Is my GRE score good or not?(I am an international student)

[centurysun]

My GRE score: V620, Q800, AW 4.0

I am not sure if my GRE is competitive or not. I thought it would be more helpful if I could hear some of your opinions.

Thank you.

[newms]

Your GRE score is plenty competitive. Remember though that your GRE score is only a small part of your application. What is your field?

[centurysun]

Your GRE score is plenty competitive. Remember though that your GRE score is only a small part of your application. What is your field?

I am a Chinese medical student in the final stages of obtaining my degree as a Bachelor of Medicine.

I am interested in Phd programs in biomedical sciences and public health in USA.

In my school, we haven`t initatite any kind of evaluations like GPA. Now our academic scores are still based on a 100-scale. And my avearge score is about 85.

I only have three articles(2 are reviews, one is a meta-analysis) pubished in Chinese Journals. I am lack of research experience, because the degree I will obatin does not require a lot of skills in lab or any kind of research field. So far, I only did one experiment in a lab in my school for about half a year, and mostly doing experiments after class(not full-time in lab), and went to another two lab for a few days (did not do much work in those two). I am now doing a research with a publich health professor, and just got back the questionaires, but didn`t put the data into computer for further analysis.

I got sort of awards or schoolarship every year. And I will probably get a sort of award( a province-level) next term for writing a report on a field research in some rural areas(it is a summer program for undergraduates). I was a volunteer in the hospital which is affilaited to my university when they admitted some wounded in 2008 after the eathquake, a nature disaster happened in China, which you probabaly know.

By the way, my university (ranking about 25 to 30 in all chinese medical schools) is not a famous or very good one in China. I doubt whether it will have a negative impacts on my application.

Although I've read the websites of many universities and the program descriptions, as well as the rankings on USNEWS and so on, what I know about US grad schools and their reputation can be limited. So I thought it would be more helpful if I could hear some of your opinions. could you please help me and tell me which university in the USA will be a better choice for me?

Thank you

[DrFaustus666]

My GRE score: V620, Q800, AW 4.0

I am not sure if my GRE is competitive or not. I thought it would be more helpful if I could hear some of your opinions.

Thank you.

A Verbal 620 and Quant 800 are both very good scores and most native Americans would be perfectly happy with those scores. The AW 4.0 is a little low but most universities don't use that score anyway; they rely on writing samples and statements of purpose.

You didn't say which U.S. schools you want to attend. I would say that the very top-tier universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) are probably out of reach for you; but many less famous universities are possible (most state universities, I would think).

When you apply, ask someone to proofread your statement of purpose and any writing samples. Or use a computer with spell-check if you have one! I noticed a number of spelling errors and some grammatical errors in your post.

Good luck!

John

[centurysun]

A Verbal 620 and Quant 800 are both very good scores and most native Americans would be perfectly happy with those scores. The AW 4.0 is a little low but most universities don't use that score anyway; they rely on writing samples and statements of purpose.

You didn't say which U.S. schools you want to attend. I would say that the very top-tier universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) are probably out of reach for you; but many less famous universities are possible (most state universities, I would think).

When you apply, ask someone to proofread your statement of purpose and any writing samples. Or use a computer with spell-check if you have one! I noticed a number of spelling errors and some grammatical errors in your post.

Good luck!

John

Thank you, John.

Of course I will use the spell-check for writing samples and statement of purppose.I also want to have them proofread by some native speakers, but I don` t know any Americans or other native speakers.

I am thinking of top 50 to 100 universities in American universities, which I will have more chances to get an offer. And to try a few better universities(just a few) won`t do anything harmful. What do you think?

Edited August 28, 2010 by centurysun

[Strangefox]

I believe it's good.

[newms]

Thank you, John.

Of course I will use the spell-check for writing samples and statement of purppose.I also want to have them proofread by some native speakers, but I don` t know any Americans or other native speakers.

