What do ya think? (Chances and advice)

[navier]

Hi all:

I'm a junior MechEng student and I'm looking for some advice. I've done fairly awful on the GRE, but I have solid stats elsewhere and I'm looking to get into a top PhD program for Fall 2012 (next years application cycle).

3.9 GPA (Honors program) @ top 20 engineering university

1.5 years research by the time I'll have applied

Several awards: Amgen scholar, some scholarships, consecutive dean's list

One pub (non-1st author), some poster presentations

Research in biomaterials and tissue engineering

GRE: 740Q, 450V, 5.0W (yikes, I know!)

Very solid LOR's (with connections at MIT)

I'm looking to pursue a PhD in either MechE or Biomed/BiologicalEng at a top university/lab (MIT, UCB, Stanford, JHU, etc.)

Do you think my low GRE will keep me out of these top programs? I know it's used as an initial filter, but I think I'm too low to make it past that filter (but not certain). I really don't want to retake it (I've never been great at standardized testing for some reason), but I will if I truly need to to have a shot at these top places. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!

[ringo-ring]

Did you try to retake your GRE? Given all other qualifications you've enumerated, I tend to think you got this score by accident and you'll do much better second time.

[navier]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't retaken the GRE. I'm certain the quant score was accidental (I've scored no less than 780 on all my practice tests w/o studying for it), but my verbal was a little lower than test scores. (I guess memorizing obscure words, out of context, isn't my thing) I can only take the new GRE (no time in my schedule until mid-August), which is fine because on a practice test I took they said my quant was 750-800 - I personally think the new quant is easier since you're provided a calculator - but my verbal was still in the low range. For some reason my verbal is extremely low, even though I've always been a solid writer and gotten solid grades on AP English exams. I don't want to retake the exam if I don't have to, although I will as mentioned above. Do you think I should? I mean will my current score really keep me out of the top places? Thanks again in advance.

[basst]

You should retake GRE. I've seen some people with lower score get in top universities, but you don't want to risk your chances.

[ringo-ring]

When I only started GRE a couple of years ago, I was also getting 400+ range. After practicing a lot with software for learning obscure words, I started scoring much better and got 520 on the actual test (better than on practice before). You still have a lot of time to practice and it is definitely better to do. In a highly competitive admissions it can just happen there will be a candidate just as good as you in all other respects but with higher GRE score. If there is any chance to make yourself more competitive its better to make use of it.

Whether low GRE will keep you out of consideration or not, depends on the department, from what I know some do really have these cut-off scores, but others carefully review all applications & weight all factors.

Edited March 16, 2011 by ringo-ring

[navier]

When I only started GRE a couple of years ago, I was also getting 400+ range. After practicing a lot with software for learning obscure words, I started scoring much better and got 520 on the actual test (better than on practice before). You still have a lot of time to practice and it is definitely better to do. In a highly competitive admissions it can just happen there will be a candidate just as good as you in all other respects but with higher GRE score. If there is any chance to make yourself more competitive its better to make use of it.

Whether low GRE will keep you out of consideration or not, depends on the department, from what I know some do really have these cut-off scores, but others carefully review all applications & weight all factors.

Thanks for the advice, and same to you above poster. I think I will retake it (since I'm just not quite there). Does anybody have any software to recommend for enhancing ones verbal score? This is really my only weak spot, and I really need to try and increase it as much as possible. 550+ would be ideal, but anything over 500 should suffice.

[neuropsych76]

Thanks for the advice, and same to you above poster. I think I will retake it (since I'm just not quite there). Does anybody have any software to recommend for enhancing ones verbal score? This is really my only weak spot, and I really need to try and increase it as much as possible. 550+ would be ideal, but anything over 500 should suffice.

My advice is pretty lame but it worked for me. Get a GRE vocab book (like Barron's with the 3000 words list) and go through all the words over and over again making notecards with the ones you still dont know.

I increased my score 100+ points by doing this but it took a long time (440 on practice to 580 on real thing).

Best of luck!!

[navier]

My advice is pretty lame but it worked for me. Get a GRE vocab book (like Barron's with the 3000 words list) and go through all the words over and over again making notecards with the ones you still dont know.

