Curious as to how Master's transcripts are perceived by AdComs

[shootermcgavin7]

I'm well aware that Master's GPAs are considered inflated. However as most of you who keep up with me know; I was able to be somewhat flexible with the structuring of my M.S. program which allowed me to take some PhD courses (as well as upper-level mathematics).

I'll probably end up taking about 7 or 8 PhD courses in the two years it will take me to get my Masters. Being realistic, I can't plan on making As in all of them.

I've arrived at my question, and I realize it is rather unlikely that any of my fellow TM can say for sure: How much will the lower potential GPA due to the PhD courses hurt my application?

To rephrase: is the reward of taking PhD classes worth the risk of getting two or three Bs in them?


To head off a few comments, I certainly intend to point out which courses were PhD courses. Unforunately, with 1000 applications to sort through, I can easily visualize an adcom who rips the transcript open, looks at the GPA, and moves on.

If 3.7 graduate GPA w/a half dozen PhD courses is NOT better than a 4.0 in a master's program that contains no PhD courses, I'm probably better with the latter route, as sad as it seems.

Thoughts?