Chances of Acceptance

[tanya6666]

My profile is as follows:

GPA: 3.6, 3.8 in major

GRE: 800Q/490V/4.5AW

1.5 years of research with 2 publications (2nd author)

2 conference posters

1 6 month fellowship

Schools:

Biophysics:

BU

UCSF

Chemistry:

USC

Tufts

BU

Brandeis

UMASS Lowell

Northeastern

Do I have a good chance of admission at these schools with strong LOR's?

[Eigen]

You don't mention what subfield you're in, but I think you stand a pretty good chance with those stats. It comes down to your application (SoP, etc), your fit with the school, and the letters. I don't think any of your stats will hold you back, for sure.

The only thing that stands out to me is the low Verbal score- it's not the most important measure for chemistry, but a 490 is pretty low- some schools may have cutoffs. You're over a 1200 composite, though, which is the most commonly used cutoff it seems.

[mechengr2000]

Are you an international student? Why is the verbal score so low?

I think you can get into the best schools in the country if your verbal score was higher. Verbal score matters because many programs require you to teach.

[Backside Attack]

I had pretty much the exact same stats for everything else, but my verbal score was 430. I was able to get into almost every school I applied to including Berkeley, Scripps, Princeton, UIUC, Northwestern, Texas, and others so if everything else on your application is strong (SoP, LoR, ChemGRE, etc) then your verbal score won't be too much of an issue. I was organic and everything does differ year from year, but don't be too worried about the low verbal score.