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Hey all, I have a few questions here about law school admissions!

1.

When people list their GPA's on this forum, and when LS's list their 25th, 50th, 75th, etc, percentile, is that on the traditional 4.0 scale? Or is that on the LSDAS 4.33 scale? I live in Canada and MANY people here look at the 3.96 and assume that is on the basis of a 4.0 scale, however my research has shown me that it may very well be on the 4.33 scale?

If it is on the 4.33 scale, isn't that incredibly biased against people who go to school's were A+'s are not given out? As a result, if you go to a school that has A+'s, do they weigh that against you?

I currently have a 3.98 GPA, and the only reason it is that "high" is because I took a few quantitative math courses, got an A+, and therefore I got a substantial boost. For example, last year, although I got 6 A+'s, 3 A's, I also got 1 C+ and 2 B+'s (I take a more than full course load, hence why I do end up doing worse in some classes). If it wasn't for the A+'s, I would probably only have a 3.80.

2.

Are trends in your GPA looked at?

I had a 4.02/4.33 at the end of first year, then in the middle of second year after first semester, I got a 3.7/4.33 for example (it has gone up since then, I ended up getting a 4.22/4.33 on the following semester, for example). Will that drop affect me? A big reason for that drop was because I transferred programs and I was taking 7 classes at the time without the pre-req courses, and ended up with a a B- in two classes, but I doubt admission officers care that I transferred programs.

3.

Are students who apply from Canada at all disadvantaged in the admission process? I know as Canadian's we do not qualify for government aid in the United States, and there are other considerations (not being able to work in Canada without further training for example), but on the basis of exclusively admissions, are Canadians put in an "international pool" that is far more competitive? I know when applying to U.S undergraduates as a Canadian they did that/

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions!

Long time Canadian lurker here.

1. That is on the LSDAS 4.33 scale. Canadian letter GPAs are treated identically as American GPAs. Non letter grades should be converted to letter grades by your institutions.

Yes it is biased. I believe McGill does not have A+ grades and therefore, their students can only earn up to 4.00 on the LSDAS scale.

2. No, trends are not really considered except for truly exceptional circumstances in which case one should include an addendum. Your 3.98 is above the 75th percentile of every single law school in Canada and America.

3. Canadians submit the same stats as their American counterparts in terms of GPA and LSAT scores. We are treated the same except we tend to get yield-protected more which is the act of waitlisting a candidate who otherwise should be admitted because the admission committee thinks they will not attend their school. Yield is an important factor in determining the number of acceptances and amount of scholarship money distributed to candidates. We have to convince them that we will come to America since they have been frequently burned before. For example, U of T claims they win the yield battle against every law school including Harvard.

American undergrad is different because our high school systems and undergraduate admission schemes are not compatible.