Law School GPA Calculator

About the Law School GPA Calculator

When you apply to law school in the United States, schools do not use the GPA printed on your college transcript. They use the GPA calculated by the Law School Admission Council's Credential Assembly Service, known as the LSAC or CAS GPA. LSAC converts every grade from every undergraduate institution you attended to one standard scale so that applicants from different colleges can be compared fairly.

The differences can be noticeable. An A+ counts as 4.33, repeated courses count every time you took them, and grades from community college or summer school are averaged in. This law school GPA calculator applies those rules to your list of courses and shows your LSAC GPA beside the GPA you would get on a 4.0-capped scale, so you know which number admissions offices will see.

How to Use the Law School GPA Calculator

Enter your courses, one per line, each with a letter grade and credit hours. You can type just "B+ 3", or include the course name, as in "Biology, A-, 4".

Include every attempt at a repeated course on its own line.

Pass, credit, withdrawal, audit and incomplete grades (P, CR, W, AU, I) are accepted and left out of the average.

The Formulas

  LSAC scale:  A+ 4.33   A 4.00   A− 3.67
               B+ 3.33   B 3.00   B− 2.67
               C+ 2.33   C 2.00   C− 1.67
               D+ 1.33   D 1.00   D− 0.67   F 0.00
  LSAC GPA = Σ (grade points × credit hours) ÷ Σ graded credit hours

Step-by-Step Example

A+ 3, A 4, A− 3, B+ 3, B 2 and a pass/fail course of 1 credit.

  A+  4.33 × 3 = 12.99
  A   4.00 × 4 = 16.00
  A−  3.67 × 3 = 11.01
  B+  3.33 × 3 =  9.99
  B   3.00 × 2 =  6.00
  total 55.99 grade points over 15 graded credits (the P course is left out)
  LSAC GPA = 55.99 ÷ 15 = 3.73
  4.0-capped GPA = 55.00 ÷ 15 = 3.67

The single A+ course raises the GPA by about 0.07, which can be the difference between being below and at a school's median.

What LSAC Counts

LSAC includes all academic work completed before the date your first bachelor's degree was awarded. That means courses from every college you attended, including dual-enrolment courses taken in high school if they appear on a college transcript, community college classes, summer sessions and study abroad credit. You must send transcripts from each institution, and LSAC builds a single academic summary report from them.

Repeated courses are a common surprise. Many colleges replace the earlier grade when a course is retaken, but LSAC averages both attempts. A C followed by an A in the same 3-credit course counts as 6 credits at an average of 3.0, not 3 credits of A.

Work completed after your first bachelor's degree, such as a master's degree or post-baccalaureate classes, is reported separately on the academic summary and does not change the LSAC GPA. Schools can see it, but it does not replace a weak undergraduate record.

Pass/Fail, Withdrawals and Unusual Grades

Passing grades in pass/fail courses have no grade points, so they are left out. A failing grade in a pass/fail course is generally counted as an F if your college's transcript key treats it as a failure. Withdrawals are not counted unless the college treats a withdrawal while failing as an F. Colleges that use number grades or narrative evaluations are converted using their own grading keys, which this calculator cannot know, so use letter equivalents from your transcript legend.

How Much Does GPA Matter?

The GPA is one of the two numbers, with the LSAT, that schools report in their ABA 509 data and that feed into rankings. A GPA above a school's median helps the school, so admissions offices pay close attention to it. Unlike the LSAT, the undergraduate GPA cannot be changed once your degree is awarded, which is why a strong LSAT score or a compelling addendum explaining a weak semester often matters for applicants whose GPA is below the median.

A rising trend helps. Admissions committees read your transcript, not just the number, and a student who struggled in their first year but earned strong grades later tells a different story from one whose grades declined. The academic summary report shows grades year by year, so the trend is visible.

Converting Your Transcript

Most US colleges use the same letter grades as the LSAC scale, so the conversion is simple. If your college uses a different system, such as a 100-point scale or grades with no plus or minus, look at the grading key on the back of your transcript or in the college catalogue. LSAC uses that key to match each grade to its standard scale, and you can do the same before entering your courses here. Quarter-system credits and semester credits are both fine, as long as you use the same unit for every course.

Understanding Your Result

The headline gives your LSAC GPA to two decimal places, as it will appear on your report.

The 4.0-capped GPA line shows the same grades with A+ limited to 4.0, which is close to what many colleges print.

The totals line gives the grade points, the graded credit hours and how many courses were left out.

The note explains any A+ effect and reminds you that failed attempts still count.

When Should You Use This Calculator?

Use it before applying, to compare your LSAC GPA with each school's 25th, median and 75th percentile GPA.

Use it to check the academic summary report LSAC prepares for you.

Use it to see how much A+ grades or repeated courses change your number.

Common Mistakes

Using the transcript GPA. Law schools see the LSAC GPA, which can differ.

Leaving out a repeated attempt. Every attempt counts.

Forgetting other colleges. Community college and summer courses are included.

Counting graduate courses. They are reported separately and not averaged in.