Page 1 of 1

multiple transfer...wtf lsac gpa

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:11 pm
by lolol10
i have transferred two times to different schools for a total of 3 schools in my ug career. am i correct in my understanding that lsac wants transcripts from all of them? the school i am at now started me off jr yr with a 0.000 that i have built on in the two years i have been here so that gpa is included with all the other schools but not the exclusive gpa?

also, wtf is up with this stupid thing i hear about lsac giving you a 0 for a classes you withdraw from/giving you the grade for a course if you retook it??????? i had a rough 1st semester freshman year as a bio major where i withdrew from a chem course and had to retake an upperlvl calc course (i got a D the first time and an A the second time). subsequent years show a significant upward swing with a change of major and transfer to more more prestigious/difficult universities. should i include an addendum to schools about my situation?

Re: multiple transfer...wtf lsac gpa

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:24 pm
by im_blue
Yes you need transcripts from all 3 schools. LSAC will just count all those classes and grades into one GPA, not including withdraws (W) but including both grades for retakes (both A and D in your case).

Re: multiple transfer...wtf lsac gpa

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:46 am
by LurkerNoMore
Not sure why you think it is stupid (other than the obvious self interest :) ). Law schools get many, many times the number of applicants as they have spots to fill. There are many students who didn't need to take a course twice to get an A, and their GPA should reflect that difference. (You should only get a 0 for withdrawals if it was a punitive W, not just if you withdrew after your school's add/drop period.)

Now, there is something to perseverance and that is where the addendum comes in. Most people don't write very good ones, though. Make sure yours isn't whiney and has something more to say that "I was young and stupid." Each piece of writing you submit is a chance for you to communicate to adcoms who you are as a person and convince them that you are going to bring something valuable to the classroom (this does not mean that each piece should be a novel). It's a really high bar to try to clear.

Hopefully you were able to kill the LSAT -- getting a score that is in line with where your GPA has ended up, rather than where LSAC is going to place it will add credibility to your addendum and keep your file from getting passed over completely.

Good luck.

Re: multiple transfer...wtf lsac gpa

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:54 am
by existenz
Yep, no takebacksies with your LSAC GPA, sry.