TRU Law in hot water after over-offering seats to prospective students

KAMLOOPS — Over the weekend, several posts on social media claimed that Thompson Rivers University Law School had rescinded acceptance to 42 students who had previously been offered places within the program.

CFJC Today spoke with the Dean of TRU Law, to learn more about the admissions process and what is really going on with the TRU Law School Class of 2024.

“If you rescind an offer, you say ‘You cannot come to TRU anymore. Full stop.’ That’s not what we are saying,” TRU Dean of Law Daleen Millard told CFJC Today on Monday afternoon.

Over the weekend, posts on social media grabbed the attention of both Law Twitter and Kamloops Twitter. These posts claimed that the Law School at TRU had reversed 42 offers to prospective students of their law program. According to the Millard, that isn’t correct.

“We typically make more offers than what we’ve got for spaces,” Millard explains. “Even though we’ve offered fewer acceptances than last year, the number of people who’ve accepted dramatically jumped up much earlier in the year.”

According to Millard, TRU Law received 819 applications for just 124 seats in the class. She also stressed the fact that over-offering is common practice in post-secondary settings. “This is the kind of understanding that there will be this attrition every single year,” Millard says. “It is a fine art, not to overshoot, not to undershoot, and to balance this, all the time.”

CFJC Today reached out to some of the users who posted on social media claiming they’d lost their spots in the upcoming TRU Law cohort. However, none responded to our requests for an interview.

Millard says of the 42 prospective students affected, 26 have decided to remain on the waitlist, which means they’ll get first dibs on entering the program next year. She also urges those who have been affected to reach out to TRU Law for support.

“I’ve just had a meeting with the University’s executive. We are looking into the way forward,” Millard says. “I would just like to reassure students to say, you know, if you talk to me, I can help you. If you talk to me and tell me and tell me where the difficulties lie at the moment, I can try and assist as best as I can.”