LSAC GPA vs Transcript GPA - The 2026-27 Rules
What LSAC counts and excludes when it recalculates your GPA from every transcript - repeats, withdrawals, pass/fail, quarter hours, dual enrollment.
LSAC GPA vs Transcript GPA - The 2026-27 Rules
Your LSAC GPA is not the number printed on your degree-granting transcript. LSAC recalculates it from every transcript you send, on one converted scale, using published rules that part company with your school's in a number of specific places. All of them were read on September 5, 2026 on LSAC's own pages, and two account for most of the gap people find when the report comes back: both attempts at a repeated course count, even where your college's forgiveness policy dropped the first one, and coursework from an institution you left years ago still lands in the cumulative number.
Two more facts frame the whole thing. First, for the 2026-2027 cycle now open, grades from college credits earned in high school are still included — the exclusion everyone read about in July was delayed, and the dated wording is below. Second, the recalculation is not a hidden judgment: LSAC says outright that it "makes no attempt to assess the value of grades earned at different colleges" and that "each law school sets its own rules for interpretation of applicants' grade-point averages," and every transcript travels with the report anyway.
This page is the rules layer and the change log. It does not tell you how to write a GPA addendum — that document has its own page, when a GPA addendum earns its place, and the decision strip at the end points there. If you want the whole law shelf, start from the law school essays hub.
How to read the table
Every row is LSAC's own rule, quoted where the sentence is short enough to carry and described where it runs long, with the page it lives on. Longer sentences appear in full under the table as Quoted bullets. Every page in the source column was fetched on September 5, 2026.
Three abbreviations LSAC uses that the table assumes: the CAS is the Credential Assembly Service, the subscription that collects your transcripts; the academic summary is the cover sheet of converted grades and credits that sits on top of your law school report; unconverted credits are hours that count as work completed but carry no grade into the GPA.
What LSAC counts, and what it leaves out
| Situation | LSAC's rule | Source (read Sep 5, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Which transcripts get summarized | "you must have a separate transcript sent to LSAC directly from each undergraduate and graduate institution you attended in the United States, its territories/associated states, or Canada" — "even if you didn't complete your degree" | Requesting Transcripts |
| Which GPAs are produced | "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." | Transcript Summarization |
| Major GPA or degree GPA | Not produced: "A cumulative GPA for a school within an institution cannot be calculated." | Transcript Summarization |
| Which courses carry weight | "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" | Transcript Summarization |
| Repeated courses | Both attempts count: "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." | Transcript Summarization |
| Academic renewal or forgiveness | Included "even if the institution issuing the transcript excludes the courses from its own calculations." A struck-through grade is not removed. Excluded only where the grade is not displayed on the transcript at all | Transcript Summarization |
| W and WP (withdraw, withdraw/pass) | Excluded from conversion "only if the issuing school considers the grade nonpunitive" | Transcript Summarization |
| WF, WU, WNP (withdrawal signifying failure) | Excluded only where the issuing school treats the grade as nonpunitive — and not where it is nonpunitive only because of a later repeat or a forgiveness policy. Otherwise it converts to zero | Transcript Summarization |
| Incomplete | Excluded "only if the issuing school considers the grade nonpunitive"; otherwise it sits in the list of notations converted to zero | Transcript Summarization |
| Failing grades generally | "Failure is defined as credit attempted but not earned." Notations signifying failure convert to zero "even if the issuing school considers the grade to be nonpunitive," with the WF exception above | Transcript Summarization |
| Pass/fail, credit/no-credit, satisfactory/unsatisfactory | Passing grades from one- and two-passing-grade systems are not converted; the credits are "totaled and reported separately as unconverted credits." One exception, quoted below | Transcript Summarization |
| Narrative transcripts | Same treatment: courses "for which a transcript gives only narratives or descriptions" are not converted | Transcript Summarization |
