No cumulative or degree GPA in LSAC...what to do? Forum

[sidhesadie]

Ok, somewhat odd situation (or maybe not, but I can't find anything answering the question! ) ; I am just starting my senior year at College B. I went to College A previously, and a community college for freshman year. So, LSAC has my transcripts from all schools, but I have not yet earned any credits from College B, which will be my degree granting institution.
So, on my Academic Summary, it shows my GPA from the previous 2 schools, (which is 3.8 from the cc and 4.11 from college A) however, there is no cumulative or degree gpa at the bottom of the form. I emailed LSAC and they said that the cumulative won't show up until I have graded credits from the degree granting institution.

Well, finals for first quarter aren't until the second week of December. Is this going to be a problem in my applications or will they just look up at the rest of the academic summary report? I'm not particularly concerned about what my grades will BE for this quarter, I'm simply concerned that there's not a cumulative GPA listed at all, and I obviously don't want to wait till the end of December to get my applications in.

Do I just go ahead and get my apps in and make sure my school sends LSAC an updated transcript pronto after finals?

thanks for any thoughts/ideas.

Sid

[2014]

Your application won't be complete until you have a LSDAS GPA. So no matter how early you submit, a school isn't even going to consider your application until your first quarter grades are in and updated.

[sidhesadie]

Gah. That's what I was afraid of.

[sidhesadie]

So would my apps not being in until, say, December 20, cause enough of an issue that I should wait until next year?

[2014]

What are you expecting your LSAT to be at?
Dec. 20 is later than the average, at least for most of the people on this forum, but if you are not a splitter you probably will be fine applying then. Worst case you might end up missing out on one school, but if you apply broadly you will get into plenty of schools.

If your LSAT is on the low side though and you are trying to squeeze into some good schools with your GPA, the earlier the better.

[im_blue]

So would my apps not being in until, say, December 20, cause enough of an issue that I should wait until next year?

If your final letter grades post on December 20, you still have to request a transcript, wait for it to be processed and mailed to LSAC, then wait for LSAC to process those letter grades into your file. With school and LSAC holidays, you're not going to be complete until early or even mid-January, at the earliest.

[sidhesadie]

My final grades have to be posted by Dec 15, but yeah you're right, by the time the school sends the transcript, and it arrives, it's going to be pushing up against the holidays. It probably will be January.

I just did not realize this was going to be at issue. I had no choice but to transfer ( I was attending an extension campus of a major state university and they've decided to stop offering degree programs, and there was no similar degree option from the university that was still offering them, so I had to move and transfer to finish the degree).

My LSAT practice tests are consistently running 169-172.

I'm in Oregon, and would like to go to Lewis & Clark (want to practice criminal law in the PNW) and I know that L&C is not remotely a reach with my numbers, my concern is I need money from them, and I'm concerned it's all going to be gone by then.

[2014]

You should be fine then. If you miss their initial wave of money offerings, just sit tight until the deposit deadline gets closer and enough kids will withdraw themselves and free up the money again. As long as you are clear to the admissions office that even if your numbers might allow you to go elsewhere, they are your definite #1 if they can help you finance it, you will get money, even applying that late. That assumes you achieve your practice range on the real deal LSAT though of course.

[im_blue]

You should be fine then. If you miss their initial wave of money offerings, just sit tight until the deposit deadline gets closer and enough kids will withdraw themselves and free up the money again.

Scholarship offers work just like admissions offers - they give out many more offers than they can actually support, planning on a certain percentage to enroll. It may be possible for money to be available close to the deposit deadline, but that would require a smaller yield than anticipated.