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LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:18 am
by Blueberrypie
Well maybe I shouldn't call it a nightmare, but it took me by surprise. I have a 3.76 @ my undergraduate institution. I'm pretty proud of that and aim for a 3.8 by this December. I sent my transcripts in, and LSAC told me I forgot to add my other school. I didn't know what they were talking about, but apparently it was these two high school courses that I took for college credit. They are not AP credits, but my high school is affiliated with a college and the class, if we were in an advance class, (not AP) we were able to still get college credit from the community college. It was still a high school course. I was taught by my high school teacher any nothing changed. It's just that I received credit in the end. I received two Bs. I'm a little frustrated because it will bring my gpa down.
On the lSAC law pad calculator it brought me down to a 3.72. Is law pad reliable? I know it's not that big of a difference, or is it? My real question is whether law schools will differentiate between courses I took in high school and ones I took when I was actually in college? Will they look at my 3.76-3.8 from 4 year university and hold it to a higher weight than the two B's I received from when I was in high school?
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:24 am
by Monochromatic Oeuvre
Going from a 3.76 to a 3.72 is not a nightmare. Relax.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:48 am
by rinkrat19
Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:Going from a 3.76 to a 3.72 is not a nightmare. Relax.
This.
You realize that there are people whose GPAs drop a whole point because of old credits from high school, right? THAT is a nightmare. Not this.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:03 pm
by Blueberrypie
I know it's not a nightmare. I wrote that it took me by more so took me by surprise. The nightmare really stemmed from actually not knowing how it would change my gpa. I just didn't explain that part, because I didn't think that you guys would harp on that one point and not even answer any of my questions. Also honestly I don't usually think about other people when I concern my grades. For example, if I get a low mark on a test I don't think about all the people who did worse than I did. So no I didn't think about other college students whose gpas dropped a point or more. That never occurred to me, because I'm not concerned with them. I'm concerned about myself, which is why I asked about my situation, Actually when looking at myself, if I'm going to compare my situation or results to anyone else it will be those who are in a better situation than I am.
Ah, w.e. It's not a big deal. I most likely am over looking it. Whatever happens... happens,
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:09 pm
by TheMostDangerousLG
Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:Going from a 3.76 to a 3.72 is not a nightmare. Relax.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:11 pm
by francesfarmer
You won't know what your LSAC GPA is until LSAC calculates it for you. Law schools exclusively care about your LSAC GPA. 3.72 and 3.76 are both good GPAs. Relax.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:13 pm
by Nova
I know it's not that big of a difference, or is it?
no
My real question is whether law schools will differentiate between courses I took in high school and ones I took when I was actually in college?
probably not. If they did, it wouldn't really make much of a difference
Will they look at my 3.76-3.8 from 4 year university and hold it to a higher weight than the two B's I received from when I was in high school?
probably not. If they did, it wouldn't really make much of a difference
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:14 pm
by Blueberrypie
francesfarmer wrote:You won't know what your LSAC GPA is until LSAC calculates it for you. Law schools exclusively care about your LSAC GPA. 3.72 and 3.76 are both good GPAs. Relax.
Yea my other concern was does lsac count it differently than the lsac gpa calculators online do? Is it for the most part accurate? Because then 3.72 may or may not be my lsca gpa it could be higher or lower.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:15 pm
by Blueberrypie
Nova wrote:I know it's not that big of a difference, or is it?
no
My real question is whether law schools will differentiate between courses I took in high school and ones I took when I was actually in college?
probably not
Will they look at my 3.76-3.8 from 4 year university and hold it to a higher weight than the two B's I received from when I was in high school?
probably not
Thank you
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:18 pm
by francesfarmer
Blueberrypie wrote:francesfarmer wrote:You won't know what your LSAC GPA is until LSAC calculates it for you. Law schools exclusively care about your LSAC GPA. 3.72 and 3.76 are both good GPAs. Relax.
