Apparatus and methods are disclosed herein for a reverse-connection STT MTJ element of a MRAM to overcome the source degeneration effect when switching the magnetization of the MTJ element from the parallel to the anti-parallel direction. A memory cell of a MRAM having a reverse-connection MTJ element includes a switching device having a source, a gate, and a drain, and a reverse-connection MTJ device having a free layer, a fixed layer, and an insulator layer interposed between the free layer and the fixed layer. The free layer of the reverse-connection MTJ device is connected to the drain of the switching device and the fixed layer is connected to a bit line (BL). The reverse-connection MTJ device applies the lower IMTJ capability of the memory cell caused by the source degeneration effect to the less stringent IMTJ(AP->P) while preserving the higher IMTJ capability for the more demanding IMTJ(P->AP).