LSAC normalizes every undergraduate grade to its own fixed point scale before calculating your GPA. Some universities assign A+ a value of 4.33 or 4.0 interchangeably. LSAC always converts A+ and A to exactly 4.0, and A- becomes 3.7. A student whose school gave 4.0 for both A and A- will see a lower LSAC GPA than their transcript shows if they earned several A- grades.
Worked example: 4-course semester
To see how your cumulative GPA at one institution compares to what LSAC will calculate across all schools, use the cumulative GPA calculator to model individual semesters first.
Your college reports only an institutional GPA covering courses taken there. LSAC does not use that number. Instead, LSAC assembles one combined GPA using every undergraduate credit you earned, regardless of which school issued the transcript. That includes community college coursework, dual enrollment classes taken in high school, study abroad grades, and transfer credits that your current school may have excluded from its own GPA calculation.
Transfer student scenario
The 0.20-point gap between institutional and LSAC GPA in this scenario places the applicant at or below the 25th percentile at several T14 programs. Students planning law school should request transcripts from every undergraduate institution attended before estimating where they stand. For students still in high school, dual enrollment performance already contributes to the eventual LSAC GPA.
For applicants using LSAC GPA alongside test scores, see the LSAT score calculator to understand how your combined index compares to school medians.
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