From what i understand, for international applicants that have less than 60 US credit hours, LSAC does not report the GPA impact on the median. First of all is this correct? How do admission comitees evaluate the normally would be splitters (higher LSAT lower GPA), since the GPA factor becomes a bit ambiguous. How is the general evaluation of such applicants?
3
3 comments
And just adding a clarification! You're actually conflating two things.
1) It doesn't matter whether you are international or not. If you have taken fewer than 60 credit hours at your degree granting school, then LSAC will not calculate a GPA for you. This can happen in cases where someone is graduating with lots of AP or IB credits.
2) If you are receiving a degree from a college outside the States or Canada, it doesn't matter what your citizenship status is. You won't have a calculated GPA (as SerinJ points out).
Just offering that as a clarification for others who may read this post!
Hello,
You are correct that for international applicants with fewer than 60 US or Canadian credit hours, LSAC does not compute a numerical GPA. Therefore, your undergraduate grades do not impact a law school's reported GPA medians.
Instead of a numerical GPA, LSAC evaluates international transcripts qualitatively. They will assign your transcript a categorical rating, like: Superior, Above Average, Average, etc. Because there is no numerical GPA, you naturally cannot be considered a traditional 'splitter' (high LSAT / low GPA).
Because your GPA won't be factored into the school's medians for rankings, your LSAT score becomes the only numerical metric the school can report for you. Depending on your profile, this can be an advantage or a hurdle. If you have an excellent LSAT score but a relatively weak undergraduate record, you are in a great position. The school gets to value your high LSAT to boost their medians without affecting their GPA medians. On the other hand, if your LSAT is on the lower end, you do not have a high numerical GPA to help balance out your application statistically.
And just like domestic applicants, the application will be evaluated holistically, although admissions committees will place a significantly heavier weight on your LSAT score. I hope this helps!
@SerinJ I see, that makes sense. Thanks a lot for the explanation!