How important is GRE for grad school admissions?

QuantMech
Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:33:31 +0000

Just my opinion about size, but I think a student would probably be best off in a “large public” or “large private” mathematics department. A “large public” department just needs to average 7 Ph.D. graduates per year. A “large private” department just needs to average 3.9 Ph.D. graduates per year. Those are both pretty small lower bounds.

Also, I don’t know about mathematics specifically, but in the physical sciences, the GRE %iles have been strongly influenced by large numbers of students from the PRC taking the exams. Near the top, this has meant that the same numerical score on the subject test converts to about 10 %ile points lower than it did a generation ago. Partly this happens because the students from the PRC often have master’s degrees in the subject before taking the GRE. Partly it occurs because they prepare very seriously for the GRE.

I suggest that the OP’s daughter prepare as much as is reasonably possible, take the GRE, and then apply to all of the schools in which she is interested, without being concerned that the GRE will cause her application to be rejected. My university takes American applicants with weaker “paper” qualifications than those of foreign students. Math grad programs take multiple years, and there is time to catch up.