LSDAS

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LSDAS
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LSDAS

• LSDAS stands for the Law School Data Assembly
  Service. It is the service that will compile
• (1) Grades
• (2) LSAT scores
• (3) Letters of recommendation (optional)
• You MUST register for the LSDAS service in order
  to apply to the majority of law schools.

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LSDAS

• How do I register for the service?
• You register by signing up online at
  www.lsac.org.
• The cost is 109.00.
• Fee waivers can be filled out online at
  www.lsac.org and are based on financial need.

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LSDAS

• Grades
• How does LSDAS get my grades?
• After you have signed up for the service, you are
  responsible for sending LSDAS a copy of your
  official college transcript. This will NOT be
  done automatically.
• How do I send a transcript?
• First, print off a Transcript Request Form from
  your personalized LSDAS website by logging in
  using your username and password and www.lsac.org
  (find it under the My Docs tab). You must
  print off one for each college-level institution
  you have earned credit at.
• Second, take one form to each college-level
  institution you have attended and make sure that
  they send an official transcript with that form
  to LSDAS (the address is listed on the form).
• Most schools will charge a small fee for an
  official copy (2.00 at BYU).

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LSDAS

• Grades (cont.)
• What does LSDAS do once they receive my grades?
• After LSDAS has received an official transcript
  from each collegiate-level institution you have
  attended, they will process your grades according
  to the LSDAS system.
• Processing your grades means that they put them
  into the LSDAS system and alter your GPA
  accordingly this equalizes the grading for every
  applicant in the country.
• Changes for BYU Students
• BYU GPAs generally go down slightly for 2
  reasons
• 1. BYU uses a 1 point decimal system rather than
  the 2 point decimal system that LSDAS uses. So,
  for example, at BYU every time you receive an A-
  it is recorded as a 3.7, but when that same A- is
  put into the LSDAS system it becomes a 3.67.
• 2. BYU allows you to retake classes and replaces
  the old grade with the new grade. LSDAS,
  however, takes into account every grade ever
  earned. So, for example, if you received all Cs
  your freshman year, then retook all those classes
  and receive all As you would have a BYU GPA of
  4.0. However, when your transcript was processed
  by LSDAS, all the Cs and As would be included in
  the processing.

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LSDAS

• Grades (cont.)
• How long does it take to process my grades?
• Once the grades are received by LSDAS, it can
  take anywhere from one week to several weeks when
  the system is backlogged.
• Note There is no way to speed up the process, so
  send your grades early!
• Your law school application will not be complete
  until your LSDAS grades are calculated, so you
  need to sign up for LSDAS and send your grades
  several weeks before you plan on applying.

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LSDAS

• Grades (cont.)
• Other FAQ Questions
• If I transferred from UVSC as a freshman do I
  still have to send an official UVSC transcript
  even though my UVSC grades show up on my BYU
  transcript?
• Yes. An official transcript must be sent from
  each collegiate-level school you have attended
  whether for a semester or several years.
• How are Ws and UWs calculated?
• If the issuing institution (e.g. BYU) considers
  the grade to be non-putitive it will not be
  counted. However, if the issuing institution
  counts the grade towards your GPA then it will be
  counted.
• Because Ws are not calculated into the GPA, they
  will not affect your LSDAS GPA.
• Because UWs are calculated into the GPA, they
  will affect your LSDAS GPA.
• Are religion courses calculated into my LSDAS
  GPA?
• Yes.
• Are graduate school grades calculated into my
  LSDAS GPA?
• No. LSDAS GPA includes undergraduate courses
  only however, because LSDAS will still send a
  copy of your graduate transcript to the law
  schools, you still need to send a copy of
  graduate grades.

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LSDAS

• Grades (cont.)
• For more information on the LSDAS grade service
  or if you are still confused about what the
  service does, click here to watch a LSAC
  tutorial
• http//www.lsac.org/demos/LSDAS_Demo.htm

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LSDAS

• LSAT Scores
• What do I have to do to get my LSAT scores to
  LSDAS?
• Nothing. When you take the LSAT, your scores
  will automatically be added to your LSDAS file,
  even if you have not officially paid and
  registered yet.

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LSDAS

• Letters of Recommendation
• As part of your subscription to LSDAS, the
  service will currently accept up to 4 letters of
  recommendation that will be added to your LSDAS
  file and sent to all the law schools who request
  your LSDAS file.
• Many law schools actually prefer that you send
  your letters to LSDAS rather then directly to the
  schools.
• For a list of which schools prefer what and how
  many letters each school accepts and requires,
  click here http//www.lsac.org/LSAC.asp?urllsac/
  letters-of-recommendation.asp

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LSDAS

• Letters of Recommendation (cont.)
• In order to send letters of recommendation to
  LSDAS, do the following
• 1. Go to your personalized LSDAS website by
  logging in with your username and password at
  www.lsac.org and fill in the information of the 4
  people who will be writing your letters.
• 2. Print out from that same website a
  personalized LSDAS form for each letter writer.
• 3. Make sure that your letter writer understands
  that they only need to send one copy to LSDAS
  rather than multiple copies directly to the law
  schools.
• 4. By default, LSDAS will send the letters in the
  order received up to the amount accepted by the
  school however, if you want to direct certain
  letters to certain schools regardless of the
  order in which they were received you can do so
  on the website.
• Click here to watch a tutorial on how to do this
  http//www.lsac.org/demos/Lor_Demo4.htm
• 5. Remember that if there are separate forms that
  the law school wants filled out by your letter
  writer other than the generic identification
  information (e.g. Rate John on a scale of 1-10
  for the following qualities, Columbia Law
  School), those forms do NOT go to LSDAS. Rather,
  these school-specific forms go directly to the
  law school.

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LSDAS

• Letters of Recommendation (cont.)
• Targeted Letters
• LSAC recently created an option so that your four
  letter writers can not only write a general
  letter to be sent to all schools, but also a
  targeted letter to be sent to specific schools.
• For example, if your letter writer attended
  Harvard Law School and you were applying there,
  you could have your letter writer write a letter
  specific to Harvard.
• LSAC will accept one general letter for each of
  your four letter writers and as many targeted
  letters from your four letter writers as they
  want to send in.
• For more information on how to do this, click
  here to watch a LSAC tutorial
  http//www.lsac.org/demos/Lor_Demo3.htm

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LSDAS

• Letters of Recommendation (cont.)
• For more information on the Letter of
  Recommendation Service or if you are still
  confused about how to complete the process, click
  here to watch LSAC tutorials
• http//www.lsac.org/LSAC.asp?url/lsac/demos.htm

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LSDAS

• Ordering Reports
• LSDAS costs 109.00 to register for and to
  compile your information. However, in order for
  any schools to actually get copies of that
  information, you must pay for copies of that
  report1 for each school.
• The cost of reports is 12.00 a piece.
• You do not need to tell LSDAS which schools you
  are applying for at the time you pay for the
  reports, only how many reports you want.
• The law schools will request your report from
  LSDAS you do not request it.
• You can pay for reports when you sign up for
  LSDAS or later however, it is very important to
  make sure that you have paid for enough reports
  so that when law schools start to receive your
  application materials and request that report, it
  is ready for them.

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LSDAS

• In conclusion
• LSDAS can be a little confusing to understand and
  navigate. Please feel free to contact us at
  anytime with any questions or concerns.

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• THE END.