International student with low GRE in neuroscience PhD

[Murmel]

I am an international student applying for Neuroscience PhDs for next year. I just got my GRE results and was totally shocked! Now, I am wondering if I would still have a shot at a spot at one of the big schools (Stanford, UCSD, Princeton, Berkeley, Harvard, CUNY, Columbia...). This is me in keywords:

Undergrads:

- Mechanical Engineering (Germany, GPA: 3.7, senior thesis: 4.0, semester abroad at renown US uni)

- Economics & Business (Germany, GPA: 3.0, senior thesis: 3.7)

Double Master Degrees (by next fall):

- Biomedical Engineering (Belgium, GPA: 3.4-3.6)

- Neural Engineering (Ireland)

Work experience:

- 4 years of engineering in major aerospace company

- Internship in Neural Engineering at renown European uni

GRE (here is where the problems start...):

- 160 V (86%)

- 158 Q (79%)

- 4.0 AW (48%)

No publications

Some good, some great LOR

I'd be very thankful for your help! Thanks a million!

[Murmel]

Help!?

[Genomic Repairman]

Retake the GRE's, those scores will close doors to you that would have otherwise been open.

[emmm]

Agree with Genomic Repairman -- would just comment that it's only your Q score holding you back. I think your V is fine for an international student (actually, it's probably OK for a US student as well), and a 4.0 on AWA seems to be generally thought of as acceptable. You could try applying this year, and see if any program will overlook the low Q score, but engineering usually expects > 85 -- even > 90% -- percentile. So focus on preparing for the math section.

HOWEVER: We should remember that we are talking about a Q score that would have been a 740 on the old scale. I certainly would NOT have considered this score a dealbreaker last year. So, I think it would be worth applying this year, with a plan to retake if not successful.

Edited December 4, 2011 by emmm

[arnds]

Retake GRE and also consider subject GRE, for you are aiming too high.