International Undergrad? Do admissions care? Forum

[kiwikaki]

So I completely did my undergrad in England... they grade a completely different way there. You have Firsts (100-70), Upper Second Class (60-69), lower second class (50-60) and then thirds or fail. Most people get upper second class, I say around 10 percent get firsts and thirds or fails. Naturally I got an upper second class, near the higher end of the spectrum.
I wonder how do admissions weigh such factors in the admission process. Am I right in assuming that because this doesn't get reported, an applicant with an international undergrad will have the LSAT weighed more heavily?
Also interested in people with similar backgrounds and their outcomes as well.

[q2w3e]

Hi kiwikaki,

I'm also an foreign applicant. There are a couple of threads on TLS for people with a foreign undergrad.Here's one of them: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... nts+thread Do a quick research and you will find other threads like that one.

The collective wisdom here on TLS is that your upper second class transcript will be rated as "above average" by CAS/LSAC. That can be enough to get you in on at least some T-14's depending on your LSAT, but could hurt your chances at HYS.

Some people say they care that you don't have a reportable GPA, but a lot of people say they don't care much. I agree with the latter.

Feel free to P.M. me if you want. I'll be glad to help!

Cheers!

[appind]

Hi kiwikaki,

I'm also an foreign applicant. There are a couple of threads on TLS for people with a foreign undergrad.Here's one of them: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... nts+thread Do a quick research and you will find other threads like that one.

The collective wisdom here on TLS is that your upper second class transcript will be rated as "above average" by CAS/LSAC. That can be enough to get you in on at least some T-14's depending on your LSAT, but could hurt your chances at HYS.

Some people say they care that you don't have a reportable GPA, but a lot of people say they don't care much. I agree with the latter.

Feel free to P.M. me if you want. I'll be glad to help!

Cheers!

does the actual gpa number matter once LSAC has assigned a "superior" rating? is an international gpa of 2.9/superior always better than 3.8/above-average?

[grades??]

All that matters is your rating by the LSAC. OP, generally a second class honors gets you an "excellent" rating. So you need to crush the lsat, but even a 180 will likely keep you out of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. People getting in with "excellent" rarely get into those three. If you get a 170+ you will have a chance at a t14 school.

[appind]

All that matters is your rating by the LSAC. OP, generally a second class honors gets you an "excellent" rating. So you need to crush the lsat, but even a 180 will likely keep you out of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. People getting in with "excellent" rarely get into those three. If you get a 170+ you will have a chance at a t14 school.

there is no excellent, you mean "superior"?

does the actual gpa number matter once LSAC has assigned a "superior" rating? is an international gpa of 2.9/superior always better than 3.8/above-average?

[grades??]

All that matters is your rating by the LSAC. OP, generally a second class honors gets you an "excellent" rating. So you need to crush the lsat, but even a 180 will likely keep you out of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. People getting in with "excellent" rarely get into those three. If you get a 170+ you will have a chance at a t14 school.

there is no excellent, you mean "superior"?

does the actual gpa number matter once LSAC has assigned a "superior" rating? is an international gpa of 2.9/superior always better than 3.8/above-average?

Sorry I meant above-average. I always do that. A second class honors gets you above-average, which is not a great thing unfortunately. So it really matters how well you do on the LSAT to make up for it. I only know 1 person personally out of 12 who didn't get a first but still got into Harvard. He had a 179 and a PHD however.

But a superior is better 100/100 times because that is what schools will be making their decision off of for international applicants.

[appind]

But a superior is better 100/100 times because that is what schools will be making their decision off of for international applicants.

is it true even when a superior is given for gpa of 2.8 out of 4.0? so would a superior/3.8 gpa be treated same as superior/2.8 gpa at say H?

[grades??]

But a superior is better 100/100 times because that is what schools will be making their decision off of for international applicants.

is it true even when a superior is given for gpa of 2.8 out of 4.0? so would a superior/3.8 gpa be treated same as superior/2.8 gpa at say H?

As far as I understand yeah. The LSAC grading is the LSAC trying to equalize the various international institutions gpas. However, I have never ever seen a 2.8 gpa get a superior ranking from the lsac. They don't even give upper 2nd class honors a superior, only firsts. So if your undergrad is a place where you can get a 2.8 and get a superior, Id love to know where that is. Cause quite frankly I can't think of a single school where a 2.8 will get you a superior.

[appind]

But a superior is better 100/100 times because that is what schools will be making their decision off of for international applicants.

is it true even when a superior is given for gpa of 2.8 out of 4.0? so would a superior/3.8 gpa be treated same as superior/2.8 gpa at say H?

As far as I understand yeah. The LSAC grading is the LSAC trying to equalize the various international institutions gpas. However, I have never ever seen a 2.8 gpa get a superior ranking from the lsac. They don't even give upper 2nd class honors a superior, only firsts. So if your undergrad is a place where you can get a 2.8 and get a superior, Id love to know where that is. Cause quite frankly I can't think of a single school where a 2.8 will get you a superior.

some international schools have curves where vast majority of class have 3.0 gpa out of 4.0, and lsac would evaluate them as superior. so it's not clear whether the adcom would then not hold the numerical value of the gpa against the applicant and prefer someone from another school with 3.5 gpa/above-average.