MA GPA

[total_ noob]

Hi everyone,

I'm in my first year of an MA, and it looks like I might get an A- or B+ in one of my courses. Will this hurt my application to good PhD programs when I apply next year? I know if I were still in undergrad that this probably wouldn't matter too much, but I get the sense that admissions committees have higher standards for applicants with an MA. Applicants with an MA--do you have a less than perfect grad GPA? Were you able to still do well with PhD admissions?

[Neither Here Nor There]

IT's too early to tell. You will probably pull through with an A- and not a B+.  Most professors take things like participation into account before putting in final grades.

I had one A-. I don't think it hurts that much.  

Edited March 14, 2018 by Neither Here Nor There

[syn]

Considering we're at the midway point of the semester, maybe it's a better time to have a 1:1 with your professor and plan out how you can still achieve an A or A- instead of planning on how you'll explain away a B+ in a year.

That said, unless the class is in your AOI, I don't think it will hurt that much.  Heck, I had a C+ in an undergraduate philosophy course, and I still got into MA and PhD programs.  (In my defense, it was my first philosophy class, at the time I was a bio major, and I have a problem remembering/differentiating some names, especially foreign ones -- it was Islamic Philosophy.  I was very active in the class and department, and the same Prof later wrote one of my letters.)  One Prof I spoke to said getting straight As can throw up a red flag, that it wasn't challenging enough.  I tend to agree, and I think that may be one reason we see so many candidates drop out after the coursework is complete: these are good students, but perhaps not as good researchers, and to earn your PhD you truly need to excel at both.

[Neither Here Nor There]

7 minutes ago, syn said:

  One Prof I spoke to said getting straight As can throw up a red flag, that it wasn't challenging enough.  I tend to agree, and I think that may be one reason we see so many candidates drop out after the coursework is complete: these are good students, but perhaps not as good researchers, and to earn your PhD you truly need to excel at both.

That is everything wrong with admissions committees, randomly flaggin applicants for random things. I get a student with a 3.8 might be just as successful as someone with a 4.0., and you shouldn't automatically take the one with the 4.0 and not the one with the 3.8. But still, I wouldn't red flag a perfect GPA either. your letters of recommendation, SOp, and writing sample should explain the most about your ability to do research - also that you did a master's thesis says a lot bout your desire and ability to do research (as this person probably is, since he/she is doing a master's degree)

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

I wouldn't posit a hard dualism of student/scholar. Since programs place varying emphasis on writing versus testing, straight A's may well mean less from a school whose testing/writing balance is unknown to the committee.

I guess that's not a red flag, exactly, but it is a disadvantage vis-a-vis a student with straight A's (or even a few B's) from a research-heavy undergrad.

I'd take it that it's on small-school students to make sure our research background is adequately represented elsewhere. This is all theory, of course... who knows what biases committees really have.

[total_ noob]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, folks. Sometimes this field is so competitive, it makes me worry about everything. I love what I'm doing, but there's always anxiety about grades and doing more apps next year.

 

11 hours ago, syn said:

Considering we're at the midway point of the semester, maybe it's a better time to have a 1:1 with your professor and plan out how you can still achieve an A or A- instead of planning on how you'll explain away a B+ in a year.

This seems like a good suggestion. Thanks! I'm hoping I can get out of this with an A-, but I will talk to the professor.

[Needle in the Hay]

I have two MA’s with roughly A- averages and in my first semester of my second MA I got a B and a B+ (in all honesty I do not believe that either of these grades were fair and many of peers agreed with me at the time, but that’s neither here nor there). You can see my results below, in my signature, but know that I was also on the top third of a short waitlist at Fordham. My results may not seem spectacular (I’m not as interested in PGR rankings as I am in fit and placement) but I’m very pleased with them and especially with Baylor. Note also that only five students were admitted at Baylor, so the fact that they were not deterred by the grades I mentioned is more significant even than it might seem. The tricks in my case were very strong LOR’s and a solid writing sample. I hope this information is helpful to you.

Also, my undergrad GPA was downright low.

[thehegeldialectic]

I know that some MA programs, especially the funded ones, do not practice grade inflation. It has something to do with the reputation/ability of the program to place their students and provide a measure of their ability. 

I made a 4.0 in my MA, but don't know what my colleagues are making. I think the standard practices is to give an A- if a student could have or should have done better.
 

[dgswaim]

I had an A- and a B+ during my MA. I did fine. They're not scrutinizing grad transcripts that hard.

[Neither Here Nor There]

Yea as I said above, I don't think an A- hurts that much. A B+ might hurt if its not in logic. I'm not sure. My experience is that there is often one professor that does not like to give As and will give an A- to nearly everyone. That happened to me. My best term paper received an A- (from pain in the butt professor) and my worst term paper of the year (different professor) an A+. I think  A's are important, but I don't think a single A- will shut a person out of graduate school.