Guys, it has been almost 3 weeks since my documents have been with LSAC, I logged in to check my AACRAO status today and it said "Hold - Documentation - Verification". What does this mean? They had an issue with my provisional degree/certificate, since my Final Degree takes three years to be issued post graduation, and I graduated in 2017, so before next year it won't be available to me.

The same was communicated by me to LSAC, yet this confusion happened. Someone please tell me what does this mean, general google search didn't help.

[Edited by ann007 on Nov 11, 2019]

Hi — Please see thereafter a previous post with the same problem: https://llm-guide.com/board/general-forum/logged-into-my-lsac-account-209676
To my understanding it's because AACRAO needs to do a verification of documents from the issuing institution. I guess that sometime it contacts the issuing institution in case of doubts or misunderstanding with the transcripts/diplomas.

[Edited by # on Nov 11, 2019]

I did see this post, but I had to ask again since a lot of questions remained unanswered.

My University had thousands of students and being a state run Indian University they are pretty lax in their approach. I don't know what they want to verify, since I did clarify via email and on call that all documents my University had forwarded are the only ones issued to me.

Yet, they choose to prolong it, and harass me unnecessarily, even after I clarified things on my end. Deadlines are fast approaching and I'm scared if this affects my admissions. Honestly, have no idea what to do.

About the deadlines, you should be able to apply through LSAC even if the AACRAO evaluation is not complete because:

(1) For many law schools this document is optional and even if it's mandatory they can still bypass this report because the law school will do an holistic evaluation of your application; and

(2) Even after a complete application, LSAC will continue to send update on your documents (like toefl score report, AACRAO reevaluation, etc.) to the law schools where you applied, so if your evaluation is not ready they will send it when it will be done.

Therefore, if a deadline is short (like the Early Action Deadline of some law schools) you should still be able to apply.

Finally, you can ask to LSAC additional information about this status. And if you can share the LSAC's answer in this forum I am sure that it will help a lot other [future] applicants.

[Edited by # on Nov 11, 2019]

Thank you for letting me know this, this really helps. I have to apply to apply for Stanford before 22nd of this month, since I have applied for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. I did not know that applying without the full verification is complete is a possibility. This really puts my mind at ease.

I have emailed LSAC, but their responses are very delayed, probably because applications are open and a lot of people will be applying. I do plan on calling them today, and whatever they tell me I will surely post it here.

Thank you so much for your help.

guys, I finally got a response back from LSAC, they still did not clarify over email, I had to call them and ask them. Spoke to them for 15 minutes or so. Apparently my documents have been put on hold since they need me to submit a signed and attested copy of each of my marksheet to them, and have the University forward it to them.

Had I not called I would have never known about this. My advice is to always call them and make things clear to them. Despite speaking with them and specifically asking them to do send me an email requesting additional documents. They sent a useless email stating that in case anything additional is required, the same will be communicated to be, despite saying opposite phone, where they already told me what was needed.

So that no one else faces this form of a harassment, especially students from India, in case your University has not yet issued a final degree and you are making do with your provisional degree/certificate my advice is that send all your signed and attested copies marksheets in one go to LSAC along with all the other documents needed, or else for some reason or another they will harass you like this.

Hi 


How did you eventually resolve this issue. Curious

guys, I finally got a response back from LSAC, they still did not clarify over email, I had to call them and ask them. Spoke to them for 15 minutes or so. Apparently my documents have been put on hold since they need me to submit a signed and attested copy of each of my marksheet to them, and have the University forward it to them.

Had I not called I would have never known about this. My advice is to always call them and make things clear to them. Despite speaking with them and specifically asking them to do send me an email requesting additional documents. They sent a useless email stating that in case anything additional is required, the same will be communicated to be, despite saying opposite phone, where they already told me what was needed.

So that no one else faces this form of a harassment, especially students from India, in case your University has not yet issued a final degree and you are making do with your provisional degree/certificate my advice is that send all your signed and attested copies marksheets in one go to LSAC along with all the other documents needed, or else for some reason or another they will harass you like this.

Facing the same myself and the harassment is insane. How did it go for you in the end?

guys, I finally got a response back from LSAC, they still did not clarify over email, I had to call them and ask them. Spoke to them for 15 minutes or so. Apparently my documents have been put on hold since they need me to submit a signed and attested copy of each of my marksheet to them, and have the University forward it to them.

Had I not called I would have never known about this. My advice is to always call them and make things clear to them. Despite speaking with them and specifically asking them to do send me an email requesting additional documents. They sent a useless email stating that in case anything additional is required, the same will be communicated to be, despite saying opposite phone, where they already told me what was needed.

