<p>Hey everyone,
I’m looking to apply to Vanderbilt for their PhD sociology program. I go to Murray State University and have a 3.1 overall GPA (3.5 for sociology) (3.5 for the past two years of college). I’m not sure if for Vanderbilt I should worry about retaking my GRE. I have a 308 overall (154 V 154 Q 5.0 W). I have been told that I might be competitive but I’m not sure if I should try to retake and get those scores up. Any suggestions? Or should I maybe just look at another school completely?</p>
<p>Hi,
So I go to a medium-sized state school and will be graduating with a BS in Biochemistry and minors in Bio and Econ.
GPA: 3.72
Research Experience: 2 years in same lab, 1 summer in a different lab, and 1 summer interning at a biotech company
Publications: 1 (second of 3 authors)
LOR: should be good from research mentors and 1 professor
GRE: 165V/160Q/4.5W
Subject GRE: 570 biochem (66%)</p>
<p>I’m trying to get into some pretty selective schools for biochemistry or biomedical research (UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, WashU, UCSF). How much will my Subject GRE hurt me?</p>
<p>Hi allsnw24,
I have nothing really useful to say since I’m applying right now too. I just wanted to say that I have almost the exact same stats as you, including the biochem subject GRE score. 550! As if I didn’t spend two months doing nothing but studying. Anyways, it made me feel better to see someone else’s score similar to mine.
I’m also applying pretty top tier, but I’m sending in the GRE subject score. Crossing my fingers it doesn’t bomb my application.</p>
<p>How prohibitive are low AW scores? My quant score is 167 (95th) my verbal is 168 (98th) but my AW is 3.5 (35th). I’m not an international student and my intended field is economics.</p>
<p>I am applying to a few History Ph.D. programs and just received my GRE scores yesterday. They are 165 Verbal (95th percentile) and 152 Quantitative (49th percentile), both of which are within the range for all the top History programs in the U.S. as per the Magoosh Test Prep Blog. However, my Analytical Writing score was only a 4.0 (54th percentile). My essays were not long since I am not fast at typing–I can only type about 45 wpm–and they were each five paragraphs of about four to five sentences per paragraph on average. I’m a little surprised since my essays were concise, logical, and (at least in my mind) well-written. I was honestly expecting a score of at least 5.0.</p>
<p>I am a non-traditional student in my 30’s, a Hispanic male, and my undergraduate degree is from an Ivy League university, with a 3.54 GPA for my last year. I am applying to my undergraduate institution upon the suggestion of my major adviser, who is also writing me recommendations and would be my dissertation adviser should I be accepted. As well, I am applying to two other Ph.D. programs at top schools and two M.A.L.S. programs at other Ivy League schools as back-ups.</p>
<p>Thus, I was wondering, what are your thoughts on my Analytical Writing score? Is a score of 4.0 acceptable for the top schools? Should I be concerned? Or am I worrying for nothing?</p>
<p>I was under the impression that analytical writing scores are not weighed that heavily. I could be wrong though, but I just can’t imagine that they would really hold an inability to write a specific way under specific and timed conditions as being a make or break part of your application.<br>
Or maybe that’s just what I’ve been telling myself since my analytical writing score is low as well. I don’t know though, that’s just what I thought.</p>
<p>I just took the GRE and my preliminary score report was a 159V/159Q. Combined to a 318 is significantly more than what the schools I am applying to require (minimum combined 292 and 298) but I also know that as a Computer Science student it is almost expected that my Quantitative would be higher than my verbal.</p>
<p>If schools list a required combined score, will they still care about the individual breakdown by subject?</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I am looking to apply to a new field for my masters. It will take about 1-2 years minimum to be able to have the required second bachelors to apply. Any advice on if I should take the GRE soon or wait until later? I had started a GRE review program but have not resumed study yet.</p>
<p>GRE: Not taken yet
Undergraduate major: Bachelors – Accounting, 2nd- BA/BS Chemistry (Progress)
Undergrad GPA: Sub-3.0, but could be above 3.0 by time of application
Research Exp: None yet
Student position: Some work experience as a student tutor.
