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Repeated courses

My masters degree compromises of 30 credits, I lost both my grandparents in 10 days at the beginning of the semester and did terribly in it. I ended up with a C and 2B's. I want to repeat 2 courses to raise my gpa up to 3.7, would that cause problems in the screening if my cgpa is high enough.

Thank you everyone.

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Top answer
on Jun 04, 2023
#1 rated MBB & McKinsey Coach

Hi there, 

Sorry to hear. That's indeed a very unfortunate scenario. 

The good news is that no,  GPA should not stand in your way of getting an offer.

With most firms, they don't even proactively ask for the GPA. And you have no obligation to put the GPA on your CV.

What I recommend candidates to do instead is to emphasize what they were distinctive at during their academic period. Perhaps you weren't the best in class overall, but you were one of the best in one particular course. Highlighting the areas in which you were great will then show the best parts of you, which is what CVs are all about. 

Happy to work with you on it once you decide to apply. 

Best,
Cristian

Ian
Coach
edited on Jun 04, 2023
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

I'm so sorry to hear :/ Never easy.

This is hard to advise as we do not know your entire situation (will this delay your graduation? What is left on record? Etc).

Personally, I did poorly on 1 course and re-took it in order to keep my 4.0 major GPA. It was worth it.

If you can re-take the C course, are confident you can get an A, and it won't set back your graduation, it would likely be worth it.

I'm not so sure it's worth it for Bs.

That said, master's grades are less important than undergrad, but it also does depend on your other work experience (as in, the grades matter more if you only have your undergrad and went straight to masters. They matter less if you worked for multiple years between the 2 degrees with relevant work experience + promotions)

Please don't take the above as advice on what you should do. There are many other factors at play that I don't have enough info on without speaking to you directly.

Highly recommend you also talk to your career center for more tailored advice here!

Anonymous A
on Jun 04, 2023
Hello Ian, Thank you so much for the reply. I did my masters program to raise my gpa, I was a computer science student and focused only on my projects and work and didn't care about my grades. In my application, I am willing to include my grades of the AI track from my undergrad and my grad gpa only. My grad gpa will be something around 3.74 and I am only counting on it. All what I am worried about if recruiters will look and see those grades and write the academic excellence requirement off because of it. Again your advice is invaluable and any further reply is much appreciated.
on Jun 04, 2023
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

I am very sorry to hear about your losses. I lost both of my grandmothers in a matter of days and I can understand how you feel.

In terms of your question:

Q: I want to repeat 2 courses to raise my gpa up to 3.7, would that cause problems in the screening if my cgpa is high enough

If I understood correctly, your GPA is now below 3.7 and you would like to retake the courses to improve it.

It is unclear from your question what will happen if you retake the courses (eg will the old ones be still visible on your transcript? Will you have to graduate later?).

If the old courses won’t be visible anymore and you can graduate without delays, there should not be any issue with your future applications. In any case, I would consider if retaking the courses is feasible given the workload of other possible courses/activities you might have to take.

Best,

Francesco

Anonymous A
on Jun 04, 2023
I would graduate 1 semester late, but my masters program is a one year one. A lot of students dedicate one extra semester for the capstone and actually finish within 3 semesters instead of 2. The courses would still be visible but they won't count towards my gpa anymore, the policy is to take the highest grade when a course is repeated.
on Jun 04, 2023
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching
Thanks for sharing. From what you mentioned, repeating the courses should not be an issue given it is not unusual to complete your master in 3 semesters and the highest grade is considered. In any case, I saw you mentioned in the other comments you will have to repeat the C exam and postpone graduation anyway. If studying again for the courses won’t take too much time, you could also try to add an internship during the extra semester to strengthen your CV. Good luck!
Anonymous A
on Jun 04, 2023
Thank you so much francesco, you guys are amazing I swear. I am so paranoid about being below other applicants when it comes to my grades. I will do my strategy consulting internship during the same time, yes.
Anonymous
on Jun 04, 2023

Whether this matters or not also depends on which company and country you're in. Typically your CGPA primarily matter only during screening, so you may consider other efforts to boost your chances. If you have someone from within the company referring or recommending you, most of that that easily offsets 1-2 bad grades you may have. So in addition to your consideration on whether to improve your grades, you should also try to obtain support from existing people within the organization. 

 

Good luck!

11
Sophia
Coach
on Jun 04, 2023
Top-Ranked Coach on PrepLounge for 3 years| 6+ years of coaching

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. To be honest, recruiters generally care less about grades than most candidates think they do, particularly if there are mitigating circumstances. If you have a master's from a good university, that will be more important (as well as your work experience). A couple of Bs shouldn't be an issue. Retaking the class where you got a C would be an option, but that said, would retaking those courses delay your graduation or somehow impede your program in the course otherwise? Is this something you would want to do?

I think Ian's caution about this being a specific personal situation is also warranted - this is my general opinion on this topic, but it might not be applicable in every case. I'd also recommend you talk to someone like a coach or a career advisor in more detail about your specific situation. 

Anonymous A
on Jun 04, 2023
I have to retake the C course to graduate anyways, this is a policy by our school. So I took that as a chance to increase my gpa by repeating another course. So simply by taking a C in the first place, my graduation is delayed. Is graduating 1 semester late for a one year program a problem ? My initial question is whether screeners would look into my first semester and question my academic abilities based on it and write me off from that requirement. This is causing me a lot of distress, graduating a bit late isn't at all.
Dennis
Coach
on Jun 04, 2023
Roland Berger|Project Manager and Recruiter|7+ years of consulting experience in USA and Europe

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. It is very understandable that such events impact things like school work.

Looking ahead, I would factor in some of the following to support your decision making:

  • Do you believe you would have aced the two courses in question if the above had not happened?
  • Would your GPA improvement be significant assuming you ace both courses (we don't know the credit weighting here)?
  • Will retaking the courses require you to add another semester to your program (and potentially additional student debt depending on where you go to school)?

I personally would only retake classes if it meant to not lose time to graduation, to not take on additional debt and to actually have a realistic shot at significantly improving my GPA (meaning I am confident that I can get an A and that an A actually moves the needle overall). 

In any case, try to get internal referrals when you do apply to consulting firms. That will help in circumventing any automated GPA filters that might be applied.

Best of luck

Anonymous A
on Jun 04, 2023
I have to retake the C course to graduate anyways, this is a policy by our school. So I took that as a chance to increase my gpa by repeating another course. So simply by taking a C in the first place, my graduation is delayed. Is graduating 1 semester late for a one year program a problem ? My initial question is whether screeners would look into my first semester and question my academic abilities based on it and write me off from that requirement. This is causing me a lot of distress, graduating a bit late isn't at all.
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