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Fam, I screwed up. My exchange grades are AWFUL!!!

itsemmarobynitsemmarobyn Member
edited February 2019 in Law School Admissions 272 karma

I spent fall 2018 on exchange in England for one semester (Sep-Dec 2018) and took three courses. Two were 100% assessed on a 15-page essay. The other one was 30% first essay and 70% final essay.

I just received my grades for the two 100% assessed courses and my grades are TERRIBLE. I've never received marks this low in my LIFE. I'm talking 2:2 and a 3rd class (here is a link to understand what this means: https://www.scholaro.com/pro/Countries/united-kingdom/Grading-System).

I have a 3.87 GPA at my home institution, but since every law school wants transcripts from every institution attended (including study abroad), there's no way to escape sending them. Since I was only in England for one semester, I can't send my international transcripts to LSAC (they require at least 1 year abroad to evaluate them), so they'll just be sent directly to each school I apply to. I have no idea how schools are going to react when they see my exchange grades. There's almost no information about it on admission websites, no matter which school I look at.

I know this is going to hurt me during the admissions process. What do I do? Will the schools reject me because of these grades? Does anyone know what schools do with exchange transcripts? Is there a way I can redeem myself from this?

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Comments

  • GermanLSATtakerGermanLSATtaker Alum Member
    148 karma

    Hey, you can always consider to include an addendum explaining the disparity in your grades!

  • akistotleakistotle Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    9382 karma

    @itsemmarobyn said:
    I spent fall 2018 on exchange in England for one semester (Sep-Dec 2018) and took three courses. Two were 100% assessed on a 15-page essay. The other one was 30% first essay and 70% final essay.

    I just received my grades for the two 100% assessed courses and my grades are TERRIBLE. I've never received marks this low in my LIFE. I'm talking 2:2 and a 3rd class (here is a link to understand what this means: https://www.scholaro.com/pro/Countries/united-kingdom/Grading-System).

    I have a 3.87 GPA at my home institution, but since every law school wants transcripts from every institution attended (including study abroad), there's no way to escape sending them. Since I was only in England for one semester, I can't send my international transcripts to LSAC (they require at least 1 year abroad to evaluate them), so they'll just be sent directly to each school I apply to. I have no idea how schools are going to react when they see my exchange grades. There's almost no information about it on admission websites, no matter which school I look at.

    I know this is going to hurt me during the admissions process. What do I do? Will the schools reject me because of these grades? Does anyone know what schools do with exchange transcripts? Is there a way I can redeem myself from this?

    If I'm not mistaken, your grades at an international institution will not be factored into your cumulative GPA on the CAS transcript report. Foreign transcripts (=non-US/Canada transcripts) are evaluated by the foreign evaluation service and it is a separate evaluation from the academic summary report.

    But you might want to call the LSAC to double check!

  • eRetakereRetaker Free Trial Member
    2043 karma

    @itsemmarobyn I just went through this process, and I will send you a PM.

  • eRetakereRetaker Free Trial Member
    2043 karma

    Also to add on for anyone else in the same situation, I had to ask my abroad institution to snail mail the transcript directly to LSAC. GPA was not counted since it was not a full year. Never got asked about them in interviews or anywhere. Though you will run into heavy delays with LSAC, but give them a call and they're more than willing to help you as I've found.

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