LSAC GPA & Study Abroad Forum

[mandapandax]

Plan on calling LSAC to confirm, but figured I'd also ask here: is a semester study abroad supposed to be counted into your GPA? I studied in the Netherlands where the grading system is significantly different than the US grading system. My UGrad did not count the grades toward my GPA, only as transfer credit yet today when I looked at my Academic Summary Report through LSAC, I noticed that my abysmal semester abroad grades WERE calculated into my cumulative GPA, bringing my GPA down significantly. I was under the impression that these grades should not be counted, but perhaps I was way off? Anyone else has something similar happen to them?

[lemonlacroix]

From how I understand it, if a US institution reports grades for your time abroad and they're equivalent to a year of coursework, LSAC counts your grades. It sounds like while your University didn't count them as anything other than transfer credit, the grades are on your transcript and therefore count. I actually emailed LSAC because I had a similar question and they were super helpful!

[mandapandax]

Thanks for the reply! I only studied abroad for a semester so I believe this is different? My home institution has the credit listed only as transfer credit-no grades were assigned.

[Aimeech]

I also had a semester study abroad. The grades from that semster were actually listed on my undergrad transcript and were therefore counted in my GPA for LSAC. I would still clarify about your situation with LSAC since it sounds like the grades weren't on your transcript.

[Tyty1204]

I studied abroad for a year and I have some transfer credit on my transcript but no actual grades. For my program I was directly enrolled at a host university in France and while I have a transcript with grades from my time abroad, this isn't calculated into my LSAC GPA (since the grades don't appear on my home university transcript and the program was not sponsored by an American or Canadian university). For reference I emailed LSAC and this is the answer they gave me:

"If the study abroad was sponsored by US or Canadian school you will need to have a transcript sent from the US or Canadian school that sponsored the study abroad program. If the study abroad was directly through the international school and the combined time of study with other international institutions was for a year or less you should not have a transcript sent."

I hope that's helpful.