how does lsac calcuate your grade ranking (international) Forum

[justwondering123]

I'm just trying to find out as much as I can before I apply for the cycle. I'm aware that when international students (UK here) submit their transcripts they receive a ranking superior, above average, satifactory etc.
I'm just wondering how these are calculated like do they simply add up the total number of marks and divide it by how many years your degree is I.e the mean? If this is the case what are the marks/ percentages needed?
If not how do they do it?
Do you think they would say if I emailed them?

[shoeshine]

very carefully...

[tvt86]

I'm just trying to find out as much as I can before I apply for the cycle. I'm aware that when international students (UK here) submit their transcripts they receive a ranking superior, above average, satifactory etc.
I'm just wondering how these are calculated like do they simply add up the total number of marks and divide it by how many years your degree is I.e the mean? If this is the case what are the marks/ percentages needed?
If not how do they do it?
Do you think they would say if I emailed them?

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any hard-and-fast rules that they follow all the time. Broadly, a First seems to equate to "superior", 2.1 to "above average", 2.2 to satisfactory, etc. Discussion on this forum has shown that this can vary in individual cases, although it doesn't seem that anyone really understands why. On my LSAC report, the notes section also stated that, if the schools were reviewing the individual grades on my UK transcript, they should consider a 70+ to be an A, a 60+ to be a B and a 55+ to be a B-. All in all, the LSAC's system for evaluating foreign credentials seems to be entirely unhelpful, both for candidates and schools. People seem to disagree about the extent to which law schools pay attention to the LSAC classifications.

[justwondering123]

I'm just trying to find out as much as I can before I apply for the cycle. I'm aware that when international students (UK here) submit their transcripts they receive a ranking superior, above average, satifactory etc.
I'm just wondering how these are calculated like do they simply add up the total number of marks and divide it by how many years your degree is I.e the mean? If this is the case what are the marks/ percentages needed?
If not how do they do it?
Do you think they would say if I emailed them?

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any hard-and-fast rules that they follow all the time. Broadly, a First seems to equate to "superior", 2.1 to "above average", 2.2 to satisfactory, etc. Discussion on this forum has shown that this can vary in individual cases, although it doesn't seem that anyone really understands why. On my LSAC report, the notes section also stated that, if the schools were reviewing the individual grades on my UK transcript, they should consider a 70+ to be an A, a 60+ to be a B and a 55+ to be a B-. All in all, the LSAC's system for evaluating foreign credentials seems to be entirely unhelpful, both for candidates and schools. People seem to disagree about the extent to which law schools pay attention to the LSAC classifications.

Hey thanks for your really good answer, its helped a lot. Say it I was to get a 3rd/2.2 in my first year but hight 1sts in the second and third- would this classify as a superior- this is my predicament at the moment :s even though 1st year doesn't materially contribute- I know it counts on lsac transcripts

[tvt86]

Hey thanks for your really good answer, its helped a lot. Say it I was to get a 3rd/2.2 in my first year but hight 1sts in the second and third- would this classify as a superior- this is my predicament at the moment :s even though 1st year doesn't materially contribute- I know it counts on lsac transcripts

I could be wrong of course, but I'd guess that the LSAC really has no idea how they should handle this. They will definitely look at all of your grades, so a 2.2 in first year would maybe mean that you'd fall from superior to above average, even if you had a First in your second and third years. At the same time, though, if they see your degree classified as a First, they might just label it as superior. Personally, I think it's a crap shoot. I tried very hard to get some transparency from them and failed to do so.