Yea my other concern was does lsac count it differently than the lsac gpa calculators online do? Is it for the most part accurate? Because then 3.72 may or may not be my lsca gpa it could be higher or lower.
I cannot attest to the accuracy of online LSAC GPA estimators. Just wait until you get your LSAC GPA.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:57 pm
by yot11
Your LSAC gpa doesn't come out of a black box. Assuming you correctly input the number of credits you got for each letter grade, then the calculated gpa is correct with an error margin of 0.01 in either direction.
The error margin stems from the fact that the GPA calculator will do the "correct" calculation by multiplying the GPA weight to the credits, summing, then dividing by the number of credits. LSAC takes a slightly different approach by doing this for each semester, then weighting the semester against the running cumulative. This results in more rounding errors than the first method.
If you want to simulate it EXACTLY, then have the GPA calculator calculate each semester individually, then weight the semester against the running cumulative, roundin to 2 decimal pplaces at each step.
TL;DR the calculator is correct if you input your grades correctly
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:08 pm
by Sourrudedude
yot11 wrote:Your LSAC gpa doesn't come out of a black box. Assuming you correctly input the number of credits you got for each letter grade, then the calculated gpa is correct with an error margin of 0.01 in either direction.
The error margin stems from the fact that the GPA calculator will do the "correct" calculation by multiplying the GPA weight to the credits, summing, then dividing by the number of credits. LSAC takes a slightly different approach by doing this for each semester, then weighting the semester against the running cumulative. This results in more rounding errors than the first method.
If you want to simulate it EXACTLY, then have the GPA calculator calculate each semester individually, then weight the semester against the running cumulative, roundin to 2 decimal pplaces at each step.
TL;DR the calculator is correct if you input your grades correctly
This is how my undergrad did it too. So if your school does this, keep it in mind when trying to compare the two GPAs (not that the .01 is important for anything other than curiosity's sake)
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:20 pm
by Blueberrypie
Sourrudedude wrote:yot11 wrote:Your LSAC gpa doesn't come out of a black box. Assuming you correctly input the number of credits you got for each letter grade, then the calculated gpa is correct with an error margin of 0.01 in either direction.
The error margin stems from the fact that the GPA calculator will do the "correct" calculation by multiplying the GPA weight to the credits, summing, then dividing by the number of credits. LSAC takes a slightly different approach by doing this for each semester, then weighting the semester against the running cumulative. This results in more rounding errors than the first method.
If you want to simulate it EXACTLY, then have the GPA calculator calculate each semester individually, then weight the semester against the running cumulative, roundin to 2 decimal pplaces at each step.
TL;DR the calculator is correct if you input your grades correctly
This is how my undergrad did it too. So if your school does this, keep it in mind when trying to compare the two GPAs (not that the .01 is important for anything other than curiosity's sake)
That's what my school does as well, but in my transcripts the grades from the college credits in hs were not recorded.
they just put tr. so I didn't realize that lsac would record them.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:25 pm
by Sourrudedude
Blueberrypie wrote:Sourrudedude wrote:yot11 wrote:Your LSAC gpa doesn't come out of a black box. Assuming you correctly input the number of credits you got for each letter grade, then the calculated gpa is correct with an error margin of 0.01 in either direction.
The error margin stems from the fact that the GPA calculator will do the "correct" calculation by multiplying the GPA weight to the credits, summing, then dividing by the number of credits. LSAC takes a slightly different approach by doing this for each semester, then weighting the semester against the running cumulative. This results in more rounding errors than the first method.
If you want to simulate it EXACTLY, then have the GPA calculator calculate each semester individually, then weight the semester against the running cumulative, roundin to 2 decimal pplaces at each step.
TL;DR the calculator is correct if you input your grades correctly
This is how my undergrad did it too. So if your school does this, keep it in mind when trying to compare the two GPAs (not that the .01 is important for anything other than curiosity's sake)
That's what my school does as well, but in my transcripts the grades from the college credits in hs were not recorded.
they just put tr. so I didn't realize that lsac would record them.
