GPA for an international student who has a US transcript for 2 semesters Forum

[allowmeinplz]

Hi all,

I am an international applicant with an international undergrad degree and a PhD from a US institute. I majored in one of the STEM areas.

I had a question about how GPA works for international students.
Looking through the forum, I learned that since GPA for international students need not be reported to ABA, LSAT scores is what counts the most. I was extremely happy when I found this out as my GPA is pretty bad (~3.1/4.0) even after considering in fact that I majored in one the STEM areas. I felt like I had a chance to aim for one of the top schools provided I get an excellent LSAT score.

However, during my undergrad I was on an Exchange Student Program, and studied in a University in the US for a year. What worries me is that my grades were especially low during that year, I was young and reckless and took that year as an opportunity to enjoy life more than an opportunity to seek education in a new environment, which I still regret to this day...

Now my question is, once my transcripts during the Exchange Student Program are reported to law schools, are law schools required to report that one years worth of GPA to ABA?
This really worries me as if this is the case, my application would look much less lucrative. I was aiming for a high LSAT score and hoping that my PhD would be a strong soft, but that one year of GPA may raise a red flag.

Any thoughts or info would be much appreciated!