professors there the same question and been told, either careers, many in NGOs or thinktanks; or else academia; or, a few, off to law school -- HAHAHAHAHAHAH... I guess I just want to hear it again). I also asked if any of the current students would be willing to email me about their impressions of the programme/plans for the future.
I am flailing, flailing madly.
And still not making a decision.
I hate this. I am tearing my hair out here. I hate this.