It's such a small drop for you that it doesn't really matter I don't think but I still wish I had known this when I was in HS. I had multiple classes I got As in that I could have gotten college credit for but chose not too because I knew they wouldn't transfer to my UG.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:29 pm
by Blueberrypie
Sourrudedude wrote:Blueberrypie wrote:Sourrudedude wrote:yot11 wrote:Your LSAC gpa doesn't come out of a black box. Assuming you correctly input the number of credits you got for each letter grade, then the calculated gpa is correct with an error margin of 0.01 in either direction.
The error margin stems from the fact that the GPA calculator will do the "correct" calculation by multiplying the GPA weight to the credits, summing, then dividing by the number of credits. LSAC takes a slightly different approach by doing this for each semester, then weighting the semester against the running cumulative. This results in more rounding errors than the first method.
If you want to simulate it EXACTLY, then have the GPA calculator calculate each semester individually, then weight the semester against the running cumulative, roundin to 2 decimal pplaces at each step.
TL;DR the calculator is correct if you input your grades correctly
This is how my undergrad did it too. So if your school does this, keep it in mind when trying to compare the two GPAs (not that the .01 is important for anything other than curiosity's sake)
That's what my school does as well, but in my transcripts the grades from the college credits in hs were not recorded.
they just put tr. so I didn't realize that lsac would record them.
It's such a small drop for you that it doesn't really matter I don't think but I still wish I had known this when I was in HS. I had multiple classes I got As in that I could have gotten college credit for but chose not too because I knew they wouldn't transfer to my UG.
I re did the calculation, and it's actually a 3.71. So ah it looks like a big difference when you compare them side to side I think.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:35 pm
by rinkrat19
Blueberrypie wrote:I re did the calculation, and it's actually a 3.71. So ah it looks like a big difference when you compare them side to side I think.
Not really, no. But continuing to obsess over it makes you look pretty neurotic.
Didn't you have another thread where you were freaking the fuck out over something relatively minor? Calm down, yo. You can't do anything about the GPA now. Accept it and move on.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:43 pm
by mandyjay11
rinkrat19 wrote:Blueberrypie wrote:I re did the calculation, and it's actually a 3.71. So ah it looks like a big difference when you compare them side to side I think.
Not really, no. But continuing to obsess over it makes you look pretty neurotic.
Didn't you have another thread where you were freaking the fuck out over something relatively minor? Calm down, yo. You can't do anything about the GPA now. Accept it and move on.
yeah, this.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:44 pm
by yot11
You said that you don't want to consider your gpa with respect to other students but how else do you judge the difference between your LSAC gpa and ugpa as "a big difference"?
Regardless, let me repeat what has already been said here: in the context of the entire pool of law school applicants, that difference is not big. Law schools will not care. They will see the 3.71 as good and move on. As should you.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:56 pm
by TheJanitor6203
Am I the only one that wanted to punch OP in face after reading this?
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:11 pm
by francesfarmer
TheJanitor6203 wrote:Am I the only one that wanted to punch OP in face after reading this?
No.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:21 pm
by Danger Zone
francesfarmer wrote:TheJanitor6203 wrote:Am I the only one that wanted to punch OP in face after reading this?
No.
BUT IT'S A NIGHTMARE
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:26 pm
by hephaestus
Danger Zone wrote:BUT IT'S A NIGHTMARE
Yeah, OP has some keen perspective on what a nightmare is.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:31 pm
by Clearly
TheJanitor6203 wrote:Am I the only one that wanted to punch OP in face after reading this?
Lol. This. Grow up op.
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:10 pm
by Dr. Dre
which calculator did you use? LINK PLZ
there are some that aren't reliable
Re: LSAC GPA nightmare
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:56 pm
by esse est percipi
Meh you guys are jerks. Working hard to get a good gpa only to have it drop (however slight) from high school classes is a bid deal, and OP is justified in being upset. I think most would agree that it is stupid that the LSAC calculates college classes taken in high school.