Profile Evaluation. Poor GRE and TOEFL, solid research experience

[Nyuro]

Hi all,

Profile:

GRE:  1) 147 V/159 Q   2) 155 V/153 Q

TOEFL: 99

GPA: 3,72(BA) 3,9(MA)

Research experience: 1 paper published in Q1; 1 paper received R&R in Q1 (resubmitted in Dec); 2 papers under review in Q1; four working papers (to be submitted next year). 5 years experience as a junior research fellow in a Lab, a team member of multiple research projects 

Professional experience: about 10 years in Communications 

I am shooting to top-15 and worry a lot about low GRE and TOEFL scores. What do you think about my profile? 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Nyuro

[eggsalad14]

Will people on the admissions committee recognize the names of these journals? If yes, I can see you getting into a T15 and potentially multiple offers. If they're  country-specific journals or otherwise no-name journals, I'm a lot less optimistic that those can help you overcome the low test scores. 

Your GRE quant scores are relatively low for T15, as are your verbal. Schools even beneath the top 15 like Minnesota, GWU, and Emory have average GREs of 315+, so with a superscore of 314 you're definitely behind the pack. Not completely debilitatingly so, but they are without a doubt something to overcome. But you better hope that adcoms you get aren't the type to automatically throw applications that don't meet a certain threshold in the trash. Top 30-50 will be a lot safer for you. 

GPA is ok. Not impressive (though honestly even a 4.0 at most schools isn't impressive) but also not crippling, but it really depends on what classes you took and your school's reputation. 

Professional experience only matters if you can tie it in to your skills/research well. 

[arwang]

7 minutes ago, eggsalad14 said:

Will people on the admissions committee recognize the names of these journals? If yes, I can see you getting into a T15 and potentially multiple offers. If they're  country-specific journals or otherwise no-name journals, I'm a lot less optimistic that those can help you overcome the low test scores. 

Your GRE quant scores are relatively low for T15, as are your verbal. Schools even beneath the top 15 like Minnesota, GWU, and Emory have average GREs of 315+, so with a superscore of 314 you're definitely behind the pack. Not completely debilitatingly so, but they are without a doubt something to overcome. But you better hope that adcoms you get aren't the type to automatically throw applications that don't meet a certain threshold in the trash. Top 30-50 will be a lot safer for you. 

GPA is ok. Not impressive (though honestly even a 4.0 at most schools isn't impressive) but also not crippling, but it really depends on what classes you took and your school's reputation. 

Professional experience only matters if you can tie it in to your skills/research well. 

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by arwang