I increased my score 100+ points by doing this but it took a long time (440 on practice to 580 on real thing).

Best of luck!!

Thanks for the advice. I can check this option out as well. How long is a long time? (Since I'm already 6 months away)

[eco_env]

Thanks for the advice, and same to you above poster. I think I will retake it (since I'm just not quite there). Does anybody have any software to recommend for enhancing ones verbal score? This is really my only weak spot, and I really need to try and increase it as much as possible. 550+ would be ideal, but anything over 500 should suffice.

Did you only have trouble with the vocab part of the verbal section? I used mostly WordSmart for the GRE and the prep software that ETS provides, also some practice tests in a Kaplan book, and got an 800. my problem is the writing section- scoreitnow! doesn't seem very useful. anyway, GRE scores are unimportant, at least in my experience.

[neuropsych76]

Thanks for the advice. I can check this option out as well. How long is a long time? (Since I'm already 6 months away)

Its not that bad if you block out time everyday. I did it for about half an hour for 3 months or so. So if you start relatively soon you should be fine. You will see several of the words you study on the actual GRE.

[lil kiwi]

I did something pretty similar to improve my vocab. I had just under 3 months to prepare... I just googled for common GRE vocab and got a long list. Me and my friend then took turns to quiz eachother or I just read over the list at least a handful of times a week. While I don't have any concrete practice scores, I'm fairly confident that I wouldn't have gotten the 640 verbal score if I hadn't done this. Good luck!

[navier]

I did something pretty similar to improve my vocab. I had just under 3 months to prepare... I just googled for common GRE vocab and got a long list. Me and my friend then took turns to quiz eachother or I just read over the list at least a handful of times a week. While I don't have any concrete practice scores, I'm fairly confident that I wouldn't have gotten the 640 verbal score if I hadn't done this. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I also think verbal will be easier on the new exam because they're providing context for words now. Using logic, one should be able to increase their odds by pure statistics, and having some idea will increase these odds even further. I think even with my current GRE I can get in to a few of the top 10 programs (I've been in contact with multiple professors already about summer research - which can translate into a PhD position - and a dean of grad studies who has already informally recruited me to apply to their program). Maybe I'm wrong though.

[Mrs. Grad]

I think if you up that verbal score, you'll be in great shape! Good luck!

[GutLogic]

When I was studying for the GRE Verbal, this program worked like magic: http://www.brain-scape.com/

It's just a simple flashcard program, but the way it's set up it kind of feels like a game, which makes it less painful, and it just has a couple simple differences from basic flashcards that make it way easier to remember the definitions later. I ended up with a 780 verbal score after I used this (I spent a lot of time studying).

[Azazel]

If you think that you will definitely do better, go ahead and retake it.

But don't stress out about it. I was just talking to someone who got accepted to top schools without even taking the GRE. And these were schools for which it was supposedly "required." He was in a different technical field however, not ME. To add to this evidence, I got into top Computer Science schools with a lackluster GRE.

Just to be safe, talk to people in your field. It's entirely possible my experience doesn't generalize to other Engineering disciplines. But really, I don't think the GRE matters much...

Edited April 2, 2011 by Azazel

[navier]

If you think that you will definitely do better, go ahead and retake it.

But don't stress out about it. I was just talking to someone who got accepted to top schools without even taking the GRE. And these were schools for which it was supposedly "required." He was in a different technical field however, not ME. To add to this evidence, I got into top Computer Science schools with a lackluster GRE.

Just to be safe, talk to people in your field. It's entirely possible my experience doesn't generalize to other Engineering disciplines. But really, I don't think the GRE matters much...

Thanks for the reply! Congrats on getting into Stanford though. You must have had a very solid resume otherwise? I know for CSci MIT doesn't even require it. I am thinking it won't kill me, but I have indeed registered for the revised GRE. Since I am competing against others, I think my score will be much stronger (especially since people can't really study tricks to do well -- I did NOT study for my first GRE much at all). Plus, with a revised GRE score, I don't know that adcoms will even have a low limit to cut people off, therefore my app will get looked at by a lot of schools -- and I really think I'm very competitive in all other regards. Just a few thoughts I guess.

Above poster: thanks for the link!