Transcript Summarization

LSAC calculates a GPA for each year and a cumulative GPA for each undergraduate institution that issued a transcript for you. A cumulative GPA that includes all undergraduate work is also calculated and reported. A cumulative GPA for a school within an institution cannot be calculated.

In calculating a GPA, LSAC uses the grades and credits for every course that can be converted to the 4.0 scale, although the institution issuing the transcript may exclude some of the courses from its own calculations. Courses excluded from the academic summary are not included in the GPA calculation.

There may be some variation between the GPAs calculated by LSAC and those calculated by colleges or students; however, the variation is rarely substantial. Because the law schools that use LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service understand its procedures, a slight variation in GPA is not likely to affect a law school’s admission decision. 

Failure is defined as credit attempted but not earned. When summarizing transcripts, LSAC converts any grade notation that signifies failure (such as No Credit, No Credit/Fail, Not Passing, Incomplete, Incomplete/Fail, Withdraw/Fail, Unsatisfactory, Fail, etc.) to zero on the 4.0 scale. With the exception of Withdraw/Fail (WF), these grades are included in the GPA calculation, even if the issuing school considers the grade to be nonpunitive. (WF grades, or any other withdrawal grades indicating failure, are not included in the GPA calculation when the issuing institution considers the grade to be nonpunitive. However, this does not apply to WF grades only considered nonpunitive by the institution due to a successful repeat of the course or some type of grade-forgiveness policy. For more information about exceptions, please review the Grades Excluded from Conversion section above.)

If a transcript is not clear about credit attempted, LSAC staff will contact the registrar at the issuing school to confirm whether course credit was attempted.

All grades and credits earned for repeated courses will be included in the GPA calculation if the course units and grades appear on the transcript. A line drawn through course information or a grade does not eliminate the course from GPA calculation if the course units appear on the transcript.

All grades reflected on your transcript for forgiven courses will be included in the calculation of the GPA even if the institution issuing the transcript excludes the courses from its own calculations. Credits for forgiven courses not reflecting the grade earned will appear on the academic summary but will not be included in the GPA calculation. If the transcript reflects neither the grade nor the credit attempted for a forgiven course, credit will be assigned. If a transcript is not clear about the total number of credits attempted and the course information is not readily available on the institution’s website, the total number of credits for a similar course will be assigned. A line drawn through course information or a grade does not eliminate the course from GPA calculation.

If a transcript contains academic notes such as dean’s list, study-abroad credits, academic probation, suspension, dismissal, warning, and so on, these notes will appear on your law school report.

Transcript notations such as dean’s list, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, and the like will be included on the report as “Academic Honors.” Academic honors not included on your official transcript will be noted on the Law School Report if an official, sealed letter sent from the registrar is received by LSAC.

If you question a transcript notation of academic action, you should contact the institution directly and resolve the matter as soon as possible. Please note that a discrepancy between your answer to a law school application academic record question and notations on your transcript(s) could result in a misconduct and irregularities investigation.

AP or CLEP courses are summarized and included in the GPA if the undergraduate school transcript shows grades and credits for them. (See the Unconverted Credits section below for transcripts showing credits but no grades.)

In the following atypical instances, no cumulative GPA calculation will occur, as reporting one for someone who only had a few hours of U.S./Canadian classes could be misleading.

No cumulative GPA will be calculated if an applicant has

• received their undergraduate degree from an institution located outside the United States, its territories/associated states, or Canada, and has also completed less than 60 graded credits of U.S./Canadian undergraduate-level work prior to the awarding of the international degree;
• received their undergraduate degree from a U.S./Canadian institution that does not issue grades and credits, only narratives, and has also completed less than 60 graded credits of other U.S./Canadian undergraduate-level work prior to the awarding of the U.S./Canadian degree; or
• a total of less than 60 graded credits of U.S./Canadian undergraduate-level work on their file and may or may not have an institution identified as their undergraduate degree-granting school.

All credits are reported in terms of semester hours. All earned credits not reported in semester hours are converted to that system. Trimester hours are treated as semester hours; quarter hours are multiplied by .67 to arrive at semester hours. Credits recorded in other units are converted to semester hours using the formula supplied by the college issuing the transcript.

Although passing grades for courses with only one or two passing grades may not be converted to the 4.0 scale, credit is given for them in the Credential Assembly Service summary (see Grades Excluded from Conversion for examples). These courses, and any course for which the transcript shows credit but no grade, appear in the Unconverted Credit Hours section of the law school report.

Grades from graduate and professional schoolwork that is taken after your bachelor’s degree conferral date will not be calculated as part of your LSAC GPA. However, you must request transcripts from any graduate, law, medical, or professional institutions where you have completed coursework.

Prior success or failure in other graduate or professional schoolwork, including work completed at other law schools, may also be a factor in the admission committee’s decision.