does the LSAC calculate academic renewal grades? Forum

[scottybear]

My school has a policy on academic renewal. I tried contacting the LSAC four times... they ignored me once, and the other three times gave me answers that clearly indicated that they don't know what academic renewal is, despite a paragraph of explanation. Of course, I realize that probably nobody here actually knows, so best case scenario for me is for someone to say "yes, i tried it and they count it" or "I tried it and they don't count it".

So, some background (since I feel like some schools just don't have anything like this, and some schools have it under different names, etc): for my UG school, academic renewal is this:

When a student does poorly and then shows that this isn't reflective of their best work, they can apply for academic renewal. So you have to have X numbers of units after the semester in question (something like 2 years worth of units) with a 3.0 GPA. Then, the classes that qualify for academic renewal are removed from the GPA calculations.
The units are removed from the calculation of units (so, say you've taken 100 units and 6 units qualify for academic renewal, your unit total would be 94), and the grades are obviously removed from gpa calculation. However, the thing that makes me think that they might not be counted is the fact that up until very recently my school would actually black the classes off your record, so when looking at the transcript you'd just see a big black line... couldn't tell what class it was, how many units, the grade, the semester, anything. However, they recently stopped completely blacking them out, apparently because they need the records in case of an audit or something (like if they need to show that enrollment in a certain class was X students or something). naturally, this means that you can now see what the class were and the grade, but it's noted that the class was stricken from the record via academic renewal. So, since the intent of the academic renewal was the completely strike these classes from the record, i'm hoping that the lsac will honor this.
But maybe not.

Anyone have experience with this with either this program or a similar program?

Some things: this is different that just retaking a class, and different from something like an F which gives you 0 units earned. This might show like a D or a C with zero units earned.

Also, I'm sure some people are thinking, why not just do it and send them in? It's because my school sets limits on how many semesters you can renew. I think they have a 2 semester limit (i.e. you can only apply to renew classes from 2 different semesters), so for someone like me who had a number of bad classes, I need to pick and choose what would be the most helpful. Since the LSAC counts both grades from classes where one had a bad grade and then retook it, I have to choose between a semester where I have more F's, but these classes were later retaken and I got A's (which would help the most for law schools, as it would raise my gpa the most), or I have to choose a semester with fewer F's, but none of the classes were retaken (which would raise my gpa the most in ALL OTHER instances besides law school, since most other institutions count the highest grade for classes that were retaken--i.e. future employers, graduate schools, car insurance, etc, etc).

Thoughts? Thanks!

[t-14orbust]

I think they will count them. Too bad your school stopped blacking them out lol

[09042014]

Does it give the amount of hours attempted next to it?

If it's like this:

BasketWeaving 101 - 0 hrs - C+

Well that will show up at a C+ but I think it'll be multiplied by the Zero hours. I had a zero hour F on my transcript and it didn't do anything. They may still estimate the hours or something, so no promises.

However:

If it's like this

BasketWeaving 101 - 3 hrs - C+

That counts, or

BasketWeaving 101 - 0 hrs earned, 3 hrs attempted - C+

That counts too.

[Ti Malice]

Haven't ever heard of anything like this before. If they show on your transcript, they will probably be counted. LSAC's goal is not to "honor" your school's grading policy, but to calculate your GPA according to their scale for every class for which you've received a grade at some time (except for retroactive withdrawals). I imagine that they will likely treat your previous classes just like they do classes that people have retaken for a higher grade.

[bp shinners]

Haven't ever heard of anything like this before. If they show on your transcript, they will probably be counted. LSAC's goal is not to "honor" your school's grading policy, but to calculate your GPA according to their scale for every class for which you've received a grade at some time (except for retroactive withdrawals). I imagine that they will likely treat your previous classes just like they do classes that people have retaken for a higher grade.

Yea, my gut is that they'll be counted, unless they're noted as DF said.