LSAC’s 60-Credit Rule: No GPA, No Law School Median Impact?

Moshe Indig

2 months ago

Here’s a rule almost nobody reads: without 60 graded U.S./Canadian credits before your first bachelor’s degree, LSAC does not calculate a reportable CAS GPA.

Schools still get every transcript and see every grade. But with no cumulative CAS GPA, your GPA won’t count toward any school’s median. Your GPA shifts from a hard factor to a soft one.

That leads to two conclusions:

→ If your GPA is strong, make sure you cross 60 graded credits before you graduate. A 4.0 that never becomes a number never moves a median.

→ If your GPA is below your targets’ medians and you’re under 60, think hard before crossing the line. A 3.1 at 59 graded credits touches no median. A 3.1 at 61 counts against every school’s.

What Counts Toward 60

Credit Type	Counts?
Letter-graded courses (A through D)	✔
F grades	✔ (converted to 0.00)
Punitive W/F or No Credit (NC) notations	✔ (converted to 0.00)
Pass, Credit, Satisfactory grades	✘
Nonpunitive withdrawals, Incompletes, Audits	✘
Foreign credits, including study abroad graded by the foreign school	✘
Study abroad graded by your U.S./Canadian school	✔
Credits earned after your first bachelor’s	✘
Dual enrollment grades from high school	✔ (2026-2027 cycle)

Three details that decide close cases:

→ P grades and F grades are asymmetric. A Pass adds nothing to your count. An F adds to your count and drags your GPA.

→ Study abroad is a credit-count dead zone. If the foreign institution assigns the grades, those credits don’t count toward 60 and don’t enter the GPA. If a U.S. school assigns the grades for your abroad program, they do.

→ Semester hours, not your school’s units. Quarter-system students: multiply by 0.67 before you count. Ninety quarter credits is about 60 semester hours.

The Upcoming Dual Enrollment Change

Effective 2027-2028, LSAC will no longer include dual enrollment or CLEP courses taken during high school in the CAS GPA. The courses will still appear on your report as unconverted credits. They just don’t count.

Two groups should act on this now:

→ If dual enrollment grades are dragging down your GPA, consider applying in 2027-2028. The B-minuses you earned at a community college at sixteen will no longer count against you.

→ If you were counting dual enrollment credits toward 60 and want to keep your GPA, 2026-2027 is your last chance. A student with 15 dual enrollment credits and 50 graded college credits will still clear 60 and carry a cumulative GPA. In 2027-2028 that student has 50 graded credits and no cumulative GPA.

A Hypothetical

An applicant has a 3.1, T14 ambitions, and 59 graded credits, with the option to spend their final two semesters at a study abroad program whose grades LSAC won’t convert. Should they?

I won’t say unequivocally yes or no, but the case is strong. The GPA stays non-reportable, the abroad grades can still show upward movement on the transcript, and study abroad is not a red flag. The alternative, two more graded semesters, makes the GPA reportable.

The same logic produces two plays:

→ Just under 60 at graduation with a below-median GPA? Find a way to stay under. No cumulative GPA gets calculated, so admitting you costs a school nothing in its reported median.

→ Worried you have nothing to show schools? Prove it after your degree. Post-degree coursework, even a second bachelor’s, never enters the CAS GPA, yet schools receive every transcript. Ace a second degree and schools see a sustained record of strong recent grades.

Final Word

LSAC publishes the threshold. Almost nobody reads it until after graduation, when it stops mattering. The applicants who read it in time get to make choices on purpose.

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