The Uber-High GREs: 1580, 1590, 1600

[qwopty99]

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[zigeroo]

hey folks, just wondering here.

i'm a health professional planning on doing my PhD next year. the field i'm in, i basically feel certain i'll be admitted when i apply, since there are very few people in my area going after the PhD after their professional degree. the two schools i'll be applying to are Berkeley and Waterloo (Canada).

as part of my application, the general test GRE is required. my question is, for someone for whom gaining admission isn't really going to be a "major" challenge (i.e. they would likely be offerred admission virtually irregardless of their GRE score), what benefit, if any, would arise if that person were to produce an outstanding GRE result? would they likely get more funding? are scholarships often determined by a GRE result? if a high score doesn't lead to more funding - then does that mean taking the test is simply just another piece of red-tape that one has to pass through before starting their graduate studies?

another question - suppose someone with an otherwise decent application (professional degree, decent but undistinguished professional school marks, 1 or 2 indexed papers) gets an (1580/1590/1600) on the GRE. does that make them competitive for say, SOME kind of program at Harvard? would any programs there suddenly be open to a general health professional guy (not MD) with a good GRE score? i.e. if u could make a longshot application to Harvard, what could u apply to? public health? biomedical sciences? or at this level, does the GRE score not really distinguish u cause does EVERYONE applying to Harvard have those kinds of scores? how common are the uber-high scores?

thanks in advance.

For a (non professional grad) school, I believe you have to match to a particular lab/investigator. They look at your research experience more than anything else. At least for the biomedical sciences programs at the top programs, I believe that they expect that you get as close as possible to full marks on math and anything above 500 verbal is acceptable (ie. 700 on verbal is viewed in the same light as sa 600). After that, all rulings are made based on your recommendations, research, and whether a faculty member feels strongly that their lab can benefit from you.

Funding is given based on past track record (productivity usually equating to publications) and the novelty of your ideas/specific aims; mainly the latter however the former is particularly relevant to determine whether one has the particular skill sets and expertise to carry out their proposed projects. Fundering is certainly not based on GRE scores (US News might care but very so slightly).

 

[dr.z]

My school GRE was used for admissions purpose only. However, I know that they had NIH training grants for grad students, and they had to submit the GRE score. They might have had a minimum.

If you are scoring 1580 and above, I think any school will be able to take you assuming that rest of your credentials are good.