Put LSAC gpa or school gpa on application to law schools? Forum

[dkalinow]

Under the education section of the applications to law schools, do put my undergrad gpa or my lsac gpa?

[cinephile]

Not sure it matters, but FWIW I put my school GPA (which was lower than LSAC GPA) on my apps.

[20130312]

The one that's on your official transcript. Doesn't make much sense to me to use a number that LSAC made up for you.

Before you ask: yes, I am a little sore that my LSDAS GPA is lower than my official GPA.

[Bildungsroman]

The one that's on your official transcript. Doesn't make much sense to me to use a number that LSAC made up for you.

Agreed, and my LSAC GPA was a bit higher than my institutional GPA. The GPA your institution gives you is your actual GPA.

[HeavenWood]

On my resume, I listed my LSAC GPA. On my apps, I listed my school GPA.

[dkalinow]

thank you

[rinkrat19]

The one that's on your official transcript. Doesn't make much sense to me to use a number that LSAC made up for you.

Agreed, and my LSAC GPA was a bit higher than my institutional GPA. The GPA your institution gives you is your actual GPA.

Me too. On applications and resume.
I figured, it's listed next to my UG school and degree. I graduated from Whatever State U with a X.XX GPA, not with the GPA LSAC calculated.

[20130312]

Whatever you do, I'd recommend keeping it consistent across your application (i.e. resume, FlexApp's 'Education' section)

[Bildungsroman]

Whatever you do, I'd recommend keeping it consistent across your application (i.e. resume, FlexApp's 'Education' section)

Agreed. The only time you should ever give your LSAC-calculated GPA is when they explicitly ask you for it.

[HeavenWood]

Whatever you do, I'd recommend keeping it consistent across your application (i.e. resume, FlexApp's 'Education' section)

Agreed. The only time you should ever give your LSAC-calculated GPA is when they explicitly ask you for it.

Probably the better route, but I doubt it'll make much of a difference either way.

[20130312]

Like many things on your application, it matters little.

[clarified_butter]

I put my school GPA on both my applications and resume. My LSDAS GPA was only a small fraction lower than my school GPA.

[Hopefully2012]

Whichever is higher is fine to list on your resume/on the LSAC form (don't round to the nearest tenth though i.e. don't put 3.7 instead of 3.65). Source: three admissions deans of t10 schools.

That's what I did and I don't think it's hurt my cycle yet.

ETA: My LSAC GPA was a tiny bit higher than my school's GPA so I listed my LSAC GPA (specifying "LSAC GPA") on my resume as well as on the flexapp.

[clarified_butter]

My school GPA is higher and I list that exactly how it's typed on my school transcript--no rounding here.

I do have one question though...and I've always been curious about this: Do most people have higher college GPA's or higher LSAC GPA's??

[Hopefully2012]

My school GPA is higher and I list that exactly how it's typed on my school transcript--no rounding here.

I do have one question though...and I've always been curious about this: Do most people have higher college GPA's or higher LSAC GPA's??

It really depends on circumstances.

If your school gives A+s and calculates them as 4.0s and you've received A+s then your LSAC GPA is likely higher (since LSAC calculates A+s as 4.33).

If your school replaces past failed grades with new passing grades, then your school GPA will likely be higher (since LSAC calculates all grades including any "replaced" failing ones).

There are other subtle differences in how GPAs are calculated that could result in disparities between the two grades. For example, although my school doesn't give A+s, my LSAC GPA is higher because we have .5 unit mini-seminar courses (which are fairly easy to do well in--if you can get into them) that the school doesn't calculate into it's cumulative GPA but LSAC does.

[clarified_butter]

The difference between my two GPA's is: 0.02--not very much at all. I wonder why LSAC even bothers to recalculate GPA's.

Do you think that there are people out there that had their GPA's severely lowered by this recalculation process?

My school GPA is higher and I list that exactly how it's typed on my school transcript--no rounding here.

I do have one question though...and I've always been curious about this: Do most people have higher college GPA's or higher LSAC GPA's??

It really depends on circumstances.

If your school gives A+s and calculates them as 4.0s and you've received A+s then your LSAC GPA is likely higher (since LSAC calculates A+s as 4.33).

If your school replaces past failed grades with new passing grades, then your school GPA will likely be higher (since LSAC calculates all grades including any "replaced" failing ones).

There are other subtle differences in how GPAs are calculated that could result in disparities between the two grades. For example, although my school doesn't give A+s, my LSAC GPA is higher because we have .5 unit mini-seminar courses (which are fairly easy to do well in--if you can get into them) that the school doesn't calculate into it's cumulative GPA but LSAC does.

[Boston_NYG2245]

I don't think it will make much of a difference, my school actually broke up my GPA into sections for my first year and a half and then afterwards when I entered my degree program and didn't bother to give me a cumulative score on my official transcript. I actually ended up putting my GPA for my program (a lower number) on my applications, but the schools will have your full LSAC report so they'll be able to see how all the numbers shake out. In the end it won't make much of a difference since they'll likely use the LSAC GPA to make sure you're on an even scale with all the other applicants.

[skitlets]

I feel like an idiot. I actually left the GPA blank on the education because I wasn't sure which one they wanted, along with the fact that LSAC sends my transcript over. Looks like I'll be calling a couple schools now...

[clarified_butter]

I would definitely call them and see what they have to say. In the end, they will probably just look at the LSAC report and your college transcripts.

[Hopefully2012]

Do you think that there are people out there that had their GPA's severely lowered by this recalculation process?

Yes, a friend of mine who was convinced that graduate schools must follow the same policies as her undergrad ended up with ~6 Ds/Fs on her transcript because she always just assumed that her re-takes would replace the first grade in law school apps as well.

I would imagine that her LSAC GPA is about .5 lower than her cumulative college GPA (maybe more).

[penguinbrah]

it's absolutely absurd that LSAC GPA counts grades from 6 years ago from different institutions that have been repeated especially when your current gpa is a 4.0 and your gpa from an institution 6 years ago was a 2.0. yes im pissed, i neglected school 6 years ago to work on a risky business failed out of numerous classes despite attempting to take them. am back in school now getting straight A's but the LSAC wants to average in my old grades? bs.

[clarified_butter]

You are basically branded by the grades you received while an undergraduate student--whether they be good or bad ones.