LSAC GPA

Maximus4

So my transcripts were fully processed and I accessed the Academic Summary Report and saw that there was pretty big gap between the "Degree (summary GPA" and the "Cumulative GPA". Not sure as to what the difference between the two is even though I read the description box. And not sure as to which one is used as part of my application. Also if I have received A+'s during undergrad how do I find out if they counted as 4.33 or 4.0?

Freddy_D

The cumulative GPA is the one that schools use as your official GPA.

Mitchell-1

The A+'s do count as a 4.33 not a 4.0, at least mine did. My undergrad doesn't do that so I made sure to check.

TheMikey

Degree GPA is what you got at the school... Cumulative GPA is your LSAC GPA.

Also, if you have A+'s, you can be sure they made those a 4.33 when recalculating your GPA.

Maximus4

The reason I am confused about the A+ thing is because I had about a 3.83 GPA at CC and a 3.93 at a UC upon graduating, but my LSAC gpa is a 3.85 so I am confused as to how that helped increase my GPA lol. I feel like something is off

Maximus4

TheMikey

TheMikey

@Maximus4 said:
The reason I am confused about the A+ thing is because I had about a 3.83 GPA at CC and a 3.93 at a UC upon graduating, but my LSAC gpa is a 3.85 so I am confused as to how that helped increase my GPA lol. I feel like something is off

You have to also keep in mind that any grades with a minus is also different in LSAC's GPA calculations. Not significantly, but if you have a lot of grades with minuses, this may have lowered your GPA, despite having some A+'s.

If this isn't the case that you have a bunch of minus grades, I'm not too sure then

TheMikey

And what I mean by the minus thing if you weren't aware is for example, I think an A- counts as a 3.7 at most if not all schools? but LSAC counts an A- as a 3.67.

https://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-school/academic-record#grade-table

Lsatkayy

So schools don't look at yor last two years for your gpa, but rather your whole undergrad cumulative GPA?

Freddy_D

@Lsatkayy said:
So schools don't look at yor last two years for your gpa, but rather your whole undergrad cumulative GPA?

Yup. The cumulative GPA is the one that they report to the ABA, and it is what schools when calculating medians and quartiles.

TheMikey

@Lsatkayy said:
So schools don't look at yor last two years for your gpa, but rather your whole undergrad cumulative GPA?

Schools look at EVERYTHING you did prior to getting your first bachelors degree granted to you. If you took community college classes, those count. If you did a college class while in high school and it counted towards your bachelors, that counts.

MsM1998_

I'm from Canada and our conversion tables are very different for calculating the cumulative GPA. My Canadian cumulative gpa is a 3.83/4, but when I convert it according to the LSAC chart I get 3.996. Is this out of a 4.33 system (so 3.99/4.33) or a 4? Just trying to understand how my GPA is much higher in the US. The only decent explanation I have that may have helped me out a lot (if it is out of 4) is that I had something like 20 A+'s on my record, and the 4.33 conversions for A+'s helps tremendously because of that.