What are the possibilities of evaluation of credentials by LSAC?

I got Superior. How relevant is it?

Does it mean anything, or was I supposed to get it anyway if I wanted to get into a top 10 school??

Did everyone get a superior credential evaluation??

So far I heard about: "average", "above average" and "superior".

In my case they first write my academic performance is "above average", then, in the 'comments' section they mention that I'm ranked in the top 2% of a 500 students class, which leads them to the conclusion that this "clearly marks his achievements as SUPERIOR".

It's not ideal cause the initial assessment is less impressive, but I kinda rely on the universities to take their 4 minutes to actually read this 2 page "evaluation report" carefully until the end. I won't bother pay and wait just to have this thing fixed... :/

500? That is what I call a big class! Hope everything goes well for you!

Let us hope this superior gets me somewhere!!

Anyone else has had evaluations like this?

Hey guys,

Just to share with some ideas...I also got the "superior" evaluation. However, I had to make some clarifications into my field of specialization part. They did not put the complete explanation of the subject so I had to contact them and request a reevaluation of the file. Maybe LSAC decided that it is their mistake not to list the full name of the major or I simply got a nice person on the phone, they did a reevaluation of the file for me without any additional fees. I am not sure how important their eveluation is for the law schools though...

Twelvemonkey,

I would suggest you to contact LSAC and ask them if its possible to update the eveluation to "superior" credentials. Since they already put that in the notes, they could change it on the main screen as well. I am not sure it it matters much for the admission decision, but it is certainly fair to mention your credentials accurately. But then it is just my advice...:)

Good luck guys!!!

...

To be very honest, I was not aware that LSAC would provide a individualised evaluation on credentials. I was under the mistaken impression that what LSAC did was merely to consolidate an applicant's academic record and summarise it.

Had I have know, I would have paid the money to register. Does anyone think that applicants who have not signed up with LSAC would be in any way disadvantaged when being assessed by universities? I have heard that US universities have heaps of experience evaluating the academic performance of applicants even if they graduated out of US.

Any thoughts?


Cheers,
G

Thanks for the advice, but it's too late now anyway, my evaluation report has been sent to most of the univ. im applying to. Again, Im sure they take an LSAC report with a grain of salt and carefuly make up their own mind on the applicant's performance.

Just received their explanation.

"That is the highest rating. The choices are Superior, Above Average, Average, and Below Averge."

Gregor2008,

I do not think you have any reason to worry or disadvantage to consider for not using LSAC service. Their eveluation is very basic and only tells you the most obvious credentials of ur diploma. They do not make a suggestion to the schools admission office and schools certainly do not rely much on their evaluation reports. LSAC only tries to ease the job for the schools to read different diplomas and save time for the admission process. It is also true that most US schools have great experience evaluating different credentials and are certainly capable of making their own report. At this point, the only advantage LSAC offers is a possibility to send out ur reports to several schools without having to obtain ur credentials from ur law schools again and again. Hope this helps a little...

Cheers

Oh yes, your message was useful. that was my impression about LSAC too - thus i didn't use it as it was a little pricey.

Good luck to you!

I share about the same lot with Twelfth_Monkey:

I was ranked top 1.5% in my class at a leading law faculty in Germany but was only given an "above average". This is due to the fact that I did not achieve the highest possible grade. However, the highest grade is given about 1 time in 1000 cases in practice. My university pointed that out to LSAC in a seperate explanation about the grading system. Also, LSAC should know that fact from other German law students who are applying.

LSAC then stats in the comment: Considering that he is top 1.5 %, he is actually superior.

Well, what annoys me most is not being "graded" with an "above average" but the money I have spent for this institution. If this institution has no insight into the grading systems and practice of countries where a lot of applicants come from (and this is the case for Germany) - then what is the sense of making a comment about the "quality of the academic record"? Instead LSAC should stick with its original function and should merely collect and control the certificates.

As for the Universities I have applied to, I am not worried at all though. I think they have by far more experts on their decision boards than the LSAC has.

Cheers!

Brilliant post, I feel the same about LSAC but at the same time I'm pretty relaxed knowing, just as you, that the schools look closer and know much more about the countries' grading systems (Incidentally I also attached an official letter from my school explaining our grading system and curriculum to my transcrips).

Actually, I absolutely can`t recommend LSAC. Unfortunately, the service is required for NYU, but I really had the feeling that the evaluators are not familiar at all with the Austrian grading system.

If I would not have applied at NYU, I would have never paid for this really bad service.

Just wanted to say that I am an international student and did not apply to NYU using the LSAC - sent my transcripts directly to NYU. I did not see the point in LSAC and paying fees for 1 report (i.e. NYU) and saw that NYU provides an option for International Students to send it directly to them if using LSAC presents a financial hardship.

In my case they first write my academic performance is "above average", then, in the 'comments' section they mention that I'm ranked in the top 2% of a 500 students class, which leads them to the conclusion that this "clearly marks his achievements as SUPERIOR".
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