Prospective law students in Canada – the latest to be caught in the crossfire of the United States’ war with Iran.

“It was just mind-boggling to me that I could potentially be sanctioned from taking a test in my own home country to go to law school in my own home country because of a foreign sanction,” said Shirin Basiri, who had the LSAT cancelled.

Basiri, a recent UBC grad, is cramming for her LSAT. The exam whose score will play a large part in determining whether she gets accepted into law school.

But Basiri’s dream of becoming a lawyer was jeopardized this week, when her test was summarily cancelled due to her Iranian citizenship.

“I just remember panicking and I lost a whole day of studying because I was just trying to look online to see what the options are, what can we do, emailing LSAC to see, ‘Hey, please unlock my account!’”

The LSAT is considered the gold standard when it comes to evaluating law school applicants – almost every law school in Canada requires prospective students to take it. But the organization that administers the test is based in America,which makes it subject to sanctions issued by the current U.S. administration.

Specifically – its sweeping sanctions against Iran.

“As a result of this action, LSAC is prohibited from providing any products or services to Iranian citizens or residents.”

“It was just mind-boggling to me that I could potentially be sanctioned from taking a test in my own home country to go to law school in my own home country because of a foreign sanction,” said Basiri.

Basiri – who lives in Canada and whose primary citizenship is Canadian – was ultimately able to appeal the move, and get her test date reinstated with just days to spare.

Tanya Behzadan is a senior at UBC who got the same email. The dual citizen was also eventually able to appeal and regain access to the exam, but she says the situation suggests Canada’s post-secondary system could be over-reliant on the U.S.’s standardized tests.

“I think it might be a good idea to have some extra ways for students to apply to law school other than the LSAT,” said Behzadan.

It’s not clear how many potential applicants were affected – and how many are still unable to write their test.

UBC told CityNews it’s closely monitoring the situation, and working to explore potential solutions, while the University of Victoria says it’s committed to ensuring that applicants aren’t unfairly disadvantaged by circumstances outside of their control and will waive the LSAT requirement for affected students.