GRE and grad school

[solid snake]

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Is the GRE looked at heavily when applying to PhD programs or do they emphasize more on research experience, personal statement, and your letters?

 

[Stroganoff]

I'm pretty sure the GRE is still weighted heavily in grad admissions, from every PhD department website I've read. Normally the GPA and GRE requirements are slightly higher for PhD than for MS candidates.

I'm looking into BME programs, where the Quantitative is >>> Verbal, so hopefully when I eventually take the GRE, I can get my 800Q, 700+ Verbal. 🙂 My vocab is average so that's a big weak spot (trying to break 600). GRE verbal is harder than SAT.

Of course, the others are also important. The whole package. 🙂

 

[pseudoknot]

Very important, but it will depend on the program; letters are huge too.

 

[Scottish Chap]

Is the GRE looked at heavily when applying to PhD programs or do they emphasize more on research experience, personal statement, and your letters?

It really depends. If you have a mediocre GRE, a good GPA can offset it. I also know one guy with a GPA of 2.6 who was accepted at a good school for his Ph.D. because he had an almost perfect GRE score. I even know people who had bad GRE's and still got accepted. It depends where you are doing your Ph.D. But what do I know - I had a late application so they waived the GRE requirement. I never had to take it. 🙂

 

[Fixed Gear]

I think you can get an idea of schools that factor in the GRE heavily. If a school REQUIRES the GRE subject test, I think that's a pretty strong indicator that the GRE is important to them.

Some schools, on the other hand (UPenn, I believe) require 4 letters of reference, indicating that letters may be more important there.

Grad school admissions, just like Med school admissions, is a game. Put your strongest foot forward and make sure schools see this.

Best of Luck.

 

[Stroganoff]

What kinds of grad programs typically require GRE subject tests, and which subjects? I was referring to the General. Thanks.

 

[pseudoknot]

I don't remember any of the biochemistry/molecular biology programs I applied to requiring subject tests, but I'm not too sure. I took the Biochemistry GRE; I know the program I ended up at "strongly recommends" that you take a relevant subject test (i.e. biochem, bio, or chem...probably CS would be fine too).

 

[Fixed Gear]

I'm in a Molecular Biology program and hence, when I was applying, my applications were to other 'molecular' based programs. Thus, many schools wanted the Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (BCMB) GRE Subject test. Furthermore, some funding programs want GRE subject tests. HHMI, which no longer offers Pre-doctoral funding, REQUIRED the BCMB subject test.

I will also add that the GRE seems to be quite important if you are applying for any sort of extramural funding (i.e., and NSF fellowship).

Judging from what I have seen or heard, some schools are just looking for a minimum score to decide whether or not to give an applicant an interview. Again, this is just like medical school admissions: some schools have a cut-off, and if your score isn't over the cut-off, your application goes into the recycling bin and you won't hear anything.

I did quite well on the analytic portion (770, 95%) but OK on the math (670, 60%). One of recommendation writers was the kind of guy who never got anything less than a 'A' in college and did extraordinarily well on standardized tests. He made a point to tell me that, "I also mentioned that despite your poor math score, that you were an extremely bright student." Moral of the story, you can still be competitive even with a less-than-stellar GRE.

Like I said, know your strengths and communicate these things with your boss/mentor/professors. Practice taking GRE exams under timed conditions, that'll help make sure that you maximize your GRE score.

Good luck.

 

[solid snake]

It looks like letters and GRE are important factors. If, lets say, a GRE score of between 1050-1100 and you know that the letters you will be getting are quality and strong ones, should one still bother to apply to PhD?

Thanks for all the replies so far 🙂

 

[Dodohead]

If, lets say, a GRE score of between 1050-1100 and you know that the letters you will be getting are quality and strong ones, should one still bother to apply to PhD?

Apply, and retake the GRE, if you have time. Study like a maniac if you have to. I took the old version of the GRE, in the spring of my junior year of undergrad, and bombed the analytical section (I had a 490!!) and didn't do too hot on the other two sections either. (There were a lot of reasons I did so terrible, most of them having to do with bad timing of the exam, and a lack of preparation on my part). I spent the summer taking practice tests every Saturday morning and studying for the exam, and retook the test in September and scored 800, 800, 790 on A, Q, and V respectively. None of the schools that I applied to even asked about the bad scores, and I got into a number of good programs.