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In my summer before college started, I thought it would be a good idea to take Calculus at my local Community College, just to get ahead. About 40% of the way through the course, I learned that I had been placed into Calculus at my Undergrad school and that this CC course would not transfer, thus making the course completely worthless to me at the time. Instead of continuing the class, or even withdrawing from the class, I just stopped going, and subsequently earned an F.I never imagined at the time that an F in a class at a CC would hinder me later in life.

Now here I sit, 6 years later, and this meaningless summer class is changing my LSDAS GPA from 3.61 to 3.49. I know there are people on here that would just recommend try "hide" the fact that I ever attended the community college, but I am not interested in doing that. I am looking for advice on how to go about explaining this to LSAC/law schools, and if I have an possible recourse with the community college at this point.

Thanks for your help.

First of all you cant hide the grade.

Does one F really drop your GPA that much?

Nothing you can really do about it now.

cubbiesfan wrote:I know there are people on here that would just recommend try "hide" the fact that I ever attended the community college, but I am not interested in doing that.

No one here advocates that. It's career suicide, or pre-career suicide.

Just write a nice essay and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, nail the LSAT.

Also, Cumminty?

Thanks, and I as I said I am not interested in hiding the grade. I did a search and saw some people just didn't acknowledge attending other colleges if they didn't transfer in credits. That seems like a very dumb plan to me.

And yes, in my case, my GPA is changed that significantly. Obviously an addendum would be necessary, but what would schools think about this? It was really just a meaningless class when I was a 17 year old kid...

cubbiesfan wrote:And yes, in my case, my GPA is changed that significantly. Obviously an addendum would be necessary, but what would schools think about this? It was really just a meaningless class when I was a 17 year old kid...

They will still probably just care about your 3.5. Yeah it sucks, but thankfully for you there isn't that much of a difference for admissions between a 3.5 and a 3.6.

scammedhard wrote:

cubbiesfan wrote:I know there are people on here that would just recommend try "hide" the fact that I ever attended the community college, but I am not interested in doing that.

No one here advocates that. It's career suicide, or pre-career suicide.

Just write a nice essay and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, nail the LSAT.

Also, Cumminty?

Hahaha sorry about that typo. Thanks for the advice.

Sometimes you are able to withdraw from a class after the fact. This involves a petition process in which you need to demonstrate a cogent reason for your failure to resume attendance at the class. I think the reason you gave is one worth presenting. No guarantees, but at least file the petition with the CC and explain your case, worst case scenario is status quo.

Any other advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated...

I had a zero from community college. I retook the class and got an A, but LSAC factors in the zero no matter what. It sucked to have to eat that zero, but it worked out ITE. Just write a candid addendum to every school if you think your excuse will reflect better on your character.

robotclubmember wrote:Sometimes you are able to withdraw from a class after the fact. This involves a petition process in which you need to demonstrate a cogent reason for your failure to resume attendance at the class. I think the reason you gave is one worth presenting. No guarantees, but at least file the petition with the CC and explain your case, worst case scenario is status quo.

This is possible. Otherwise, just get an LSAT score so high that it won't matter anymore.

Same exact thing happened to me, though I actually petitioned my CC to remove the F (they would not even allow me to withdraw during the semester, so I stopped going). I was very nice about it the entire time and had my former Anatomy teacher vouch for me (I took anatomy in HS that transferred to college credits, but I was told by one school it counted and another that it didn't).

Just write an addendum about the grade and explain why it happened.

vanwinkle wrote:

robotclubmember wrote:Sometimes you are able to withdraw from a class after the fact. This involves a petition process in which you need to demonstrate a cogent reason for your failure to resume attendance at the class. I think the reason you gave is one worth presenting. No guarantees, but at least file the petition with the CC and explain your case, worst case scenario is status quo.

This is possible. Otherwise, just get an LSAT score so high that it won't matter anymore.

3.5 to 3.6 can definitely be made up by a few points in the LSAT, so this man is right and you should worry more about that.

But otherwise, can you explain how this is showing up to LSAC? You said you weren't interested in hiding the grade, but any desirable outcome for you is gonna be some, euphemistic or not, version of that. Is it on your current UG's transcript?