| Noncredit courses | Excluded. But graded PE, practical art, practical music and ROTC courses that carry credit "will be included in the academic summary, even if the issuing institution does not include these courses in its calculation of a GPA" | Transcript Summarization |
| Remedial courses | Excluded "only if the transcript clearly indicates they are remedial" | Transcript Summarization |
| AP credit | Not converted: "Credits for the work in these courses are totaled and reported separately as unconverted credits" | Transcript Summarization |
| Dual enrollment / college credit earned in high school | 2026-2027 cycle: "grades for college credits earned in high school will be included in the calculation of the LSAC GPA for all applicants." Changes for 2027-2028 — see the change log | Transcript Summarization · Law:Fully, Aug 18 2026 |
| CLEP credit earned after high school | "included in the GPA only if the undergraduate school transcript shows grades and credits for them" | Transcript Summarization |
| Quarter and trimester hours | "All credits are reported in terms of semester hours." Trimester hours are treated as semester hours; "quarter hours are multiplied by .67 to arrive at semester hours" | Transcript Summarization |
| Transfer credit | The originating school must still send a transcript, even where "Credit was transferred from an institution and it appears on another institution's transcript" | Requesting Transcripts |
| Interinstitutional programs (exchange, consortium) | No separate transcript needed where the home school lists course codes, titles, grades and credits and counted them in its own GPA; then "the grades and credits will be summarized under the home school" | Requesting Transcripts |
| Study abroad under clear sponsorship | "The courses received the sponsoring institution's academic credit (not transfer credit)" and appear with codes, titles, credits and grades on the sponsor's transcript; the sponsoring school sends it | Requesting Transcripts |
| Study abroad by direct enrollment | An international transcript is required where you were directly enrolled abroad and the combined work exceeds "the equivalent of more than one year of study" in the US, its territories or Canada. Below that, LSAC does not require it — "check with your prospective law school, as they may still require the study abroad transcript" | Requesting Transcripts |
| Foreign transcripts (CAS Authentication and Evaluation) | Documents go from the issuing institution to LSAC in a sealed envelope, in the original language with a translation if not in English; the evaluation is "completed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) via LSAC" | International Transcripts · CAS |
| When no cumulative GPA is produced | Three cases, all turning on fewer than 60 graded credits of US or Canadian undergraduate-level work; quoted below | Transcript Summarization |
| Graduate and professional work | "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." The transcripts are still required and still sent | Transcript Summarization |
| Post-baccalaureate undergraduate work | Same exclusion: everything after the first bachelor's conferral date, including undergraduate courses, is outside the LSAC GPA | Transcript Summarization |
| Academic notations | "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 Summarization |
| What the report carries alongside the number | "Copies of all your undergraduate, graduate, and law/professional school transcripts," plus an academic summary covering "all your undergraduate work and any work completed at graduate, law, or professional schools prior to the granting of your four-year undergraduate degree" | Law School Reports |
Quoted — the sentences that were too long for a cell, all from LSAC's Transcript Summarization page unless noted, read September 5, 2026:
- Pass/fail exception: "The only exception to this policy is for a reported grade below C-minus from a two-passing-grade grading system (e.g., Credit/D/Fail) when the issuing institution includes this grade in their calculation of a GPA."
- Withdrawal signifying failure: "Official withdrawal grades that signify failure (such as WF=Withdraw/Fail, WU=Withdrew Unsatisfactory, WNP=Withdrew Not Passing) if the issuing school considers the grade nonpunitive. (This does not apply to WF, WU, and WNP grades only considered nonpunitive by the institution due to a successful repeat of the course or some type of grade-forgiveness policy.)"
- Failing notations: "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."
- Struck-through grades: "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."
- No cumulative GPA: it is not calculated where an applicant "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"; where the US or Canadian degree-granting school "does not issue grades and credits, only narratives" and the same 60-credit floor is unmet; or where the file holds "a total of less than 60 graded credits of U.S./Canadian undergraduate-level work."
