How does LSAC calculate GPA? Forum

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bigmarmot

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How does LSAC calculate GPA?

Post by bigmarmot » Fri Apr 26, 2019 4:14 pm

I use http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-co ... ulator.htm to calculate my LSAC GPA. Does anyone know if it is accurate or not?

And does anyone know if an A- equals to a 3.667, a 3.7, or a 3.6666666666666667 during LSAC GPA calculation?
Will a 3.895 UGPA be rounded up to 3.90 or be rounded down to 3.89? What about a 3.8949?

Thank you very much!

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cavalier1138

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Re: How does LSAC calculate GPA?

Post by cavalier1138 » Fri Apr 26, 2019 4:59 pm

An A- is a 3.67, and I believe that the standard mathematical rules for rounding up apply. Here's the FAQ on LSAC's website, which at least directly answers your first question: https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-schoo ... marization

The real answer is that this is a non-issue. There is no school at which a GPA difference of 0.01 will affect your application.

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UVA2B

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Re: How does LSAC calculate GPA?

Post by UVA2B » Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:07 pm

This misconception drives me crazy, because there is nothing suggesting schools are targeting specific GPAs, even if they have guidelines they’ll use for admissions.

Whether you have a 3.89 or 3.91 is unlikely to matter in the aggregate. Neither will a gpa of 3.79 or 3.81. That doesn’t mean schools aren’t targeting a GPA range where they want to land, but admission decisions aren’t made based on a minuscule difference, outside of maybe some arbitrary gates like >3.0.

GPAs should be treated as finite ranges, and LSATs should be more concrete markers depending on where they land on the median scales. Until the GRE takes over law school admissions, that is.

bigmarmot

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Re: How does LSAC calculate GPA?

Post by bigmarmot » Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:38 pm

I find Harvard's GPA median last year was a 3.90. I was at 3.90x but I bombed two courses this semester, so I will probably end up with an LSAC UGPA between 3.895-3.897. My undergrad institution treats A- as a 3.70 and LSAC treats it as a 3.67, so my LSAC GPA is lower because I have a bunch of A-. If my GPA were rounded down, I would fall below the median of Harvard.

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cavalier1138

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Re: How does LSAC calculate GPA?

Post by cavalier1138 » Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:58 am

bigmarmot wrote:I find Harvard's GPA median last year was a 3.90. I was at 3.90x but I bombed two courses this semester, so I will probably end up with an LSAC UGPA between 3.895-3.897. My undergrad institution treats A- as a 3.70 and LSAC treats it as a 3.67, so my LSAC GPA is lower because I have a bunch of A-. If my GPA were rounded down, I would fall below the median of Harvard.
It. Will. Not. Matter.

GPA medians are much more flexible than LSAT medians, which you can verify by looking at the medians over time instead of just looking at a single year. You will be far better off if you (a) don't go to law school right after undergrad and/or (b) focus on the LSAT.

And just in case you're focusing on Harvard to the exclusion of all other top law schools: stop doing that.

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