GPA in France Forum

[beargrylls]

Hi all,

I have one small problem, the grading system here in France is really different, the grade is not a letter but a number /20. To pass to the next year, you must have at least 10/20. Only 15% of the students pass to the next year. For lsac, 10/20 is a gpa 2. But in France it is a really good grade according to the grading system and the passing rate.

Do you know what can I do? I fear that this bad gpa will make my admission really difficult.

Have a nice day,

BG

[IamIn]

The people who evaluate the transcripts are not idiots. I am sure they know how the system in France works and will evaluate your grades appropriately.

[beargrylls]

The people who evaluate the transcripts are not idiots. I am sure they know how the system in France works and will evaluate your grades appropriately.

Ive sent my transcritps last year and they give my a 2.

I have to send them the new transcript. I fear a bad gpa.

I dont know what to do..

[IamIn]

The people who evaluate the transcripts are not idiots. I am sure they know how the system in France works and will evaluate your grades appropriately.

Ive sent my transcritps last year and they give my a 2.

I have to send them the new transcript. I fear a bad gpa.

I dont know what to do..

maybe call AACRAO ( the evaluating company) and ask?

[IamIn]

In addition, they can't assign a numerical GPA to you. It will be either superior or above average or average or below average.

[beargrylls]

I sent a message to lsac and they didnt do nothing.

In fact they put me my french grade not the gpa. But its easy for the us law school to convert this grade into a gpa grade.

They did another mistake, some time, in france, you can have 9,95 and the school gives you 0,05 to complete your year. The AACRAO put me the grade of 9,95 follow by the mention "failed", although I have completed this year.

I wonder if it will not be better to create a new account and to send again my transcripts with a little note to explain the problem. But I dont know if creating a new acount is a good idea.

[JamMasterJ]

I sent a message to lsac and they didnt do nothing.

In fact they put me my french grade not the gpa. But its easy for the us law school to convert this grade into a gpa grade.

They did another mistake, some time, in france, you can have 9,95 and the school gives you 0,05 to complete your year. The AACRAO put me the grade of 9,95 follow by the mention "failed", although I have completed this year.

I wonder if it will not be better to create a new account and to send again my transcripts with a little note to explain the problem. But I dont know if creating a new acount is a good idea.

creating a new account seems like a really bad idea.

[beargrylls]

I wonder if its forbidden.

If it is maybe it would be better to send my transcripts with my current account. I hope they will evaluate in a better way my transcripts.

Do you know if I can send a note (my university is ok to send it) with my transcritps to explain my problem?

[beargrylls]

Up

[ladybug89]

I wonder if its forbidden.

If it is maybe it would be better to send my transcripts with my current account. I hope they will evaluate in a better way my transcripts.

Do you know if I can send a note (my university is ok to send it) with my transcritps to explain my problem?

you should just contact (call or email) them directly to ask about it. a note is a little roundabout/inconclusive

[minuit]

I understand your frustration. It's completely unfair - I've seen that even credited evaluation/translation companies just take the literal grade out of 20 rather than taking the extra time to evaluate French GPAs properly by a scaled standard. For undergrad, they do the same thing - not realizing that receiving a 15/20 is an incredible achievement in high school, where as here a 3.0 is not very good. While the US has rampant grade inflation, I'd argue that France has grade deflation.

Also, as someone else noted, that is additionally unfair that they gave you a number equivalent rather than "superior" "above average" "average" or whatever. This would still likely be unfair, though, as you have pointed out. Can't believe that they wrote that you "failed" when you in fact did not!

You may just be out of luck. Totally sucks. Why do you want to go to law school in the US?

[beargrylls]

I wonder if its forbidden.

If it is maybe it would be better to send my transcripts with my current account. I hope they will evaluate in a better way my transcripts.

Do you know if I can send a note (my university is ok to send it) with my transcritps to explain my problem?

you should just contact (call or email) them directly to ask about it. a note is a little roundabout/inconclusive

I already have. They cant help me... I will send them an email when my university will send the transcripts. Maybe they will understand my problem. But I dont count on it.

[beargrylls]

I understand your frustration. It's completely unfair - I've seen that even credited evaluation/translation companies just take the literal grade out of 20 rather than taking the extra time to evaluate French GPAs properly by a scaled standard. For undergrad, they do the same thing - not realizing that receiving a 15/20 is an incredible achievement in high school, where as here a 3.0 is not very good. While the US has rampant grade inflation, I'd argue that France has grade deflation.

Also, as someone else noted, that is additionally unfair that they gave you a number equivalent rather than "superior" "above average" "average" or whatever. This would still likely be unfair, though, as you have pointed out. Can't believe that they wrote that you "failed" when you in fact did not!

You may just be out of luck. Totally sucks. Why do you want to go to law school in the US?

Thanks for your support. I dont know what to do about it... It's really frustating.

I want to study in the us because I like the idea of studying abroad. Ive been in the us a few times and I like it. I study american law and its really more interresting than french law. French law can be, some times, boring.

I got family and friends in the us. My way of life is more american than french.

[minuit]

I see that you are currently studying law in France from another thread - are you planning on finishing up that degree, and then coming to the US for an American law degree? I believe if that is the case, then you can apply to LLM programs instead, rather than having to start school completely over again.

[beargrylls]

I see that you are currently studying law in France from another thread - are you planning on finishing up that degree, and then coming to the US for an American law degree? I believe if that is the case, then you can apply to LLM programs instead, rather than having to start school completely over again.

I have to wait 3 years to start a llm. A llm is short, only one year. I prefer a JD, its longer and I can start next year.

[minuit]

I see that you are currently studying law in France from another thread - are you planning on finishing up that degree, and then coming to the US for an American law degree? I believe if that is the case, then you can apply to LLM programs instead, rather than having to start school completely over again.

I have to wait 3 years to start a llm. A llm is short, only one year. I prefer a JD, its longer and I can start next year.

Gotcha. Perhaps your best bet is to email the admissions office at some schools and ask them how they evaluate French GPAs, maybe ask them how LSAC evaluates them (seeing that LSAC hasn't responded to you), and then ask about writing an addendum if LSAC is really gonna be stupid about this.

Edit: another idea is to have your French uni send a grade conversion chart - that's a remote possibility, because do French unis even have that info available? but you never know, maybe they can do it!

[beargrylls]

I see that you are currently studying law in France from another thread - are you planning on finishing up that degree, and then coming to the US for an American law degree? I believe if that is the case, then you can apply to LLM programs instead, rather than having to start school completely over again.

I have to wait 3 years to start a llm. A llm is short, only one year. I prefer a JD, its longer and I can start next year.

Gotcha. Perhaps your best bet is to email the admissions office at some schools and ask them how they evaluate French GPAs, maybe ask them how LSAC evaluates them (seeing that LSAC hasn't responded to you), and then ask about writing an addendum if LSAC is really gonna be stupid about this.

Edit: another idea is to have your French uni send a grade conversion chart - that's a remote possibility, because do French unis even have that info available? but you never know, maybe they can do it!

Thank you. Emailing The admission office seems a very good idea. Prior to this I need to finish my ls list. Can I send you my list? Maybe you can help me

[minuit]

Sure, feel free to PM me the list!

As for emailing the admissions, I think that could be a good idea because my guess is you're not the first French person to apply, and I highly doubt everyone who applies has a 15/20 or better