Short answer is: it depends on the program you apply, a consoling but almost true answer is: it doesn’t unless your standardized test scores are also on the lower side. The admissions committee expect to see a candidate who can succeed in the program, and who seem to possess the initiative to get a job after school. If you are not able to get a job, it hurts the school, but if you become an alumni with influence, the school reaps benefit out of your eminence. So they are always on the look out for someone who would improve their ranking, reputation, and their perception. When they see a hint of these, they don’t want to miss you. Your effort should be in the direction of helping schools to inevitably choose you. GPA is used as a proxy for your capacity to succeed in academics. Standardized tests are used to give a common and fair playing field for all the candidates, because GPA in some places suffers from grade inflation, and in some places it is a deflated measure, though the performance of the students would have been illustrious. This variability in handing out the GPA scores is lessened by the measure of GRE or GMAT. If you are troubled by your GPA scores, you may work to compensate this deficit by getting higher scores in the standardized tests. If it is considerably high, your low GPA would not mean much, but it can at times raise issues concerning your knowledge and skill in your chosen domain. But if you are honest about the drop in scores when writing your personal statement, your chances at top schools will not be affected much. As long as some part of your experience indicates that you have the potential to be a master, and not merely a survivor, be it research, or hands-on project, or filing a patent, or doing something that improves the lives of others, you will come across as a resourceful applicant. The variability in GPA makes it a doubtful measure of one’s performance and future potential, when viewed relatively with other applicants, coming from different educational systems. This would come as comfort for many troubled applicants. If your GPA is low, religiously work on standardized tests. They should perhaps redeem you.