- Foreign records, from the International Transcripts page: "All international educational records must be submitted in the original language. If the transcript or other required documents are not in English, a translation must be included."
- Authentication, from the CAS page: "Most ABA-approved law schools accept — and many require — the CAS A&E feature; however, some schools require a different service."
- Accuracy, and LSAC's own size estimate of the gap: "There may be some variation between the GPAs calculated by LSAC and those calculated by colleges or students; however, the variation is rarely substantial."
Two things the report carries that the number does not. Anyone who was enrolled in spring 2020 gets a standing letter attached: LSAC says those reports "will include a letter reminding admission offices that spring 2020 was the semester impacted by the coronavirus" and that grading systems changed. And LSAC warns 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" — which is a reason to read your own transcripts before you answer those questions, not a reason to write anything extra.
What changed, and when
| Date | What happened | LSAC's words |
|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | Exclusion of dual-enrollment grades announced, effective July 28, 2026 | Recounted in the August 18 post: "Last month, we announced that, effective July 28, 2026, LSAC would no longer include grades from college-level courses completed while a candidate was in high school, often referred to as dual enrollment classes, in the LSAC GPA calculation." No separate July announcement page on record on lsac.org (checked September 5, 2026) |
| August 18, 2026 | Implementation delayed by one cycle | "After careful review, we have decided to delay implementation of the policy until summer 2027, enabling candidates and law schools to adjust to the new policy." |
| 2026-2027 cycle | Dual-enrollment grades still counted | "For the 2026-2027 application cycle, for all applicants with college credits earned in high school, LSAC will continue the policy that has been in place for many years, and calculate the LSAC GPA with their dual enrollment grades included." |
| 2027-2028 cycle onward | Dual-enrollment grades excluded, for everyone | "Starting with the 2027-2028 application cycle, LSAC will exclude grades from all college credits earned while in high school from the calculation of their LSAC GPA. This new policy will include all applicants for the 2027-2028 cycle and beyond, including new applicants and reapplicants from previous years." |
All four quotes are from "Providing More Time for Schools and Candidates to Adjust to the LSAC GPA Changes", by Susan L. Krinsky, August 18, 2026, read September 5, 2026. The standing Transcript Summarization page now carries the same rule as a dated note in two places, which is where to re-read it after the blog post scrolls off the front page.
If you are applying in 2026-2027: nothing about your number moved this summer. Grades from courses you took in high school for college credit are inside your LSAC GPA, as they have been for years, and the institutions that granted that credit still have to send transcripts.
If you are applying in 2027-2028 or later, including as a reapplicant: those grades come out of the calculation, and the transcript stays in the file either way. LSAC's stated reason for the design is uniformity — "all applicants in each cycle will have their LSAC GPAs calculated in the same way as one another" — and its stated reason for the delay is notice, having "heard concerns about whether prospective applicants had been provided adequate notice in approaching the 2026-2027 application cycle."
Nobody, LSAC included, has said which direction that moves any individual number, and neither will we. Taking a set of grades out of an average moves it toward or away from the rest depending on where those grades sat. Yours are on your own transcript.
A worked example: where the two numbers separate
This is a constructed example, written to the rules above, not a real applicant's record.
Assume a transfer applicant. Two years at a community college on the quarter system, then a bachelor's degree from a state university on the semester system. At the university she repeated one course: a D in the first attempt, a B-plus in the retake, with the university's forgiveness policy dropping the first attempt from its own GPA but leaving both lines on the transcript. She also has one W from a term she dropped after the deadline, which her school treats as nonpunitive.
