GRE General Exam and Statistics

[dasgut]

How closely do statistics programs look at the GRE general exam? Do they use it as a cut off? If so, what is the cut off?

[rockrs]

Well, in my opinion, GRE quant score has a multifold purpose:

i) to be used as a cutoff for uncompetitive applicants (say, less than 730-50...)

ii) to give a little jump for the ones scoring 800 and help distinguish for different international applicants/universities; also, if you have some bad grades in core courses, it is really compulsory to score near 800

Obviously, there is no fixed cutoff value, but there are some programs which post their average accepted applicants' score...so aim at that at least...

[cyberwulf]

(I'll use the old GRE scores here, because we don't know much about the new ones yet)

Quant: At good programs, a large proportion of applicants score 800, so you can really only hurt yourself if you are far below that level. Anything below 700 is probably a non-starter for a decent PhD program.

Verbal: Mostly irrelevant, but if your verbal score is really exceptional (700+), that can be an eye-catcher.

Analytical Writing: Same as verbal. Most applicants score 3.0-4.5, below 3.0 could be trouble and 5.5-6 might be viewed as something in your favor.