A+ = 4.33 - What's your take?

[AkhilAmar]

So over the course of learning the various in-and-outs of the whole LS process the most shocking revelation has to be the fact that LSAC converts A+'s to 4.33. Personally, this pisses me off. Seriously. Apparently a 98-100 at certain schools is considered an A+, but my school (along with many of my friends') doesn't give out A+'s. Not to be conceited, but many classes I found myself in the 98-100 bracket. So, essentially, LSAC is giving a substantial advantage to students at schools who give out A+'s. I understand that UG GPA is not regarded as fair or equal, and the LSAT is supposedly an equalizer (i.e. puts everyone on an even playing field), but seeing people with a 4.22 GPA while knowing my GPA would be substantially higher if A+’s were given out at my school really irks me. So, I guess what I’m saying is that I’m a bitter s.o.b. and I am wondering if you think giving an advantage to a select number of students is fair to the admissions process (now that I think about it, not much with this process is fair: AA, a standardized test w/ tons of admission weight heavily favoring philosophy majors, law schools favoring Ivey League schools even  though many (I realize not all) are renowned for grade inflation).

*This is merely my opinion in an open-ended question format. I am NOT planning on writing an addendum about this (that would do nothing but falsely portray me as having a whinny disposition).

[UFBoldAsLove]

Not to be conceded, but many classes I found myself in the 98-100 bracket.

Not exactly a moment you want to misspell conceited. 


EDIT: That was uncharacteristically snotty of me. But I found it ironic. Sorry Amar. The LSAT matters much more than GPA anyways.

[AkhilAmar]

Lol, touché. I CONCEDE UFBAL.

[AkhilAmar]

Meh, I found it in good taste because it was so very ironic.

[dashrashi]

I agree with the OP. (Amar fan?) Yale has +/-, just not A+. So a 90-92 or whatever is A- and then 93 to 100 is an A (4.0). Stanford, however, has A+ as 97-100, I believe, with each A+ accordingly being calculated as 4.33 by LSAC. I would imagine Stanford's average applicant GPA is much higher than Yale's, but I wouldn't attribute it to a difference in student quality.

[California_RedRaider]

Such is life!

I understand your annoyance but think about the schools, like mine, that do not give +/-'s.
I say we're the ones that have the most to complain about!

It stinks to have to go to the professor and ask for the +'s. Last semester I had to go in and ask a professor for an A+, he thought i was an ass, but understood. My first semester I hadn't realized LSDAS calculates +/-'s, and I sure would've liked my +'s. All my transfer credits from dual credit courses are straight letters also.

It stinks, but what can you do! If you write an addendum about it, it sounds whiny!

[TurboGirl]

My school doesn't give out A pluses either, but they give out minuses. That kind of makes me mad too, be\cause there are other schools that do and I could really use them to balance out my minuses and keep my GPA strong. My school uses 3.7s and 2.7s for A and B minuses so my GPA will drop a little bit. I am thinking about taking online courses or something just for the sake of getting a number grade and evening the score.

[VB]

There are also some universities that only have A, B, C, D, F.  So where you may have received an A- at some universities you would get an A on your transcript at these universities.

Also I might be wrong but I don't think it is that unusual for universities to show A+s on the transcript.  So it's not really "a select number of students" if what you mean by that is a few lucky students.

I'm not really sure why you think that philosophy majors are favored in the admissions process.  And although I don't think it is justified for Ivy League schools to have grade inflation, I do think it is foolish to argue that the quality of the undergraduate institution should not be a factor in the admissions process.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

There are also some universities that only have A, B, C, D, F.  So where you may have received an A- at some universities you would get an A on your transcript at these universities.

Also I might be wrong but I don't think it is that unusual for universities to show A+s on the transcript.  So it's not really "a select number of students" if what you mean by that is a few lucky students.

I'm not really sure why you think that philosophy majors are favored in the admissions process.  And although I don't think it is justified for Ivy League schools to have grade inflation, I do think it is foolish to argue that the quality of the undergraduate institution should not be a factor in the admissions process.

yup/ we had no + or - at my ug and you could only get an A/B/C or NC for a grade.

[dashrashi]

There are also some universities that only have A, B, C, D, F.  So where you may have received an A- at some universities you would get an A on your transcript at these universities.

Also I might be wrong but I don't think it is that unusual for universities to show A+s on the transcript.  So it's not really "a select number of students" if what you mean by that is a few lucky students.

I'm not really sure why you think that philosophy majors are favored in the admissions process.  And although I don't think it is justified for Ivy League schools to have grade inflation, I do think it is foolish to argue that the quality of the undergraduate institution should not be a factor in the admissions process.

yup/ we had no + or - at my ug and you could only get an A/B/C or NC for a grade.

On the other hand, your ug offers many opportunities for those who want to increase their GPA with very little work, from what I hear.