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What are some common reasons for peoples GPA's dropping after LSAC recalculates them? Any anecdotes or information would be great. Or, maybe, if someone could provide the scale they use would help too.

the number 1 thing is probably retaking classes, since both the original and the retake count toward the LSAC GPA. I missed the deadline to drop Spanish II and got an F. Retook it for a B, but the F still dropped my LSAC GPA significantly

Also, people like to claim their University GPA is their GPA, when they actually have lower grades from taking high school classes that counted as college credit or community college credits

My LSAC GPA is lower than my university GPA. Mine is lower due to transferring colleges. When you transfer colleges, they don't include your past GPA. LSAC combines it all together. Mine was lowered .08 points. Not too significant but still! Darn Freshman year at random college.

I think LSAC also uses a .33 and .67 scale (so a B+ is a 3.33 and an A- is a 3.67, for example). If your school uses something different (3.3 and 3.7), your GPA might go up slightly if you have a lot of B+s, but it might go down a little if you have lots of A-s.

Retaking classes is big. Also, a lot of people went to community college or another university and then transferred, and when LSAC factors those classes into your GPA it might drop relative to what your graduating institution had for you.

wiz wrote:I think LSAC also uses a .33 and .67 scale (so a B+ is a 3.33 and an A- is a 3.67, for example). If your school uses something different (3.3 and 3.7), your GPA might go up slightly if you have a lot of B+s, but it might go down a little if you have lots of A-s.

This is interesting. Anyone have experience with this situation hurting them? My school uses the 3.3 B+ and 3.7 A- scale and I have quite a fair share of A-s but only one B+ (in a one unit class) and my LSAC GPA and university GPA are exactly the same.

The inclusion of summer classes that didn't count towards my UG GPA dropped it for me (intensely frustrating). I took them and worked two jobs knowing I just needed to get a C or better, which I did. Well, I got a C and a B and those grades significantly lowered my GPA after LSAT was done including them.

Mine dropped .02 due to my school weighing A-minuses a bit more (and B-pluses a bit less) than LSAC does. Not a big deal, but this does piss me a off slightly, esp. since my school did NOT offer A-pluses...

Mine dropped .01 due to the A- thing.

Also, here is the scale:
http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law- ... rade-table

Studying abroad can be a big one (i.e. a whole year's worth of grades that count towards your degree GPA wont count for the LSAC GPA). I'm not sure whether this applies for all abroad programs, but definitely for some of them.

drevo wrote:

wiz wrote:I think LSAC also uses a .33 and .67 scale (so a B+ is a 3.33 and an A- is a 3.67, for example). If your school uses something different (3.3 and 3.7), your GPA might go up slightly if you have a lot of B+s, but it might go down a little if you have lots of A-s.

This is interesting. Anyone have experience with this situation hurting them? My school uses the 3.3 B+ and 3.7 A- scale and I have quite a fair share of A-s but only one B+ (in a one unit class) and my LSAC GPA and university GPA are exactly the same.

My school also uses the 3.3 B+ and 3.7 A- scale, but when I use the LSAC GPA converter, my uni GPA is the same as LSAC. But their website does say an A- is a 3.67....odd

Darmody wrote:

drevo wrote:

wiz wrote:I think LSAC also uses a .33 and .67 scale (so a B+ is a 3.33 and an A- is a 3.67, for example). If your school uses something different (3.3 and 3.7), your GPA might go up slightly if you have a lot of B+s, but it might go down a little if you have lots of A-s.

This is interesting. Anyone have experience with this situation hurting them? My school uses the 3.3 B+ and 3.7 A- scale and I have quite a fair share of A-s but only one B+ (in a one unit class) and my LSAC GPA and university GPA are exactly the same.

My school also uses the 3.3 B+ and 3.7 A- scale, but when I use the LSAC GPA converter, my uni GPA is the same as LSAC. But their website does say an A- is a 3.67....odd

The converter converted mine incorrectly. You really won't know until you get your transcripts to the LSAC.

On the flip side, my lsac got is higher than my university gpa, by like. 3

chingwoo wrote:On the flip side, my lsac got is higher than my university gpa, by like. 3

.3 or .03? because a .3 jump is awesome as hell

.

Regulus wrote:My LSDAS GPA also increased by about 0.3 (not 0.03) because many universities that use the +/- system will give A+'s, but they still only count them as 4.0's. LSAC, on the other hand, counts these as 4.33's, which can be really helpful.

Ah that makes sense. Interesting that your school distinguishes A+ grades but doesn't make them worth more than an A.

This is annoying and hurts me. Dropped me from a 3.80 to like a 3.69 because my school only goes up to A and there are no A+. I wonder if schools look at both your university GPA and the LSAC gpa when making decisions and how much the difference matters.

agglomeration wrote: how much the difference matters.

practically irrelevant

My school only gives out A B C D F. I've received mostly A-'s in my 3.9 GPA, so I thank my institution for its lazy grading scale.

drevo wrote:

chingwoo wrote:On the flip side, my lsac got is higher than my university gpa, by like. 3

.3 or .03? because a .3 jump is awesome as hell

Haha I have a negative grade trend since I was a good student in high school and I took CC courses then.

Mine is lower on LSAC. My school only gives out +'s and not minuses and they count a + as a .5. I received two B+'s in my college career, thus they were worth 3.5 at my university each, but only 3.3 with LSAC.

Overall, it made very little difference. I have a 3.90 on LSAC and a 3.908 undergrad GPA (3.903 at my university).

What if I have a 4.0 at my school, but my school doesn't give A+s?

Veni_Vidi_Vici wrote:What if I have a 4.0 at my school, but my school doesn't give A+s?

then you have a 4.0...

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