Previous acceptances: Was accepted to an MBA program, did not attend. More interested in science.</p>
<p>Does it look bad if I take a gear of teo after graduation to take the GRE’s? How about the subject tests? I have a low GPA but just got diagnosed with ADHD my senior year, which explained a lot of things. </p>
<p>I plan on graduating and taking the GRE’s and any subject tests (on subjects in which I did not do well) a year or two after graduating. Can this somehow hurt me?</p>
<p>AW score questions: I have also generally heard that AW scores aren’t very important. A history PhD program will likely require a writing sample, and that’s going to be the important thing.</p>
<p>awestover89: Usually, yes. This is especially true if you are applying to a quant program.</p>
<p>Aleera: First, you probably don’t need a second BA to get the master’s in science. You could probably take a few classes as a non-degree student, and getting a second BA may be a waste of money and time for you plus limit you only to schools that accept second bachelor’s students. (The exceptions are nursing and usually engineering, if you don’t have a physical science degree.) Second, it doesn’t matter when you take the GRE as far as performance - you already have a BA, so you have the verbal knowledge, and the math is all HS math. But GRE scores are only good for 5 years, so if you think there’s a chance you’ll be out of school for more than 5 (make sure to factor in the months of the app cycle) then you may want to wait.</p>
<p>CU1992: If you mean a year off, then no, it’s fine to take a year off school as long as you have something to show for it. You also don’t take GRE subject testS plural - you’ll just take one, for whatever program you’re trying to get into. Some programs and many fields don’t have a GRE subject test, so don’t waste the money if your program doesn’t use them in admissions.</p>
<p>Is it true that graduate programs that require GRE subject tests apply different standards about them depending on the origin of the applicant? </p>
<p>For example: applying higher standards on East Asian applicants for the Physics GRE subject test than on other internationals. IIRC Stanford (source: a postdoc on the Hubble fellowship at Stanford) and Vanderbilt physics depts do so, unless Vanderbilt ceased the practice in the past seven years (Vanderbilt did that when Rob Knop still taught there, ca. 2007) </p>
<p>I’m currently testing at ~85-90th percentile on practice physics GRE tests, but I feel confident that the general GRE will not preclude me from attending UPenn or any other graduate program in the US (V162, Q167, AW4.0) and neither will the TOEFL (110).</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they don’t, but there’d be no way to know for sure unless someone on the admissions committee were willing to admit it publicly. And this may sound flippant…but even if they did, how would it change your approach? There’s really nothing you can do about it besides try do as well as you can possibly can on the exam. 90th percentile is quite good. Remember that GRE scores are the least important part of a PhD program admissions, and what’s really important are your research interests and experience and your fit with the department.</p>
<p>It would allow me to cut schools from my list if they confirmed that they did indeed practice multiple thresholds… then again the only two I know for sure they do are Stanford and Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>You don’t really know for sure that Stanford and Vanderbilt do that…you got some hearsay from someone, presumably not on the admissions committee, that they might have possibly done that some years ago.</p>
<p>Not really. Even if you thought you knew that, how would you know whether your own GRE scores were low enough to get cut from consideration? How would you know whether or not they were willing to make an exception because one professor really needs your experience in X to run his lab or another professor just really liked you when he talked to you or whatever? In any case, I don’t think any school is going to confirm that publicly, so I think that if a program looks like a good fit for you research-wise/resources-wise, you should keep it on your list.</p>
<p>I am an international student from latin america: GRE V155 Q150 AW 2.5. I want to apply to a MA in Public Policy. Should I re take the GRE?</p>
<p>Hi! I’m currently a rising junior (math major) and looking to go to grad school for math. </p>
<p>I’m scheduled to take my GRE in July this year. </p>
<p>I am using Kaplan Premier 2014 right now, and I just took the online diagnostic. </p>
<p>I got a Q166, V160. I know this is not 100% accurate as it was a diagnostic and I took it sitting in my apartment. </p>
<p>I’m a little worried because I’m looking to apply to MIT, Caltech, and some other more prestigious schools, and my GRE isn’t awesome. </p>
<p>I haven’t begun studying other than to take the diagnostic, but can anyone give me an idea of how I can best prepare myself? </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>@knicole94</p>
<p>What do you mean your “GRE isn’t awesome”? Granted, your score is only a diagnostic but a 166Q and 160V would place you in roughly the 93rd percentile for Q and 84th percentile for V (<a href=“https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf”>https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf</a>) on an actual exam. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I imagine, for an applicant in math, that would be more than good enough at any top school.</p>
<p>Regarding preparation: I found Kaplan to be best for math. The math sections on Kaplan’s practice tests were quite similar to what I encountered on the real thing. Barrons Math Workbook also helped; it was more difficult than anything found on the actual GRE, which is typical of Barrons. I did not find Kaplan to be good at all for verbal. The PowerPrep tests were best for verbal, in my experience.</p>
<p>PhD programs in STEM fields do not care about your general GRE score. I have heard this multiple times from people who have been involved in admissions for physics. Unless you don’t score very well on the quantitative section (which is bad if you want to go into science since that section should be trivial if you do) and you get a really bad score on the other sections, it doesn’t matter at all. Most people I know went in with about an hour spent before hand to get familiar with the test format.</p>
<p>This does not apply for subject tests. Those do matter to some extent, however if you don’t do well you can make up for it in other parts of your application.</p>
<p>I’m planning to apply to PhD programs for fall 2015, either in biomedical engineering or neuroscience. I have taken a single practice test (from Kaplan, I think) and scored 164 Q, 166 V without any prep.</p>
<p>My question is: is it worth investing time in studying/prep, or should I just go ahead and take GRE for real and get it over with? Would the advice be different depending on whether I opt for BME vs. neuro programs?</p>
<p>Just go ahead and take GRE for real… but do neuroscience programs require biology GRE?</p>