<p>My cumulative GPA (I'm a Junior) at my alma mater is 3.81.</p>
<p>But during one summer, I did study abroad at a different institution other than my alma mater (which won't recognize the grades earned). I took 2 classes, all non-degree.</p>
<p>I had a blast, lots of fun, and generally a great time. But of course, I knew what I was getting myself into, so my grades suffered, and I'm fine with that.</p>
<p>Fast-forward a year, and now, I'm reading about the ridiculous rule of LSDAS which requires that ALL transcripts from ALL classes attended must be sent.</p>
<p>My poor grades from study-abroad will significantly affect me so I'm thinking of not sending them in.</p>
<p>Reading another thread here, many members said that while LSDAS may not know about this, the Bar Association may find out later and I may be forever barred from being admitted to the state I want (New York) and cannot practice law.</p>
<p>How can the Bar Association find out? </p>
<p>I understand that the Bar Association will perform a character & fitness test, and examine my criminal record (I have none) and such. But how will the Association know about my non-degree classes? </p>
<p>There are over 3,000 colleges in the United States.
I highly doubt if the Association will scan my social security number at every institution.</p>
<p>Not a good move. The law school can rescind your admission as well as your degree for willful misrepresentation. In addition, you would definitely fail the character and fitness which could prevent you from being admitted to the bar. </p>
<p>You would be suprised at the information that will come up from just simply running your SSN (drivers license, passport, credit cards, etc.) It will be easy to connect the dots.</p>
<p>For one thing, the law schools themselves are more likely to find out than you think. Second, there are specifically student clearinghouses which will find out. Third, I’ve heard a large number of students get nailed for academic falsification when somebody else turned them in.</p>
<p>it would be an extremely bad idea to try to begin your legal career by deliberately lying.
it’s wrong. PERIOD. isn’t that enough for someone who intends to enter a profession with legal and ethical obligations?
if you have to ask “will they find out?” its simply something you shouldn’t consider doing.</p>
<p>as a lawyer you would have to deal with a lot of “ridiculous” rules. if you can’t live with it, choose another career.</p>
<p>Lovebicycles: In my opinion, saying “they’ll never find out about that” (or “how could they ever find out about that”) is one of the two biggest mistakes a lawyer can make (or anyone, for that matter).</p>
<p>Believe me when I say that people on the other side of an issue from you may be able to find out about anything they need to know, especially with so much information on people available over the Internet. And you can be sure that one of the corollaries of Murphy’s Law will have its effect - if you don’t want someone to find out something about you, it is likely that when that thing becones known it will appear at a time when it can do the most damage.</p>
<p>So don’t start off on the wrong foot. Just submit what you’re being asked for and if any omissions occur, let tham at least be inadvertent, not deliberate.</p>
<p>um, don’t courses taken abroad NOT count towards your lsac gpa (though the transcripts ARE required anyway) as long as you were not at the foreign institution for one or more academic years. so yes, schools will see the transcript, but it will not be calculated into the nice and neat lsac gpa that is reported, right?</p>
<p>I haven’t looked at the NYS bar application form in a few years now. However, the last time I looked, it made you list what you had done for the last 10 years. You couldn’t leave any gaps at all. You had to list exact addresses. You had to give the names of all your roommates. You had to list all schools attended and all employers and you had to do that in chronological format. </p>
<p>I gather you think you can get away with --"there was one summer I did nothing. " Can I tell you that won’t work? Nope, I can’t. I can tell you though that there’s a good chance that someone will notice that “do nothing” summer and ask about it. I can also tell you that your answer will be noted in a file…and that if it’s later learned that you lied, you can be disbarred. Yep, 20 -30 years down the road, through a total fluke, it comes out that you lied and…career over.</p>
<p>I’ve known a couple of cases in which people did get caught. In one, a person listed his summer roommate. He happened to see the summer roommate waiting for a character and fitness interview on the same day he was. In the course of his conversation with his interviewers, he mentioned that fact. He was just making small talk. </p>
<p>Well,the summer roommate hadn’t listed that summer. Through pure coincidence, he got assigned to the same panel. A member of the panel noticed that while Mr. X, whom the panel had just interviewed, had listed Mr. Y as his summer school roommate a certain summer, Mr. x’s name did not appear on Mr. Y’s form. Indeed, that summer school did not appear on Mr. Y’s form. </p>
<p>Mr. Y was asked about it. He denied knowing Mr. X. The committee hauled Mr. X in for a second interview and raked him over the coals. Petrified, Mr. X signed every form shoved in front of him, believing that the C&F commitee thought HE had lied. So… the C&F committee contacted the summer school and asked it to verify that Mr. X had attended the summer school and that his roommate had been Mr. Y. The summer school verified those facts. Note that the school was NOT asked about Mr. Y–it was only asked to confirm the veracity of Mr. X’s statements. It did. </p>
<p>Mr. Y was denied admission to the bar. </p>
<p>Don’t be a fool. Again, I admit that I can’t be sure you won’t be able go get away with a lie. But why on earth would you take a chance?</p>
<p>Even if the study abroad GPA is not calculated into your LSDAS gpa, a study abroad notation is made on the LSDAS transcript, and all transcripts in addition to the LSDAS transcript are sent to the law schools as part of your application. Yes, the law school review all documents.</p>