LSDAS/Transcripts
All applicants, including international students, must register with the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS).
General Information
LSDAS is the division of the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) that collects and analyzes academic data and transcripts on behalf of nearly all American Bar Association-approved law schools. Information about LSDAS and registration forms are available at http://www.lsac.org/. You must have transcripts sent to LSDAS from all schools you attended, including community colleges where you took a class or two, graduate programs, etc. Graduate program transcripts are sent with LSDAS reports, but your graduate school grades will not change your undergraduate GPA. LSDAS will summarize your undergraduate transcripts and send both the summary as part of your score report and copies of the transcripts to the law schools where apply for admission.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my GPA be the same according to LSDAS and my undergraduate school?
One important thing to know is that sometimes your LSDAS GPA and your university's GPA may be different. For example, if you took a class P/NP and didn't pass, LSDAS will convert that NP to an "F" and recalculate your GPA accordingly. Likewise, if you received an "A+ but your school awards nothing above a 4.0 score, LSDAS may translate that "A+" into a 4.33 and recalculate your GPA accordingly. Questions about this should be directed to LSAC.
Do I need to send LSDAS foreign transcripts?
LSDAS also summarizes transcripts from foreign institutions and sends that summary with the transcripts themselves to law schools where you apply.
Should I send my transcripts to Berkeley Law?
LSDAS, not Berkeley Law, must receive one copy of your undergraduate transcript directly from each college that you have attended, even if the institution does not use a letter-grade system.
What role does my GPA play in admissions?
According to weights provided by Berkeley Law, LSDAS combines an applicant’s LSAT score and undergraduate grade point average (GPA) into a single value called the index number, and prints the index number on the applicant’s LSDAS report. This report—which contains the applicant’s undergraduate academic summary, LSAT scores, copies of transcripts, writing samples and letters of recommendation—is then sent to Berkeley Law.
When applicants receive a copy of their LSDAS report, Berkeley Law also receives the report. Applicants who do not receive the report within six weeks of submitting all the relevant materials should check that all their transcripts have been sent and, if not, should contact LSDAS to see whether their LSDAS file is incomplete.
I am in school now. Should I wait for my Fall/Winter grades to come in before applying?
If you are currently completing undergraduate work, you should NOT wait for fall or winter semester (or quarter) grades to be posted on your transcripts before sending them to Law Services. Decisions on many applications will have already been made before the Admissions Office receives these grades.
Graduate Transcripts
Official transcripts for all graduate work undertaken should be sent from the graduate institution directly to LSDAS, which will include them with the LSDAS report.