| Piece of the record | Her university transcript | LSAC's academic summary |
|---|---|---|
| Community college, 14 quarter hours | Not counted; a different institution | 14 quarter hours become 9.38 semester hours; the grades convert and count |
| University coursework as the school counts it, 90 semester hours at 3.60 (the retake is inside this) | 3.60 | The same 90 hours, unchanged |
| Repeated course, first attempt: D, 3 hours | Dropped by forgiveness policy | Added back: both attempts count |
| Repeated course, retake: B-plus, 3 hours | Counted, inside the 90 | Counted, inside the 90 |
| One W, 3 hours, nonpunitive | No effect on the GPA | No effect on the GPA; credits and the notation still appear |
| The number | 3.60 | 3.41 cumulative |
The arithmetic, using LSAC's own conversions. The community college work is three courses graded C, C-plus and B across 14 quarter hours. At .67 per quarter hour those 14 hours become 9.38 semester hours carrying 22.55 quality points, a 2.40 average. The university's 90 hours at 3.60 carry 324 quality points; adding the forgiven D restores 3 hours and 3 quality points, giving 327 over 93 hours, or 3.52 at that institution alone. Combine the two institutions and the cumulative is 349.55 quality points over 102.38 semester hours: 3.41.
Three separate mechanics moved it, and none of them is visible on the transcript she has been quoting: the community college coursework rejoining the record, the repeat coming back, and the quarter-to-semester conversion reweighting the community college terms against the university terms. The W changed nothing in the number — which is the point of listing it. It is the one on that list most applicants worry about, and it is the one the calculation ignores.
Do you need an addendum?
Four situations where the mechanics above create a gap between what you see and what an admission reader receives. Each is a factual trigger for the question, not an answer to it; the decision, and what the document has to contain, live on the GPA addendum page.
| The mechanic | What the reader sees that you may not | Where to take it |
|---|---|---|
| Every institution is summarized | One cumulative number spanning schools you may not think of as part of your record, including work that never appeared on your degree transcript | Whether the spread across institutions needs a page of context — GPA addendum |
| Repeats and forgiveness | Both attempts, and forgiven grades your college removed from its own average, sitting inside the LSAC number | Same page; the addendum question here is whether there is a dated cause worth naming, not whether the rule is unfair |
| Withdrawal and academic notations | Dean's list, probation, suspension, dismissal and warning notes all travel to the report, whether or not they touched the GPA | Same page — and read the application's own academic-record questions first, since LSAC ties a discrepancy there to a misconduct review |
| Dual enrollment, from 2027-2028 | Grades leaving the calculation while the full transcript stays in the file. LSAC's own instruction: applicants who want to highlight that performance "can and should provide an addendum to their application" | Same page. In 2026-2027 this is not yet live |
None of that is a reason to write a document. Writing one is a separate judgment about whether there is a dated, checkable cause a reader can act on, which is the whole subject of that page and of the law school application addendum rubric. If you have a draft of any law school document, a law school personal statement review reads it against the rubric for that document type rather than a general essay standard.
One closing note in LSAC's favor, because it is easy to lose in a rules page. LSAC says grades are converted "in order to furnish law schools with a uniform basis for comparing applicants," it does not grade your college, and every reader gets your transcripts alongside the number. The gap between the two figures is a mechanical artifact with a published rulebook — the rulebook above.
Sources
All pages fetched September 5, 2026.
- LSAC, Transcript Summarization — conversion, exclusions, repeats, forgiveness, failing grades, dual enrollment, CLEP, course credits, no-cumulative cases, graduate study, grade conversion table
- LSAC, Requesting Transcripts — which institutions must send transcripts, transfer credit, interinstitutional programs, clear sponsorship, study abroad
- LSAC, International Transcripts — submission requirements and AACRAO evaluation
- LSAC, Credential Assembly Service (CAS) — what the subscription includes, CAS Authentication and Evaluation
- LSAC, Law School Reports — what the academic summary covers and what travels with it
- LSAC, Interpretive Guide to Undergraduate Grading Systems — how a specific institution's grades convert
- Susan L. Krinsky, LSAC Law:Fully, Providing More Time for Schools and Candidates to Adjust to the LSAC GPA Changes, August 18, 2026 — the delay and the two cycle rules
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