Requesting Transcripts
After you register for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), you must have a separate transcript sent to LSAC directly from each undergraduate and graduate institution you attended in the US, its territories, or Canada. You must have international transcripts, academic records, mark sheets, and degree certifications sent if:
- you are applying to a law school that requires the authentication and evaluation feature of the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), and
- you received your bachelor's degree from an institution outside of the US, its territories, or Canada, or
- you were directly enrolled at such an institution outside the US, its territories, or Canada, and the total amount of work you completed at all of these institutions combined is the equivalent of more than one year of undergraduate study in the US, its territories, or Canada.
Copies of all international educational records must be submitted in the original language. If the transcript or other required documents are not in English, a translation must be included.
Transcripts issued to you or sent by you will not be processed.
Transcripts to include:
- community colleges
- bachelor's and graduate institutions
- law/medical/professional institutions
- institutions attended for summer or evening courses
- institutions attended even though a degree was never received
- institutions from which you took college-level courses while in high school even though they were for high school credit
- institutions that clearly sponsored your overseas study (see International Transcripts below)
A copy of these transcripts, along with a summarization of all undergraduate work, will be forwarded with the law school report to the law schools to which you apply. Transcripts representing work completed after the first four-year undergraduate degree (considered graduate work by LSAC) will not be summarized, but copies will be sent with the law school report. This includes law school/professional school work. Work done at a graduate/law/professional school prior to the granting of a four-year undergraduate degree will be included in the academic summary as undergraduate work.
Transcripts must be sent from institutions even if:
- credit was transferred from an institution and it appears on another institution's transcript
- the institution is closed
(These transcripts are usually maintained by the department of higher education or by another school in the state in which the school was located, so you will need to contact the state's department of higher education. For international transcripts, contact the Ministry of Education in the country where the school was located.) - "withdraw," "incomplete," etc., are the only grades listed
- you have just enrolled
(Request that the registrar's office send a transcript of courses "in progress" or a statement of current enrollment. The document must bear the official registrar's seal.)
- Transcripts must be sent if your degree was received from an institution located outside the US, its territories, or Canada, and you are applying to a Credential Assembly Service-requiring law school that also requires the authentication and evaluation feature.
- Do not have a transcript sent from an international institution if your bachelor's degree is from a US, US Territory, or Canadian school, AND:
- the total amount of work you completed at all international institutions combined is equal to or less than the equivalent of one year of undergraduate study in the US, its territories, or Canada, OR
- your work was completed through an overseas study program that was clearly sponsored by a US, US Territory, or Canadian school.
Unique Academic Record Requirements for the Authentication and Evaluation Feature of the Credential Assembly Service
People's Republic of China:
- Official degree certificates (zhuanke, bachelor's, master's, etc.) and graduation diplomas in Chinese for all programs undertaken along with a complete and literal English translation
- Official college or university academic record (transcript) in Chinese showing all courses and grades for all years of study along with a complete and literal English translation
NOTE: The academic record must be issued by the institution's central administrative office responsible for preparing and verifying official student records. Documents issued by an individual academic department or by a notary public are not considered official.
Clear sponsorship means:
- the courses received the sponsoring institution's academic credit (not transfer credit);
- the course codes, titles, credits earned, and grades appear on the sponsoring institution's transcript. Typically, these grades and credits are included in the sponsoring institution's cumulative GPA. The courses are often administered and taught by the sponsoring institution's faculty at an overseas institution.
Transfer Credit
Work that appears as transfer credit on the sponsoring institution's transcript has not been completed under the clear sponsorship of the institution. It may still be referred to as the institution’s exchange program, study-abroad program, or consortium work. However, grades received in courses transferred from other institutions are typically not reported on the sponsoring institution's transcript, nor included in the sponsoring institution's GPA. They simply contribute credit towards a degree or elective requirement, assuming a grade of C or better was attained. Grades of C- and below typically do not transfer.
Interinstitutional Programs
The undergraduate work on your bachelor’s degree-granting institution transcript may include grades and credits earned through an interinstitutional agreement (e.g., cooperative, exchange, consortium, etc.). If your home school transcript clearly indicates that the coursework was completed through this type of program, and course codes, titles, grades, and credits earned appear on the home transcript and are included in the GPA, you need not list or request a separate transcript from the interinstitutional school attended. In these cases, your home school treats the coursework as if it were its own. This is not transfer credit. Consequently, the grades and credits will be summarized under the home school.
How to Have Transcripts Sent
Applicants are advised to wait until they have completed at least six semesters of undergraduate work before requesting transcripts.
Transcripts must be sent directly from the institutions attended. Transcripts issued to you or sent by you will not be processed. Most institutions charge a fee for forwarding transcripts. Allow two weeks from the time of receipt for LSAC to process your transcripts.
It is your responsibility to request an official copy of all required transcripts to be sent to LSAC directly from the registrar's office of each institution. You must use LSAC's Transcript Request Forms for this purpose. Your Transcript Request Forms will be available only after you sign up for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and enter your institution information.
To download and print a Transcript Request Form for a particular institution, click on the institution's name. Each form is prepopulated with your information and the institution's information.
NOTE: To view the forms, you must have the Adobe Acrobat® reader plugin installed in your computer. If you do not have the plugin, scroll to the bottom of this page to download it.
Inability to Obtain Transcripts
If you are unable to obtain transcripts from an institution due to a financial obligation, you must indicate this when registering for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). If the institution is the only undergraduate institution you attended, or if you have attended multiple undergraduate institutions and have outstanding financial obligations with all of them, a Credential Assembly Service law school report cannot be produced for you.
If you attended an institution outside the US, its territories, or Canada, and you have outstanding financial obligations with one or more of them, a Credential Assembly Service law school report cannot be produced for you.
Updating Your Transcript Information
You should have official transcripts sent for any additional academic work completed after your initial Credential Assembly Service law school reports have been forwarded. This information will be incorporated into your file and updated transcript reports will be sent to the law schools as long as their reporting term is still current.
US, its territories, and Canadian Transcripts should be mailed to:
Law School Admission Council
662 Penn Street
Box 2000-M
Newtown, PA 18940-0993
International Transcripts should be mailed to:
Law School Admission Council
662 Penn Street
Box 8502
Newtown, PA 18940-8502
. If you do not already have the reader installed on your computer, click on the Adobe Acrobat Reader link below and download it for free.
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