GRE and other questions

b_r_um
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:55:38 +0000

First, when should he take the GRE? Is it similar to taking the ACT–that is, can he take it multiple times if he is not satisfied with his first score and do schools just take the highest score?

I would advise him to take the GRE at his earliest convenience, just to get it out of the way. As long as he does well on the math part and does not screw up the English and writing sections, he’ll be fine. No one expects an engineering graduate student to score in the 90th percentile of the verbal section. The GRE does not matter nearly as much as the SAT and ACT did for undergraduate admission.



And should he be accepted, how hard is it to get financial aid (other than loans) at the graduate level?

I am not sure for engineering. In the sciences, PhD students are usually fully funded (tuition waiver, health insurance and a stipend for living expenses) but Master’s students are not. That’s why many prospective science graduate students apply straight to PhD programs without doing a Master’s first.