So that no one else faces this form of a harassment, especially students from India, in case your University has not yet issued a final degree and you are making do with your provisional degree/certificate my advice is that send all your signed and attested copies marksheets in one go to LSAC along with all the other documents needed, or else for some reason or another they will harass you like this.

Facing this issue now, I cannot have my provisional certificate sent in time. How have you guys overcome this issue? Partial reports? Email?

Facing the same myself and the harassment is insane. How did it go for you in the end?

guys, I finally got a response back from LSAC, they still did not clarify over email, I had to call them and ask them. Spoke to them for 15 minutes or so. Apparently my documents have been put on hold since they need me to submit a signed and attested copy of each of my marksheet to them, and have the University forward it to them.

Had I not called I would have never known about this. My advice is to always call them and make things clear to them. Despite speaking with them and specifically asking them to do send me an email requesting additional documents. They sent a useless email stating that in case anything additional is required, the same will be communicated to be, despite saying opposite phone, where they already told me what was needed.

So that no one else faces this form of a harassment, especially students from India, in case your University has not yet issued a final degree and you are making do with your provisional degree/certificate my advice is that send all your signed and attested copies marksheets in one go to LSAC along with all the other documents needed, or else for some reason or another they will harass you like this.

I'm going crazy with LSAC, they are utterly incompetent and I have never paid for a service as disastrous as theirs. 

I started the whole transcripts process with them in October 2021; it's almost February 2022 and they are still harassing me with this (they've requested dozens of additional documents, like dozens). I cannot begin to fathom how this incompetence and harassment is happily overlooked by institutions. Every year, thousands and thousands of applicants have to go through this anxious nightmare, yet no one does anything about it. 

So now I'm at the stage (after 4 months) where AACRAO is "reviewing" my transcripts, and I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that AACRAO has suspended the review because my "diploma" was sent from an institution different from the issuing institution. I sent them an e-mail on December 7th explaining that the institution sending the "diploma" was an affiliated institution of the issuing institution, and that that is how things are done in Spain, precisely to avoid this. But no, they do not accept the document (when they should, because it is sent by the official institution where I did my master's degree, in a sealed envelope, with the stamp and bla bla bla).

I honestly don't know when this harassment is going to stop, but I'm going to apply to the universities without the AACRAO evaluation and I'll see how everything goes from there. I've tried really hard to avoid this, but there's nothing else I can do at this point. This is insane. 

[Edited by sfhm2022 on Jan 28, 2022]

Hey, I'm so sorry you're going through this. If it helps, they refused to accept a document from my affiliated institute as well, I had asked LSAC this over the phone, and ideally they should have notified you of this before it was forwarded to AACRAO. The harassment and anxiety is terrible, the number of panic attacks i've had lately is just, I can't. AACRAO is required for some (NYU, Berkeley and strongly preferred by Columbia). What I would suggest is directly contacting the universities, and asking them if they can request a partial report from LSAC and submit a scan of the remaining document. This will buy you time, this is exactly what I did. UPenn accepted, but NYU and Cornell declined saying that my decision is not being affected at this point which is why they will not request a partial report. I'm happy to discuss further on PM, I've witnessed the anxiety so I know how it feels.

I'm going crazy with LSAC, they are utterly incompetent and I have never paid for a service as disastrous as theirs. 

I started the whole transcripts process with them in October 2021; it's almost February 2022 and they are still harassing me with this (they've requested dozens of additional documents, like dozens). I cannot begin to fathom how this incompetence and harassment is happily overlooked by institutions. Every year, thousands and thousands of applicants have to go through this anxious nightmare, yet no one does anything about it. 

So now I'm at the stage (after 4 months) where AACRAO is "reviewing" my transcripts, and I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that AACRAO has suspended the review because my "diploma" was sent from an institution different from the issuing institution. I sent them an e-mail on December 7th explaining that the institution sending the "diploma" was an affiliated institution of the issuing institution, and that that is how things are done in Spain, precisely to avoid this. But no, they do not accept the document (when they should, because it is sent by the official institution where I did my master's degree, in a sealed envelope, with the stamp and bla bla bla).

I honestly don't know when this harassment is going to stop, but I'm going to apply to the universities without the AACRAO evaluation and I'll see how everything goes from there. I've tried really hard to avoid this, but there's nothing else I can do at this point. This is insane. 

Jun 2023, still insane with this problem.

Did anyone succeed in applying to LLM Program without AACRAO evaluation?

So a waste of money to ship partial documents.

It's close to the deadline, and my status is still Hold - Documentation - Verification.

[Edited by OPN Stuff on Jun 06, 2023]