I've started attending some law school information sessions, and one thing that is exceedingly unclear is requirements around study abroad transcripts. I studied abroad one semester during undergrad, and per LSAC, as long as that experience is included on my undergrad transcript, I do not need to submit my transcript from study abroad (even though my grades are not shown). It seems like some schools may still require me to submit an official study abroad transcript, like BC, GW, and others. I am not really sure where to start if I need to submit it via LSAC, or just to schools directly. Further, will it recalculate my LSAC GPA, even if the grades are on the European standard?
Would love for an admissions consultant to answer this. If anyone has past experience or insight also, please let us all know! I am sure I am not alone in my confusion.
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Is it bad to send a study abroad transcript to a school that didn't ask for one? It's a pain to search for, find, and interpret each school's study abroad transcript policies—especially when applying to a bunch of schools. So I was thinking about sending all schools my study abroad transcript so that the schools that want that transcript have it. @JacobBaska
@PrincessD In general, you should only give schools the materials that they ask for!
And if the thought is "it's a hassle so let me just send it to everyone!!!!!," here's the counter:
If it's a transcript that LSAC has received and processed, it's automatically going to every school anyway. So there's nothing else you need to do.
If it's NOT a transcript that LSAC has received and processed, you would most likely have to email the transcript to individual schools. If the goal here is "minimize hassle," it seems to me like "sending a bunch of emails" is a bigger hassle than "sending out a few emails." But that's just me!
@JacobBaska Hi, yes, I was going to do that first option ('If it's a transcript . . . need to do'). Is that okay or will schools be unhappy with me for doing that? In other words, should I not be sending my study abroad transcript to LSAC and instead be sending it to individual schools so that some schools that didn't ask for the study abroad transcript don't automatically get it?
This wouldn't be a problem for the schools that don't ask for study abroad transcripts because it would already be a part of your CAS Report. Not a hassle for them at all!
Thank you for letting me know!
Sigh! Sorry that you aren't getting consistent guidance here. Admittedly, you're also dealing with schools who are 1) handling their own internal policies (ie, their registrar may be making them get transcripts) and 2) LSAC's policies.
Let's handle LSAC first. Speaking in general terms, I've found that they usually don't need a transcript from the study abroad institution as long as the study abroad work is clearly noted on your home school's transcript. By that, I mean that it says "Fall 2024 - Study abroad via U. Oxford" or something of that nature. Additionally, it should show course titles, credits earned, and grades received (even if it was pass/fail). If you see all that on your home school's transcript, you should be alright.
We start moving into a gray area when some of that info may be missing. The most common thing to be missing are grades. In that case, I would HIGHLY encourage you to be READY for LSAC to tell you that you HAVE to send in that study abroad transcript. And how will you know that you need to do that? When LSAC processes your home school's transcript, they SHOULD take note of your study abroad and then notify you of any further requirements. But you'll notice all the CAPS I just put on things. Because this is what SHOULD happen ... but it may not. So you should just be ready regardless.
Regarding grades, LSAC only includes grades if they're from a school accredited by an American/Canadian education entity that grades on a general A/B/C/D/F or 4.0 scale. If you studied abroad for a semester at Oxford, LSAC will not try to translate your "second tier, first honors" mark on to the A/B/C/D/F scale.
Good luck!
@JacobBaska Thanks Jacob! They didn't notify me that I needed to submit anything else, but I thought I should try and get it anyway as some schools want it. That's not going to be fun but oh well.
@Walrus On the one hand - that's good that you've already jumped over the LSAC Hurdle. That's the gnarliest one! On the other hand - that's reasonable to have a copy on hand in case schools want it. Just follow the school's requests and you should be alright (and I would hope that an unofficial transcript would be alright for the purposes of deciding whether or not to admit, but you never know).
@JacobBaska Would it make sense to attach it as addendum to the specific school applications like for HYS since LSAC specifically says not to if its an international exchange semester?
@kwasont Just to make sure I'm giving the best advice possible, could you clarify the situation? Is it:
I studied abroad for a semester.
The study abroad semester is reflected on my home transcript. Course titles, grades, and credit hours are all there.
LSAC hasn't asked me for any further documentation for that semester.
Because in that case, there's nothing to say in an addenda because everything is on your transcript. But just let me know what your situation is!
@JacobBaska thank you so much for the reply! For context, I studied abroad for a semester and while the course codes and credit hours for the equivalent classes at my home university are on the transcript, the actual classes I took abroad are not + the grades are just indicated as pass/fail(all passes lol), while the abroad uni has the full names, credit hours and grades on there. Current approach is to just attach it as addenda to each individual application, no harm no foul?
Thanks for clarifying!
If I were in your shoes, here's what I would do:
If LSAC has already processed your home school's transcript and if they aren't telling you that they need anything else, you're all set with LSAC.
I would not send a transcript to schools via an Addenda. The worst case scenario here is that you are offering them information and then a school tells you to route the info through LSAC. That creates a logistical issue for you because you now have to get the study abroad school to send the doc to LSAC, it's most likely going to have to be via mail, it's going to take weeks, etc. Rather, I would wait until if/when a school requests further info from me and then I would email it to them.
There's no reason to cause a potential headache until a school asks for it!
My program was outside of my university and they required me to send the host universities transcript because I technically "transferred" even though I was still a student at my home institution.. so idk if that helps but they did end up making me so maybe have it on hand just in case.
@Kihla333 good point, thanks!
@Walrus also I wanna say they calculate them on how they appear on your home transcript beacuse they would have been transferred into your total credits for graduation if that makes sense? Could also put your transcript into the 7sage calculator to try to see
@Kihla333 They dont appear with any grades, so they werent calculated based off my undergrad transcript. I have a copy of my abroad transcript and supposedly so does my undergrad university. I guess my concern is including it with every application instead of only the ones that require it, even though the grades arent bad. For instance, Columbia says this "Candidates who studied abroad for one academic year or less are strongly encouraged to submit official copies of their transcripts if the grades do not appear on the home institution's transcript. If candidates run into difficulty having these transcripts sent from institutions abroad, then an unofficial copy of the transcript (PDF format preferred) may be uploaded in the "Addendum" section of the application. In most instances, the Admissions Committee prefers to consider a candidate's performance in study abroad courses, and requesting transcripts can often slow down the review process."
I studied abroad for a semester and am planning to send it to LSAC to be safe
@nr yeah, this might be the play. But do you know how/if they calculate it into your LSAC gpa?
@Walrus I have no idea tbh :(
@Walrus They don't, is what I have been told, unless you directly matriculated into a university for a year or so.