Dear hardikm,

Evaluations are done in a holistic manner as no two applicants will be identical. As such, applicants are not evaluated "against" each other; admissions committees evaluate each applicant on his/her own merits and background. Having a graduate degree is not necessarily an advantage, it is simply part of the profile for that applicant. For that applicant, performance in the graduate program is scrutinized and the master's GPA is another data point. Neither GPA takes precedence. The reputation of the university you attended does factor in as not all universities are the same. Some schools are more selective than others and some are more rigorous than others. Likewise, one's major is taken into account as the rigor of an engineering degree is very different from the rigor of a communications degree.

Regards,
Lisa