I am thinking of top 50 to 100 universities in American universities, which I will have more chances to get an offer. And to try a few better universities(just a few) won`t do anything harmful. What do you think?

That sounds like a good plan. I think the fact that you are doing experiments on your own will help you as it shows your initiative - admissions committees love that. Definitely apply to a couple top 20 programs in addition to those in the 50-100 range you apply to. You never know if you'll get in unless you try, so give it your best shot!

[DrFaustus666]

That sounds like a good plan. I think the fact that you are doing experiments on your own will help you as it shows your initiative - admissions committees love that.

centurysun: I agree. I myself thought as I was reading your post, "Now here is a fellow who really wants to succeed."

Definitely apply to a couple top 20 programs in addition to those in the 50-100 range you apply to. You never know if you'll get in unless you try, so give it your best shot!

I agree with this too. You never know. The reason I felt I had to say that the very topmost universities would be difficult is: there are people who come in here with absolutely no idea how difficult it is to get into those top 4 or 5 universities; those people simply aren't aware that for every one person accepted into the very topmost universities, 10 or 20 more very bright and qualified people are rejected every year.

But definitely try for one or two top-20 universities, especially those whose departments seem to match your own interests most closely.

Edited August 28, 2010 by DrFaustus666

[centurysun]

That sounds like a good plan. I think the fact that you are doing experiments on your own will help you as it shows your initiative - admissions committees love that. Definitely apply to a couple top 20 programs in addition to those in the 50-100 range you apply to. You never know if you'll get in unless you try, so give it your best shot!

The experiment which I did for about half a year in the lab was under the guidance of a professor who runs the lab. I was the the leader of a student group (only 4 students in my group). However, we didn`t have any articles related to the experiment published.

And in the other two labs I went to, I didn`t do much things: Just helped take some brain samples from anmial models.

In the research with the publich health professor, I am also the group leader, and 4 other students are with me. I made the whole questionnaire, from the beginning to the end, and the professor helped modified it. A student in my group helped a lot in distributing the questionnaire and then got them back.

And I also did a meta-analysis during vacation with a good friend,and have one article published in a Chinese journal, but it can not be searched in PubMed or other international databases. Do you think this article(only title, abstract, keywords of it are in both English and Chinese) will be helpfu if I sent it to the admissions committees or professors who I want to contact ?

By the way, I am now an intern in hospital, so I don`t think I will have a lot of time to do things in lab or some sort of research, but I will try to go to some labs after work if possible.

I hope those research experience will be helpful.

[centurysun]

centurysun: I agree. I myself thought as I was reading your post, "Now here is a fellow who really wants to succeed."

I agree with this too. You never know. The reason I felt I had to say that the very topmost universities would be difficult is: there are people who come in here with absolutely no idea how difficult it is to get into those top 4 or 5 universities; those people simply aren't aware that for every one person accepted into the very topmost universities, 10 or 20 more very bright and qualified people are rejected every year.

But definitely try for one or two top-20 universities, especially those whose departments seem to match your own interests most closely.

I am also considering of applying to a few between 100 and 200.

[DrFaustus666]

I am also considering of applying to a few between 100 and 200.

It's always a good idea to have a couple of backup schools, certainly. But from what you've described, if you apply to 10 top-20 schools, you'll be admitted to at least 2 or 3 of them, I would think.

In my own immediate geographic area (Washington, DC), I think you'd have a good chance at getting into George Washington University or the University of Maryland at Baltimore ("UMAB" where the medical school is located) ... also, there is a large Chinese community in Washington, DC, as you may or may not know. The top two medical schools in this geographic area, Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, are both notoriously hard to get into, especially for people who live around here ... so, since you are not somebody who lives near here, you might give them a shot too.

[centurysun]

It's always a good idea to have a couple of backup schools, certainly. But from what you've described, if you apply to 10 top-20 schools, you'll be admitted to at least 2 or 3 of them, I would think.

