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I'm sure this has been asked before, but I was wondering how much of a difference there is between the two. I'm waiting while LSDAS calculates mine and was wondering what to expect. What factors influenced the difference in your GPAs? And if you don't mind answering: What is your UGPA and LSDAS GPA? Thanks.

It will make a huge difference to those who took advantage of the academic forgiveness policies at their school, outside of that I wouldn't think there is a significant difference. I myself can't tell you my upga as I am still attending undergrad.

Academic forgiveness? Do you mean grade inflation? Or dropping your worst classes, or something?

In my case, I retook a class after poor performance. My school forgave (cancelled) the original grade. LSAC counts ALL grades, even repeats. Thus, my UG GPA is about .08 higher than my LSDAS GPA.

In addition, LSAC may calculate A+s differently than your school did (if you are from one of the schools which give them). That could lead to a GPA increase.

Academic forgiveness?

Academic forgiveness is when you get a 'substandared' grade for a course and the school allows you to retake that course, and in doing so the new grade replaces the old one. So if you had a D and retook and got an A most undergrads would consider that a 4.00 for the classes credits. The thing is that they almost always leave both classes on your transcript. However LSDA would then see it on your transcript and not consider it a 4.0 on one set of credits, instead it would see it as a 4.0 and a 1.0 on two sets of credits. So for example you graduate with just this one hypothetical class from your school with a 4.0 ug gpa, but when you go to apply for law school you have a 2.5 LSDAS GPA.

I made a similar post before.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =2&t=22982

This is the part of the entire process that most undermines my confidence right now.

I think the differences come from the fact that LSDAS GPA considers all of your grades from all of the schools you went to, and it also counts those courses that you withdrew from, and it counts A+s as 4.33 where A+s exist. There must be a lot more than that, but I don't know.

My unconverted GPA and LSDAS GPA have a difference of 0.15. In favour of LSDAS GPA.

I'm a bit concerned about this, because even though my LSDAS GPA seems pretty high, apparently I stand pretty low in terms of ranking of the students from my school, according to LSAC academic summary report.

kiskadee321 wrote:In my case, I retook a class after poor performance. My school forgave (cancelled) the original grade. LSAC counts ALL grades, even repeats. Thus, my UG GPA is about .08 lower than my LSDAS GPA.

That's interesting. I would think that counting your forgiven course in your GPA calculation should lower your GPA but counting that actually increased your GPA by 0.08 points?
You must have had some A+s to counteract the effect of that.

tillicollpase wrote:

kiskadee321 wrote:In my case, I retook a class after poor performance. My school forgave (cancelled) the original grade. LSAC counts ALL grades, even repeats. Thus, my UG GPA is about .08 higher than my LSDAS GPA.

That's interesting. I would think that counting your forgiven course in your GPA calculation should lower your GPA but counting that actually increased your GPA by 0.08 points?
You must have had some A+s to counteract the effect of that.

yeah I fixed it above.

it also counts those courses that you withdrew from

Are you sure it counts course you withdrew from? I was under the idea it did not.

playhero wrote:

it also counts those courses that you withdrew from

Are you sure it counts course you withdrew from? I was under the idea it did not.

You're right.
Sorry about that.

It counts those 16 units of Not pass you took, though >.>

Split 'R us.

Would tech credits count in my UGPA?

I can't believe they count A+s as 4.33

My school doesn't offer them, and I'd imagine it would give someone a huge advantage if they went to a school where an A+ was a grade (unless it balanced out with a curve against the other students there or something).


Thanks for the GPA calculator. I'm gonna have to see what I get.


EDIT: Yeah, 3.63. More or less what I expected. If I get all As and take a full course load next semester, I could have a 3.68.

USC2009 wrote:I can't believe they count A+s as 4.33.

It's a pet peeve of mine as well, but what can you do? My LSDAS GPA is 0.06 lower than my college GPA, due to the counting of a class I failed and retook (LSDAS counts the F, undergrad does not since I retook and passed). I came out an LSDAS GPA loser, others are winners. Not sure how the process could be made more fair.

...

jsporter wrote:I'm an LSDAS GPA "loser" by .3, and that effectively takes me from a T14-lock/CCN-hopeful to a T20-lock and a hopeful at the lower T14. It will probably be the difference between me picking between NYU, Penn, Mich, and UVA to me picking between GULC, Cornell, Vanderbilt, USC and UT. All because of how LSDAS likes to count GPA.

