Can a graduate certificate offset a bad gpa ?

[2015Applicant]

Hi everyone,

 

I am looking to apply to top universities for admissions into MPP/MPA in the 2015 school year. I am starting preparation early as I think the sooner the better. Some of the schools I am considering are HKS, SIPA and WWS. Alternatively, I might also apply to LSE and Oxford. My question is I have quite a horrible GPA 2.24 in B.Sc in Business Administration from CMU. Since graduation in 2009, I have worked in non profit and government sectors. I am currently employed in project coordination and management role at a national level government organization since 2 years and a half. Over all, I have experience of about 3.2 years with some gaps in employment (due to recession about the time I graduated and ofcourse my gpa). I am not asking whether I can get into these schools because that is something nobody can predict. I would like to know how a great performance at a graduate certificate will be considered in admissions. I am looking to pursue online Graduate Certificate in Policy Analysis from Pennstate. Hoping that I do really well in this program, would it offset a bad gpa ? Any advice or opinion is welcome.

 

Thanks in advance !

[hedong123]

Yikes! I'll be blunt but I seriously doubt you could ever get into any of those schools. Work hard, improve your apps, ace the GREs, get the grad certificate with perfect grades then apply. Alternatively, you could contact some schools and ask them directly if they've ever admitted anyone with a 2.24gpa. Why you may not have a chance at places like Harvard, there are some decent second-tier schools that might give you a shot if you're willing to work hard for it.

[PParker]

Agree with Hedong. It would be very difficult to get into those schools even with a perfect GRE score. A graduate certificate may help. You may also want to explain why your grades are so low, maybe you were sick, or whatever. But I would look at schools outside the top ten to get an admit. You are also unlikely to get any sort of money. The other option you may want to do, is work a few more years, the more years of work experience the easier it is for the adcoms to ignore that GPA.

[Gov2School]

A graduate certificate may help, though as you say it's impossible to predict if you'll get accepted or not.  It's helpful to put yourself in the shoes of the admission committee.  You have X number of slots to give out, and you want to be sure to give them to people who are not only outstanding applicants, but who also have the skills (including study skills) and experience to do well in a very rigorous program. So if you did well in undergrad, that suggests to them you have the academic and study skills to do well in a tough grad program.  They don't want to go through the bother of accepting you just to have you fail out, after all. 

 

So taking the graduate certificate program gives them another data point to judge you by.  In that sense, it certainly can't hurt.  I chose to take a night class in statistics when i was applying because I hadn't taken math since high school and my GRE quant score was so-so. I wanted to have some further evidence that I could do math, even if I hadn't in a while.  I do think this helped my applications and got me over the hump to getting accepted.  But I also had a very strong GPA. So doing well in your graduate certificate will similarly provide them with some further evidence that you can do well at school, even if you didn't in undergrad.  Whether that's enough to offset your low GPA is a question only the committee can answer and it will depend on how strongly you make your argument. 

 

Also, take full advantage of the "optional essay" that most of the applications have, where you can explain things that you think the committee may find concerning.  That's going to be your place to make your pitch that while you didn't do well in undergrad for X, Y, Z reason (immaturity, lack of focus, whatever), you've since then pulled things together by doing A, B, C, and you're certain you'll do well in their program because of A, B, C.   It would also be helpful to consider which college professor you'll ask to write you a recommendation, it would help a lot if you could have someone endorse you as a student for one of your reccs. 

[tribesdude]

It will be very difficult to offset a GPA as low as yours, but it is possible. As stated by another poster, they need more data points in order to try and evaluate you as a candidate. You should focus on stuff that you can control, such as your rec's, your sop, your GRE scores (a high GRE score wont get you in, but it will help offset the low GPA). Make sure to tell them why you had those low grades. That being said, if you are BS'ing within the essay, adcom's may be able to catch on that.

 

As for the programs you are thinking of applying to, I dont want to be too harsh but I dont see any way of getting into them (at least right now) with your current GPA. Think of it like this, why would they accept you over someone that has an equivalent (maybe slightly less, maybe slight more) years of work experience but someone who has a much higher GPA. You also have to take into account that the average GPA of someone admitted is a 3.6/3.7 so there is a huge deficit there. You would be better served either a) Working for a few more years as well as doing a graduate certificate and then applying or Do a graduate certificate and the apply to more realistic (2nd tier I guess) schools. The more years of work experience that you have when you apply, the less your UGPA matters, hence my advice to work more and then apply. 

 

Hope this helped!

[lbjane]

I knew a few folks at LBJ who had low GPAs, though I don't remember the specifics and whether they were quite as low as yours.  However, in the cases that I knew about (I only knew about people who talked about it, so obviously I didn't know each classmate's undergrad GPA), they all had significant work experience in the mean time that had made up for it.  By significant, i mean that they were at least in their mid-30s and had done things like serve in the military with combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, start their own non-profit, etc. 

 

Unless your work experience has been especially awesome or there are some good mitigating factors to your undergrad GPA, you'll have a tough time getting in a lot of places.  However, as others have said, acing the GRE, writing an especially relevant SOP, etc. could help.  Doing a graduate certificate and getting outstanding grades might help demonstrate your ability to do graduate coursework, but I think it'd depend on the certificate.  Some are real cash-cows with little substance, and probably won't help your application much.  I honestly don't know about the Penn State one. 

 

That said, if you're truly set on an MPP/MPA/MAIR, go ahead and apply.  You never know where your story and career goals might speak to an admissions committee.  However, I'd cast a wide net when you apply.  Go ahead an apply to your dream schools, but take a good look at lesser ranked programs that may be a good fit for what you want to do.  If you cast a wider net, there's a better chance that you'll get in somewhere and maybe even get funding. 

[chocolatecheesecake]

I want to reflect what Gov2School has noted here, because it's pretty important. The remedy to your low undergrad GPA is not really more years of work experience, though that can only help; it is to take graduate classes in public policy, statistics, microeconomics and/or calculus and get As in them, whether you end up with a certificate or not.

 

I think it will also be important to them why your undergrad GPA ended up so poorly and what classes your worst grades were in. For example, if you did a biology undergrad, and got some Ds and Fs in organic chemistry or neuroscience, that's not exactly exciting, but you know, they won't necessarily take that as a sign you can't do econ analysis. If they were in math and econ courses, then there's no way you'll get into school unless you show you can do those classes again and much more excellently. It helps if you have a reasonable explanation for your poor academic record at that time -- family or illness, and I think they are open to that sort of thing, but only if you're over that hump now. It will also help to have a good and recent academic reference (maybe from taking those grad classes!) as yet another data point to testify to how good you are at doing the work now. As a side note, you may consider asking the staff, as someone else mentioned, and they can tell you how they weigh the GPA in their applications or what may alleviate a bad GPA for a certain candidate.

 

Otherwise, your professional work sounds like a great beginning, and I think if you can take at least 3 classes in the areas I mentioned and receive As, you will have a chance at getting into some schools, though maybe not with funding. And good luck!