Submitting fall grades to LSAC Forum

[westinghouse60]

I had planned to apply the day apps opened up, but recently heard you can submit fall grades even after applying, and LSAC will convert them and send them the schools you have applied to. How exactly does this work? Is it something that will help you get off if you're WL at a school? Or would it be better to apply reach schools after the semester ends? (I'm somewhat worried that I would get a direct rejection from a reach school with my lower GPA, then not be able to submit my newer grades. Although realistically of course, I realize that if I was rejected, newer grades wouldn't have gotten me off the WL anyway...)

And on a related note, I have a 3.39 right now. I really wanted Cornell/UVA but my 167 LSAT pretty much precludes admission at either of those schools, at least with a 3.39. I know I'm out at UVA without 170+/ED, but (assuming I don't retake) what are my chances at say, Cornell/Vanderbilt/George Washington of getting WL with a 3.39, then submitting fall grades and getting in with my GPA being recalculated to ~3.46? I've looked at LSN/LSP obviously but I don't know exactly how the whole submitting fall grades would affect this.

[cinephile]

Waiting till after fall grades come in means you'd be submitting in Dec/early Jan, right? This is too late (I should know).

Why not take a year off so you can submit all of senior year's grades? This gives you a bigger potential GPA boost.

ETA: Didn't realize you'd be applying early, the submitting upgraded grades. Don't know how to do this, but I still recommend applying after you get all grades in a year later.

[bp shinners]

During the application process, you're supposed to keep LSAC up to date with newly released grades, changes in jobs, ECs, etc... So you should be doing this no matter what the logistics of your situation.

If the school's have already made a decision on you, it won't help (as you already know). If you're waitlisted, you should be sending in newer materials that reflect positively on you anyway.

For your reach schools, you have to ask yourself, realistically, how much your GPA will improve with a semester's worth of grades. The answer, for the most part, will be that it won't improve nearly as much as the boost for applying 4-5 months earlier will give you.

[aerogear]

Waiting till after fall grades come in means you'd be submitting in Dec/early Jan, right? This is too late (I should know).

Why not take a year off so you can submit all of senior year's grades? This gives you a bigger potential GPA boost.

ETA: Didn't realize you'd be applying early, the submitting upgraded grades. Don't know how to do this, but I still recommend applying after you get all grades in a year later.

What if it was a substantial boost, would it still be worth it? How about sending out applications at various times? i.e. UVA ED and then all of your regular decisions at the beginning of December?

[bp shinners]

What if it was a substantial boost, would it still be worth it? How about sending out applications at various times? i.e. UVA ED and then all of your regular decisions at the beginning of December?

How substantial of a boost are you going to see from one semester after having several years under your belt? For the most part, it's not going to be that huge of a jump. Specific cases, however, may elicit a different answer. But definitely do the math.

[mickeyD]

Instead of busting your ass to get (I assume) straight A's to increase your GPA .07 points, why dont you just take the LSAT again? It'd be better for you even if you got worse grades this semester (ex. all B's) but retake to 170-171 than to get straight A's and keep your 167.

~3.46/167

won't help as much as

~3.30/170

And obviously your grades probably wouldn't go down (LSAT prep would only go through Oct 1). Just saying, if you're considering delaying your apps 6 months you might as well just retake.