But, as always, life just ain't fair.

wow dude, that sucks. did you retake a bunch of courses or something?

doctorgonzo wrote:

USC2009 wrote:I can't believe they count A+s as 4.33.

It's a pet peeve of mine as well, but what can you do? My LSDAS GPA is 0.06 lower than my college GPA, due to the counting of a class I failed and retook (LSDAS counts the F, undergrad does not since I retook and passed). I came out an LSDAS GPA loser, others are winners. Not sure how the process could be made more fair.

Yeah, it'll never be 100 percent fair, but I think that counting A+s is still a big mistake. If I took half my A credits and convert them to an A+, my GPA goes up .1

That's too bad that the LSDAS doesn't look at academic forgiveness, especially since many schools don't seem to make their students aware of that when describing AF.

...

jsporter wrote:

shonyaey wrote:

jsporter wrote:I'm an LSDAS GPA "loser" by .3, and that effectively takes me from a T14-lock/CCN-hopeful to a T20-lock and a hopeful at the lower T14. It will probably be the difference between me picking between NYU, Penn, Mich, and UVA to me picking between GULC, Cornell, Vanderbilt, USC and UT. All because of how LSDAS likes to count GPA.

But, as always, life just ain't fair.

wow dude, that sucks. did you retake a bunch of courses or something?

A bunch of Fs from my JC days. Had lots of issues and basically didn't go to class for a whole semester. Re-took them all the next semester.

My GPA at my degree-granting university is cum laude territory and it's pretty apparent from my transcripts that I'm really a 3.9-type student over the last 2 years.

I'm not in quite the same situation, but my GPA my first year was in the very low 3 range, and ever since I've had above a 3.65 (while my overall GPA is a 3.62), and I've gone up every semester. I wish they cared more about trends...

jsporter wrote:

shonyaey wrote:

jsporter wrote:I'm an LSDAS GPA "loser" by .3, and that effectively takes me from a T14-lock/CCN-hopeful to a T20-lock and a hopeful at the lower T14. It will probably be the difference between me picking between NYU, Penn, Mich, and UVA to me picking between GULC, Cornell, Vanderbilt, USC and UT. All because of how LSDAS likes to count GPA.

But, as always, life just ain't fair.

wow dude, that sucks. did you retake a bunch of courses or something?

A bunch of Fs from my JC days. Had lots of issues and basically didn't go to class for a whole semester. Re-took them all the next semester.

My GPA at my degree-granting university is cum laude territory and it's pretty apparent from my transcripts that I'm really a 3.9-type student over the last 2 years.

Maybe the GPA trend will help. I'm sure you could write something to the addcomm's.

...

Not a huge fan of LSDAS GPA... I should call them and see what, if anything, can be done.

a) took the forgiveness policy once (I'm ok with them counting both, not a biggie)

b) took an Incomplete once, worked with my academic advisor and teacher, took the class/did the work later (when not taking an obscene amount of credits while working an obscene amount of hours).

c) my school switched to an optional +/- system after my first year. Additionally, there is no such thing as an "A+" at my school.

.

USC2009 wrote:I can't believe they count A+s as 4.33

My school doesn't offer them, and I'd imagine it would give someone a huge advantage if they went to a school where an A+ was a grade (unless it balanced out with a curve against the other students there or something).


Thanks for the GPA calculator. I'm gonna have to see what I get.


EDIT: Yeah, 3.63. More or less what I expected. If I get all As and take a full course load next semester, I could have a 3.68.

At my UG it isn't customary for instructors to award A+s though some do. It might help to ask at the beginning of the academic term, explaining LSAC's grade policy to the instructor.

My undergraduate GPA according to my degree granting institution = 3.75 (graduated magna cum laude)

My undergraduate GPA according to LSAC = 3.17 (the toilet bowl)

I have a real problem with the way LSAC calculates GPA. I neglected to show up (at all) or drop my classes for a year at a community college for a variety of reasons. After I decided that I wanted to be in college I retook the classes that I bailed on then went on to transfer to my states flagship university where I never made below an A in anything, ever, again. Oh and by the way, all the classes that lead to the lowered GPA were 100 level type stuff. Every class I have ever taken over 300 level has been an A.

Yes... Life does suck.