TheKingintheNorth wrote:But otherwise, can you explain how this is showing up to LSAC? You said you weren't interested in hiding the grade, but any desirable outcome for you is gonna be some, euphemistic or not, version of that. Is it on your current UG's transcript?

You are required to provide transcripts to all UG institutions you have attended, regardless of whether your graduating school was aware of them or accepted them as transfer credits or whatever. It's certainly possible to not submit a transcript to LSAC, and for them not to notice a transcript is missing if none of your other transcripts mention transfer credits from that school, but you run the risk of being disbarred for lying on your law school applications.

It shows up to LSAC because you provide them with a transcript. That's all there is to it.

vanwinkle wrote:

TheKingintheNorth wrote: It shows up to LSAC because you provide them with a transcript. That's all there is to it.

This is what I thought. I'm not doubting I would be committing an error but, I don't know, before this thread and another one like it I wouldn't have even thought to send in a pre-undergrad transcript containing a lone F. Not as anything deliberate, I just wouldn't think any reasonable system would care to see it. I probably wouldn't have even thought to send in transcript if it just had an A either.

In a perfect world the OP should get some bonus points for being so concerned and ethical about it.

Thanks KingUpNorth...it's not really that I am trying to be a perfect citizen or I have some moral compass that surpasses everyone elses, but I completely to agree with Vanwinkle that getting denied entry to the Bar for such a stupid reason is a huge price to pay - one that I am not going to risk.

Thanks everyone. I hope someone out there can learn from this experience before it matters for them....so unfortunate and trivial.

TheKingintheNorth wrote:

vanwinkle wrote:

TheKingintheNorth wrote: It shows up to LSAC because you provide them with a transcript. That's all there is to it.

This is what I thought. I'm not doubting I would be committing an error but, I don't know, before this thread and another one like it I wouldn't have even thought to send in a pre-undergrad transcript containing a lone F. Not as anything deliberate, I just wouldn't think any reasonable system would care to see it. I probably wouldn't have even thought to send in transcript if it just had an A either.

In a perfect world the OP should get some bonus points for being so concerned and ethical about it.

A sad world where being ethical should be rewarded with bonus points, eh? Not that I disagree.

I have a similar situation. Got a D four years ago and I'm thinking about retaking the course. My community college said that they replace the grade in factoring my GPA, "but that the old grade still appears on the transcript."

How will LSAC work with this? Are they going to factor the D in to my GPA when the CC no longer does?

loomstate wrote: How will LSAC work with this? Are they going to factor the D in to my GPA when the CC no longer does?

Yes

loomstate wrote:I have a similar situation. Got a D four years ago and I'm thinking about retaking the course. My community college said that they replace the grade in factoring my GPA, "but that the old grade still appears on the transcript."

How will LSAC work with this? Are they going to factor the D in to my GPA when the CC no longer does?

Yes. They factor in all grades. I know it's not the answer you want, but for some reason that's how they do things.

One factor schools will consider is how long ago it was. I had a similar blemish on my record but it was so long ago I don't think schools cared as much.

goop92 wrote:One factor schools will consider is how long ago it was. I had a similar blemish on my record but it was so long ago I don't think schools cared as much.

Debatable. Adcomms will tell you it's not important when you ask them and are applying. But if it changes the stats that will be reported to USNWR, then it still matters. My LSDAS GPA was 3.61 also. I feel strongly that if it had been a 3.49, I would have still gotten into the school that I wanted to, but that I would have been knocked down into the next lowest increment for scholly $$$ awarded, even if the 3.49 was because of a stupid blemish like this that occurred long ago. Sucks but true.

this was a bummer thread. I just went from a 3.95 to a 3.87

Here's to enrolling in CC when you're a naive pothead

Haha. I also had a D from a community college (in french) just because I wanted to bone up on material, not because I actually needed the credits.

It only dropped me from 3.03 to 3.01 though. I don't see how it's feasible that one single grade can make such a difference to the OP. And I still got into T14, so you'll just have to deal with it.