Requesting Transcripts

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.

Work that appears as transfer credit on the sponsoring institution’s transcript has not been completed under the clear sponsorship of the institution, even if it is referenced as being completed under the institution’s exchange program, study-abroad program, or consortium. 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 toward a degree or elective requirement, assuming a grade of C or better was attained. (Grades of C- and below typically do not transfer.)

The transcript from your bachelor’s degree-granting (home) institution may include grades and credits earned through an interinstitutional agreement (e.g., cooperative, exchange, consortium). You do not need to request a separate transcript from the interinstitutional school attended IF

1. Your home school’s transcript clearly indicates that the coursework was completed through this type of program.
2. Course codes, titles, grades, and credits earned appear on the home school’s transcript, AND
3. The home school included these grades in your GPA.

In these cases, your home school has treated 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.

An international transcript is required if you were directly enrolled at such an institution(s) outside the U.S., its territories/associated states, or Canada, and the total amount of work you completed at the institution(s) combined is the equivalent of more than one year of study in the U.S., its territories/associated states, or Canada. If your total amount of study abroad is only equivalent to one year of study or less and is not a clear sponsorship by a domestic school, then LSAC does not require the transcript to be submitted.

Please log into your LSAC account, select “Credentials & CAS,” then select “Add Institutions.” Once you have entered all of the necessary information for your institutions, please select the “Continue” button at the bottom of the page to confirm and submit your institutions attended.  

Law schools wish to see the original transcript from each institution where you have earned college credits, including institutions where you took college-level classes while in high school, institutions where you received credits that were transferred to your degree-granting school, and institutions where you took courses that were not part of your degree. This includes transcripts that might only indicate grades of “withdraw,” “incomplete,” and the like. For transcripts from closed institutions, please contact the Department of Education of the state in which you attended the institution. That agency will be able to provide you with information regarding the location of your transcript.

It’s easy. You can order two ways: 

1. Electronic: LSAC can process transcripts electronically only if your school uses one of the four services that LSAC uses to process transcripts electronically. Those are National Student Clearinghouse, Scrip-Safe, Parchment, and Credentials Solutions. If your school uses one of those four, you may request to have your transcripts sent through whichever service they use. When requesting the transcript, you must select the “Electronic Exchange” PDF option and select LSAC as the intended recipient from the dropdown menu in order to have the transcript sent to LSAC.

2. Paper copy: Please go to the Transcripts page of your online account. A Transcript Request Form link will be listed below each institution. You may click these links to access your forms. Submit the form to the registrar and request a copy of the transcript be mailed to the address listed on the upper left-hand corner of the form.

   A note about using Transcript Request forms — Official transcripts may be submitted without a Transcript Request Form; however, some processing delays may occur as the document must first be matched to your account before processing can begin. Please note that transcripts displaying only common or previous names should always include a Transcript Request Form or your LSAC account number to ensure that the transcript is matched to the correct account.

Please print and send the transcript request form to the school, and request they mail it with your official transcript to LSAC, in a school-sealed envelope. Our mailing address will be shown on the transcript request form. You can access the form by selecting the Transcript Request Form link under each institution’s listing on the Transcripts page of your online account.  

The academic record must be issued by the institution’s central administrative office responsible for preparing and verifying official student records. It must be sent directly to LSAC by the issuing institution in a securely closed envelope and with the institution’s official stamp or seal across the securely closed flap. All international educational records must be provided in the original language. If the transcript or other required documents are not in English, a translation must be included. 

You must have your institutions attended send LSAC official institution-issued or attested true copies of your permanent academic record (e.g., transcripts, report cards, examination statements, marks sheets, diplomas) showing subjects or courses studied per each academic term/year with final examination results/grades/marks issued. Please visit the Document Requirements (Listed by Country) page of our website for specific requirements for each country.