TrustedTheProcess

Yeah I would change my previous wording choice on that one lol. I meant competitive as in you have any skin in the game at all, rather than a high likelihood of winning, if you catch my drift. Sorry for the confusion!

Agreed! I think it depends on the specific program. A combined score of 300 is around the 50th percentile, so I would say that's pretty competitive. I have heard my P.I. comment that people "should not bother applying" if they are in the 20th percentile or below in either category ?

The P.I. I work for is pretty strict about certain cutoffs for the GRE, but once you're past that I don't think it matters as much. Research experiences definitely trump GRE scores though, as long as you get past the initial cutoff. I do know that our lab has come down to two equally qualified candidates for admission and ultimately the GRE score was the only deciding factor. That's probably not very common though, but I think with competitive programs like PhDs you just have to try and make your application as well-rounded as possible.