UK student L.S.A.C first year grades? Forum

[Trimmie]

Im currently an undergraduate in England studying LLB Law. I wish to go to a top 10 school, my dream would be Stanford.

I was just wondering when apply, would it matter that my undergraduate is in law? (as I want to do the JD, and not the LLM, because i want a permanent career in the states)

And also do L.S.A.C look at first year grades, as in the U.K these don't count to our overall degree classification, it simply doesn't count.

If they do is there any chance i could get around this, or will they just take my first year marks into consideration?

Thanks guys!

[88rabbits]

I'm an international applicant this year who completed undergrad in a commonwealth country (but not the UK), so i know a little about this. LSAC will take your grades of all your classes, even if they don't count in your institution/country. But as an international applicant, you will not receive a LSAC GPA. Instead, LSAC generates a report for international transcripts where they will place the overall quality of your transcript within one of 4 categories (Superior, above average, average, below average). They will also give you a "grade average", which for me was a letter grade of your transcript (for instance, if by there calculation you have an average of 'B' through a your courses, this will be marked with just a letter 'B'). Depending on whether your institution publishes class ranks or other GPA figures on their official transcripts, these might also be included in the LSAC report (my institution didn't so these were all left blank.)

Basically, you will NOT be given an LSAC GPA, and a lot of it will depend on the quality of your transcript as determined by LSAC. There is NO way around this, and they will count whatever courses they want (which means they will count ALL of your undergrad courses). Also be aware that your degree should be equivalent to a 4 year undergrad in the US (some commonwealth countries have 3 year undergrads).

LSAC will send this report with a copy of your transcript to the law schools which you apply to. But I dont know whether the law schools actually go through your transcript closely. I'm pretty sure many law schools will primarily work off the report generated by LSAC though. The thing is, with no LSAC GPA, this could either help or hurt you. If you have a really super duper high GPA, you still just get grouped in with everyone else in "Superior". But basically, as with US undergrad students, maintain a high GPA, get a high LSAT, have some significant softs... ESPECIALLY for Stanford.

Anyways, good luck. If you need any help, this is a good place for it. Also, PM me if you want more details on my application process/details

[pokerlaw]

Im currently an undergraduate in England studying LLB Law. I wish to go to a top 10 school, my dream would be Stanford.

I was just wondering when apply, would it matter that my undergraduate is in law? (as I want to do the JD, and not the LLM, because i want a permanent career in the states)

And also do L.S.A.C look at first year grades, as in the U.K these don't count to our overall degree classification, it simply doesn't count.

If they do is there any chance i could get around this, or will they just take my first year marks into consideration?

Thanks guys!

If you got a first it might not be too big of a deal. If you didn't get a first, schools like Stanford are probably not going to be an option.
First = Superior II.1 = Above Average

I did not do this so I don't know if it is actually possible. I was told by somebody you could try to work with your registrar to get them to send your transcript only containing the classes that counted towards your degree classification. So if you are someone that just fucked around during first year, your average doesn't get dropped.

[piccolittle]

LLB student (UK) here, applied this cycle.

Basically only your final degree classification will matter. LSAC generally translates a 2:1 into "Above Average", a first as "superior", and a 2:2 as "average". Ultimately, your LSAT and softs will have more bearing, but I also find that internationals don't tend to have the same level of success as students with the same numbers but a US GPA (e.g., where a 174/3.9 would get into Harvard, a 174/Superior might not). That's just a general observation, but I would focus on keeping at least a 2:1 overall and getting the highest possible LSAT score. The fact that you're studying law doesn't seem to factor much.

Feel free to also PM me if you have any questions.

[observer2000]

So just to confirm, first year grades are not considered by LSAC, but rather the degree classification I achieve? [I started pretty well, but messed up in the latter part of the first semester -- turning it around though]

[nixy]

So just to confirm, first year grades are not considered by LSAC, but rather the degree classification I achieve? [I started pretty well, but messed up in the latter part of the first semester -- turning it around though]

Yes. LSAC doesn’t use foreign GPAs (except Canada), instead it does a holistic review and gives your degree the ranking Superior, Above Average, or Average (or I suppose theoretically Below Average). In practice, for UK degrees, that works out as described above.