Why is my LSAC GPA different from my college GPA?
Updated September 14, 2026
The GPA on your Credential Assembly Service (CAS) report is often not the GPA printed on your transcript. Nothing went wrong: your college computes its GPA under its own policies, while LSAC recomputes every applicant's undergraduate work under one rulebook so admissions offices can compare candidates from thousands of schools. Same courses, two rulebooks, two numbers.
An A+ is worth 4.33, and modifiers step by thirds
Most colleges cap an A+ at 4.0; LSAC converts it to 4.33, so several A+ grades can push an LSAC GPA above 4.0. The rest of the scale shifts too: LSAC uses thirds, so an A− is 3.67 rather than 3.7 and a B+ is 3.33 rather than 3.3 — a few hundredths per course, visible in the second decimal place over a full transcript.
Every graded attempt counts
If you repeated a course, your school may have replaced or dropped the first grade. LSAC does not: when the grade and credits for the original attempt appear on your transcript, both attempts enter the calculation. This is the rule that most often pulls an LSAC GPA below a college GPA.
Academic forgiveness and renewal are ignored
Grade-forgiveness and academic-renewal policies remove a course from your college's calculation, but LSAC includes every grade still displayed on the transcript — even one with a line drawn through it. Only a grade that no longer appears on the transcript stays out.
What is left out
LSAC leaves out:
- Pass/fail, satisfactory/unsatisfactory, and credit/no-credit passing grades — the credits appear on your academic summary but carry no grade points.
- Withdrawals (W) and incompletes, as long as your school treats them as nonpunitive.
- Failing marks are not left out: an F, a punitive withdrawal (WF), or a no-credit/fail notation converts to zero and stays in.
Worked example: one transcript, two numbers
A forgiven F, its retake, an A+, an A−, and a pass/fail elective. The school drops the forgiven attempt; LSAC counts every graded attempt on its thirds scale and leaves out only the P.
| Course | Grade | Credits | LSAC points | School points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Chemistry (first attempt) | F | 4 | 0.00 | forgiven |
| General Chemistry (retake) | B+ | 4 | 3.33 | 3.30 |
| Constitutional History | A+ | 3 | 4.33 | 4.00 |
| Statistics | A- | 3 | 3.67 | 3.70 |
| Composition (pass/fail) | P | 3 | not counted | not counted |
- LSAC-style GPA
- 2.666
- 37.32 quality pts ÷ 14 credits
- Typical school GPA
- 3.630
- 36.30 quality pts ÷ 10 credits
On these rows the LSAC-style GPA lands 0.964 lower than the school GPA.
Which way does your number move?
Down, most of the time: forgiven and repeated grades come back at zero or low points. Up, if your school records A+ grades and you earned several. Both can sit on one transcript, so run the numbers: enter one row per attempt, check “Forgiven by school?” on any attempt your school dropped, choose P, W, or I for ungraded rows, and the calculator shows the LSAC-style GPA beside a typical school GPA with the difference.
Not affiliated with LSAC
This site is an independent study tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Law School Admission Council. The rules here follow LSAC's publicly documented transcript-summarization policy; if anything conflicts, the official policy governs, and the GPA that counts is the one LSAC computes from your transcripts.
Frequently asked questions
- Can my LSAC GPA be higher than my college GPA?
- Yes. An A+ converts to 4.33 while most schools cap it at 4.0, so an applicant with A+ grades and no repeated or forgiven courses usually lands slightly higher.
- Do transfer and community-college courses count?
- Yes. LSAC summarizes every undergraduate transcript issued before your first bachelor's degree, including courses your degree school never counted toward its own GPA.
- Do dual-enrollment courses taken in high school count?
- LSAC has announced that beginning with the 2027–2028 application cycle, college-level courses taken in high school, including dual enrollment, are excluded from the LSAC GPA. Check the official policy for your cycle and leave those rows out if it applies to you.