Summer Class Forum

[mattf]

I took a class last summer at my local community college that I ended up failing (due to a variety of reasons I won't discuss here). I have not taken any other classes at this school and will not graduate from there. Will LSAC know about this grade/do I have to tell them?

[Kratos]

yup

[Nebby]

Lol no

[A. Nony Mouse]

Lol no

You have to submit transcripts from all institutions attended, so yes, they'll know. If you haven't yet graduated/hadn't graduated before you took the course, the grade will count toward your UGPA.

[Nebby]

Nony, for the bar are all institutions attended-transcripts required? Is that why you can't just not submit? (forgetting what LSAC says for a second).

[A. Nony Mouse]

I don't think any bar requires undergrad transcripts, or even law school transcripts, I think you just have to get a signature from your law school dean certifying that you've completed law school (they probably assume if you graduated law school, your law school confirmed that you had a BA). But my understanding is that there's a central educational warehouse/institution thing that law schools can use to search for your educational records and confirm that they have all your transcripts.

But I mean, LSAC does say you have to submit them all, so...

[BillsFan9907]

I don't think any bar requires undergrad transcripts, or even law school transcripts, I think you just have to get a signature from your law school dean certifying that you've completed law school (they probably assume if you graduated law school, your law school confirmed that you had a BA). But my understanding is that there's a central educational warehouse/institution thing that law schools can use to search for your educational records and confirm that they have all your transcripts.

But I mean, LSAC does say you have to submit them all, so...

That seems highly illegal under FERPA.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_E ... rivacy_Act

I don't see how anyone can get your educational records without a court order or your permission .

[A. Nony Mouse]

They can't get your transcripts directly or other educational records, they can just confirm where you have/haven't been enrolled. At least, this is my understanding based on what other people have posted.

Edit: according to the US Dept of Education:

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

- School officials with legitimate educational interest;
- Other schools to which a student is transferring;
- Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
- Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
- Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
- Accrediting organizations;
- To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
- Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
- State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance.

I would think whether a student attended a particular institution for the purposes of determining where they should be disclosing transcripts from might well fall under a variety of these categories. I'm also not sure what counts as an "education record." But I can't confirm this directly.

[mattf]

I'm getting pretty mixed replies on this question.

[Nebby]

OP. I know of people that have not submitted transcripts from institutions that they didn't use towards their degree requirements.

Like, what does LSAC care if you took basket weaving for personal enjoyment and didn't gain any credit out of it. It's a different story of you get a C at a community college that you then transfer the credits to a 4 year institution. "Sir, we need the transcript from the baking class you took at your local community center, Plz."

But, as Nony said. It says it's required. I would call LSAC and ask them.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm sort of amazed by the above, actually - this question gets posted all the time, people asking about classes they took as high school students or at community colleges or whatever, and the answer is always yes, you have to submit those grades. Of course, I'm also presuming the course referred to in the OP is an academic course, rather than baking, since I'm not aware of a lot of baking courses offered for academic credit that transfers anywhere. But LSAC seems pretty clear:

Law schools require you to send all transcripts from the following institutions you may have attended:
- community colleges
- undergraduate and graduate institutions
- law/medical/professional institutions
- institutions attended for summer or evening courses
- institutions attended even though a degree was never received
- institutions from which you took college-level courses while in high school even though they were for high school credit
- institutions that clearly sponsored your overseas study.
- international transcripts, if applicable

So basically if you enrolled, you submit, as far as I can tell. You don't get to pick and choose which grades count.