LSAC Miscalculated my GPA

[rightway1566]

I signed up for CAS last year and submitted my transcript to LSAC in late 2021. My undergrad transcript lists my GPA as a 3.8/4, however LSAC's Academic Summary Report listed it as 3.9. I figured the increase was due to LSAC accounting for my school not awarding A+ grades, so I proceeded to report that the LSAC GPA on my applications when requested.

So far I've applied to well over a dozen schools and have received multiple admissions offers this cycle. However I received an email from LSAC yesterday afternoon, a full year since LSAC's had my transcript, stating that they were adjusting my LSAC GPA down to a 3.8, matching my transcript. When I called LSAC for an explanation, they stated that a law school noticed that my senior was not included in my academic summary report, and after factoring that year in my GPA was adjusted.

My GPA did slip senior year so the explanation itself makes sense, however I'm completely shocked and very angry that somehow LSAC failed to factor in my senior year of college into their records. I went to one umdergrad institution and there was nothing abnormal at all about my courses/grades senior year - so I have absolutely no idea how they could have made this error.

The fact that this could have happened and not been noticed for a year gives me serious concerns about LSAC's processes. How do you miscalculate a GPA using your own standardization methods and not have any controls to catch it?? Are they miscalculating other things???

I would be more understanding if this was adjusted a week or so after submitting the transcripts, but doing this after 1 full year, multiple applications, and multiple admissions, is ridiculous.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi rightway1566,

Sounds like a frustrating situation!

Just to clarify given your explanation, presumably you weren't in school when you signed up for CAS and submitted your transcript? I wasn't able to tell this from the description, but in that situation a full year could pass, and LSAC would still just have that initial transcript, which would be missing grades from senior year. So especially for applicants who start the application process while in school, such as at the start of senior year, LSAC won't have access to their grades for their final year unless the applicant sends them an updated transcript.

Apologies if that explanation doesn't apply to your case, and if you instead sent LSAC a transcript after you had completed your undergraduate studies, one that included all of your grades from senior year. One option in that situation would be to contact LSAC, which it sounds like you already tried, but you mentioned calling and asking for an explanation. You might additionally try to make a more formal appeal, for example, by emailing them. However, it's not clear that doing so would be especially useful; it wouldn't be appealing a mistake since presumably they were instead correcting a mistake of the GPA not including senior year. Finally, you might also contact the schools you're applying to, rather than LSAC, to explain the situation to them.

[rightway1566]

Hello Luke.

It is the latter situation. I had been out of school for 4 years when I signed up for CAS and submitted my transcript, which included all undergraduate courses taken including those LSAC originally omitted.

I'm mainly posting this to alert others as this is a very concerning lapse in LSAC's process. The fact that this wasn't caught initially, and is only being adjusted a full year later, makes me seriously question how they're running their operation.