Does having a master's degree help erase a poor undergrad? Forum

[hannahwonderful]

I graduated undergrad with a 3.24 GPA, but currently have a 3.9 in my graduate program. Will my later GPA overshadow my poor GPA? I'm looking at Northwestern as my first choice, and want to know if I've ruined my chances.

[haus]

I have a graduate degree with a notably higher GPA than my undergrad (along with some others softs), but it did not seem to have much impact. My results were pretty much as one would suspect from my LSAC GPA & LSAT.

[unc0mm0n1]

I have a graduate degree with a notably higher GPA than my undergrad (along with some others softs), but it did not seem to have much impact. My results were pretty much as one would suspect from my LSAC GPA & LSAT.

This. I haven't heard of it making a sizable difference.

[Clearly]

It does not. The good news is that NU is the most forgiving all of T14s, when it comes to gpa though. Just crush the lsat.

[SPerez]

It might, it might not. It all depends on the individual file. It definitely isn't going to hurt. I imagine much of it has to do with how high your LSAT is relative to their medians. All things being equal (which they never are), having a 3.9 in a rigorous graduate program goes a long way to countering what a blah undergrad gpa says (i.e. you're a blah student who is either just average or smart but lazy) and is better than not having any evidence to counter that message.

Dean Perez
Texas Tech Law

[GospelLeague]

My case is on the contrary. I have a 3.8 UGPA and currently I'm in a master program. The university is harsh grading students and I assume my GPA would be somewhere near 3.5

[haus]

My case is on the contrary. I have a 3.8 UGPA and currently I'm in a master program. The university is harsh grading students and I assume my GPA would be somewhere near 3.5

Good for you. Since the schools have to report the UG GPA, this appears to be a much bigger factor.

If I had a say, I would gladly swap my GPA to have had the higher result for UG.