DrFaustus666

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That raises the horror scenario: Graduate School's absolute limit: 1000 words Individual department: no limit And your application (with 1100 word SOP) gets axed before the department ever sees it. I don't think this may happen very often, but it underscores your point, namely ask the department for details!

back talk

When I applied for master's degree number one, there was no limit stated, so I set my own limit of 1000 words. When I applied for master's degree number two (same university, 25 years later) there was a 1200 word limit. (But my writing sample was a 4000 word pseudo-termpaper.) I am now writing a PhD SOP, and having difficulty staying under 1200 words, but as newms says, if they state a hard limit, you're well advised to stay within that limit (including footnotes, headings, and title page in the word count, to be absolutely safe).

It's been a couple of days and nobody has responded to your question. I know absolutely nothing about biomedical engineering, but I do have the insight that comes from having followed this forum for some time. Thus I will take a semi-informed shot at your question. It probably is worth it to try for a 770 or above, on two points of "conventional wisdom." (1) international students need higher scores and stronger profiles generally than U.S. citizens; and (2) all flavors of engineering students, especially PhD students, need the highest quantitative scores they can possibly muster. Your 590 in Verbal is probably fine, though an extra 20 or 30 points there (i.e., over the psychological 600-mark) would be good too. Good luck John

http://supervoca.net/grelist.cgi (originally posted by newms some time ago) ... this list is not comprehensive, but if you know ALL of these words like the back of your hand, I think you can be pretty sure of a good verbal score (600+)

Stanford

Chin up! Depending on where you're applying and whether you're applying for an MA or PhD (where GRE score requirements are tougher), those scores might be OK if you have a superior academic record (GPA 3.7+) and great recommendations (from well known people). If not -- the Barron's book has the most comprehensive vocabulary list I've seen -- you might also try reading -- A LOT that is -- 18th/19th century novels (Austen, the Brontes, Hawthorne, etc.) and or the modern authors Umberto Ecco, Vladimir Nabokov, William Faulkner, and William Safire, all of whom use very extensive vocabularies. And, if you can stand his politics (ultra-right-wing), the late William F. Buckley wrote columns in the magazine "The New Republic"; his vocabulary is really astonishing; you'll need a good dictionary, but learning new words in context is really easier than the memorize-via-flashcards method. Good luck. John

girl talk

Hi belowthree et al, I too am a belowthree ... though i finished my undergrad studies in 1974. I was deeply depressed my freshman year and ended up with a 1.7 for that year, and a 2.2 in my sophomore year. Good grades (3.5+ in my junior and senior years, but there's still that stigma of low OVERALL GPA). I am hoping against hope that (1) a superior GRE; (2) tons of relevant work experience; © tons of independent study, including presenting at an international conference; (d) two masters' degrees (2nd to be finished soon I hope) will all make up for it. Maybe so, maybe not. Good luck to all of us late bloomers! John

Hi ViolaJoke I don't know of any, but that sounds interesting enough for me to take a look at myself. Sorry I can't help, but thank YOU for helping me, if unintentionally John

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If you download the Powerprep program from ETS, it lists worldwide scores and percentile rankings (under "Reports" on the top-level menu). Those graphs are very outdated (year 2002-2003), but they can give you some idea of what range you need to be in. As Milestones13 (I think) said, this subject has been run through the mill extensively. Also, I'm not sure anyone said it, but for virtually all programs in all universities, GPA, letters of recommendation, and any research and/or teaching experience you have are all more important than your GRE. The GRE just gets your application in the "look more carefully" pile rather than the "send immediate rejection letter" pile. John

Hi, Check thru the back posts in the last 6 months or so. You'll find that almost everyone finds Kaplan's and Princeton Review's online test scores considerably LOWER than their scores on the real test. The reason is, as we deduce (K and PR obviously would deny this), that they want to sell you books, and, if possible, recruit you into their test prep classes--or even better--scare you into enrolling in private tutoring sessions (cost up to $250/hr). Buy the Barron's book (the big one, with the CD), for verbal, and the NOVA book for math. Do every problem in both of those books, and learn as many of the 3400 words as you can before you take the test. If you STILL get a low score, you should consider a test-prep class. But even then, the classes are only useful if you're ready to put in the work, meaning, two to three hours every single day including weekends, until the test date. Otherwise you're wasting your money with a prep class, in my opinion. John

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Here are ETS's statistics for Masters degree Psych majors, 2002-2003: Verbal 380:26th percentile 440:51st percentile 510:76th percentile 570:90th percentile Quantitative 410:25th percentile 490:49th percentile 580:77th percentile 640:90th percentile So, your scores appear to have been very nearly average, then. Scores have increased somewhat in the intervening 8 years. You might squeak by as is, but I'd guess a 50 to 80 point improvement on each test would make your application quite a bit stronger. Good luck, John