In my own immediate geographic area (Washington, DC), I think you'd have a good chance at getting into George Washington University or the University of Maryland at Baltimore ("UMAB" where the medical school is located) ... also, there is a large Chinese community in Washington, DC, as you may or may not know. The top two medical schools in this geographic area, Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, are both notoriously hard to get into, especially for people who live around here ... so, since you are not somebody who lives near here, you might give them a shot too.

UMAB is on my list. And I will check George Washington University later.

As I said, I worry that it will not be a plus that the university I am studying in now here in China is not a very good or famous one. What do you think of that? My university`s ranking is only about 25 to 30 among Chinese medical schools. And there are not many students in my university who are willing to study abroad, compared with students in some other top universities/medical schools in China.

[DrFaustus666]

UMAB is on my list. And I will check George Washington University later.

As I said, I worry that it will not be a plus that the university I am studying in now here in China is not a very good or famous one. What do you think of that?

I don't know about medical schools specifically, but I have read that in general, in the USA, when the admission committee has not heard of a particular university, or if that university is somewhat low-ranked, then the admission committee puts more emphasis on the applicant's full picture, particularly the research and the GRE scores.

My university`s ranking is only about 25 to 30 among Chinese medical schools. And there are not many students in my university who are willing to study abroad, compared with students in some other top universities/medical schools in China.

I have no idea why not many students in your university may not want to study abroad. Possibly they think they cannot get into universities outside China? Or maybe they just want to remain near home and family, and that is certainly understandable.

What is important though CenturySun, is not what your fellow students do; what is important is what you want to do. If you choose to take "the road less traveled" (from an American poet, I forget his name), then you should travel that road with all your will and ambition and fortitude.

Good luck to you.

Regarding UMAB, a friend of mine is a nurse-practitioner who earned her certification from UMAB; she says it's a wonderful and friendly place.

Cheers,

John

[centurysun]

I don't know about medical schools specifically, but I have read that in general, in the USA, when the admission committee has not heard of a particular university, or if that university is somewhat low-ranked, then the admission committee puts more emphasis on the applicant's full picture, particularly the research and the GRE scores.

I have no idea why not many students in your university may not want to study abroad. Possibly they think they cannot get into universities outside China? Or maybe they just want to remain near home and family, and that is certainly understandable.

What is important though CenturySun, is not what your fellow students do; what is important is what you want to do. If you choose to take "the road less traveled" (from an American poet, I forget his name), then you should travel that road with all your will and ambition and fortitude.

Good luck to you.

Regarding UMAB, a friend of mine is a nurse-practitioner who earned her certification from UMAB; she says it's a wonderful and friendly place.

Cheers,

John

I know "the road less traveled", and I think it is true that I should make my own decision now, regardless of what other people around me think.. The reasons why not many students in my university want to study abroad are:1.many of them are not good at English at all; 2. a large portion of students are from nearby cities,counties, villages in this province, where people are lack of the awareness of the globalization and the importance of gaining experience in other countries/cultures.

the admission committee puts more emphasis on the applicant's full picture, particularly the research and the GRE scores？ So here is the problem for me: I don`t think my research experience is competitive, because we student who are trying to gain a bachelor of medicine mostly focus on the clinical side of medicine instead of the research in labs. Even though I am better than many of my classmates in terms of research experience, it is still less competitive when I have to compete with applicants all around the world.

I think some sort of interdisciplinary biomedical programs may be better for me, because it emphasize less in a particular field of research at the first year and that`s just what I need----to gain more experience through lab rotations and find more about what I love most.

About the ranking here in China:　As far as I know, there are at least 140 medical medical schools(I think there must be more), and mine ranks about 30(it varies from 23 to 37 in different years). And only some departments/disciplines(not many) ranks top 10 in China.

I will definitely choose UMAB. And I have sent E-mails to UMAB and got repies. I am encouraged to apply to their programs which I am interested in.