Low Undergraduate GPA. High Graduate GPA. Should I List Them Both?

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1

Hi guys,

Well I just graduated with my master’s in IT. My undergraduate degree was in business administration and had a very low GPA, which is at 2.4. Was a lot of stress because of my spouse’s military obligations and moving around during those years pursuing the undergraduate degree. It took a few more years than the traditional four years to earn my undergraduate degree, but was worth it. We finally settled down in the US and that made a huge difference when I went for my master’s degree. The graduate school allowed me to enter, if I pass all the remedial courses and tests required to enter. Obviously, I passed them and continued on with the master’s degree. I graduated a couple months ago with my master’s in IT with a 3.91 GPA.

With that stated, I have read many times not to include a GPA under a 3.0 in a resume. In this case, my graduate GPA is pretty high compared to my undergraduate degree. What should I do in this case? List both? List only graduate GPA?

Furthermore, if a hiring manager does ask about my low undergraduate degree, would the above reason be valid or reasonable on explaining the low GPA (spouse’s stressful military moving). The move was overseas and was quite stressful in finding the right universities with the equivalent classes for my university back in the states. Thanks for the advise.

L.

2

I would leave your undergraduate GPA off. Typically, I just include the GPA of my most recent academic experience.

If they do ask about undergrad GPA (which they may not, especially because your high graduate school GPA would raise no concerns), I would give your reason above. But, I’d bring it back to your improvement, overall, in grad school. So, even though you had a few rough undergrad semesters due to personal stress, you were able to move on and improve your performance.