When Should You Include Your GPA on a Resume

Include your GPA on a resume while you are a student or within roughly the first few years after graduating, especially when it is about 3.5 or higher or an employer requests it. Drop it once professional experience carries your resume. For law school, admissions instead read your LSAC-recalculated GPA.

By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Every figure on this page was verified in August 2026 against the sources listed below.

When should you include your GPA on a resume?

Include your GPA while you are a student and generally through the first few years of your career, when you have limited work history and the number is reasonably strong. After that, experience should take the lead and the GPA can come off. The timing hinges on how much professional evidence you have accumulated, not on a fixed date.

A simple timeline for keeping the GPA

Career stageInclude GPA?Current student or internship applicantYes, if reasonably strongGraduated within the last few yearsUsually yes, if about 3.5 or higherSeveral years of relevant experienceNo, let experience leadAny stage where an employer requests itYes

Factors that change when to include it

• Strength of the number: a high GPA stays useful longer than a low one.
• Explicit requests from an employer, scholarship, or program.
• Competitive early-career fields that weight GPA more heavily.
• How much relevant experience your resume already shows.

How to phase your GPA out of your resume

Remove the GPA once you have a track record of results that speaks louder than a grade average, typically after a few years of full-time work. Replace the space with accomplishments, metrics, and promotions. If you later apply to law school, the deciding academic figure is the LSAC-recalculated GPA, which is separate from anything on your professional resume.

Frequently asked questions

Does pass/fail affect GPA?

A pass/fail course generally does not change your GPA, since a Pass carries no grade points, so it does not affect the number you might list on a resume. The class still appears on your transcript, and for law school LSAC applies its own rules, usually excluding a plain Pass from the recalculated GPA.

How does LSAC calculate GPA?

LSAC recalculates your undergraduate GPA through the Credential Assembly Service, converting all graded coursework to a standard 4.0 scale and counting failed and repeated classes. That figure can differ from your resume or transcript GPA, and it is the number law schools weigh against their published medians.

What GPA do you need for law school?

There is no fixed minimum; each school publishes 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile GPAs, and matching a target school's median makes you competitive there. Admissions use the LSAC-recalculated GPA rather than a resume figure, so plan around that number and offset a lower GPA with a strong LSAT.

At what point should you remove your GPA from your resume?

Remove your GPA once you have a few years of relevant full-time experience that demonstrates your value more directly than a grade average. At that stage recruiters focus on results, and the GPA occupies space better used for accomplishments. Keep it longer only if the number is exceptional or a specific employer requests it.