Is 163 (quantitative) too low for Top 10 CS PhD

[bookend]

In short, I want to do a PhD in Computer Science at a top 10 (or top 20) school, and my scores are 169 verbal, 163 quantitative.

Some of the schools I am considering are Brown, CMU, Columbia, Georgia Tech, Harvard, UMass-Amherst, UMD, and Virginia Tech. Other application criteria (GPA, recs, research) aside, I want to know if my quant GRE score of 163 is too low for, or makes it much less likely to get into a CS PhD program at one of these schools. I am fairly sure I would do better if I took it again, but I would prefer not to.

Based on this, do you think it would be worthwhile to retake the GRE?

Thanks!

[pemdas]

there's little to no difference for AdComs when it comes to comparing 163 or 163 to 166 or even the perfect 170 for math

the final word to say is left at the discretion of each AdCom member of course, but mainly >=770 (old score) should work smoothly for most quant intensive programs

170 or 166 or 168 says AdComs that if you missed some required background courses in UGrad you can catch up easily and reread the course by yourself. If you have decent background in UGrad and took all required courses for breaking through the first semester material in PhD program 163 is absolutely fine. For example, I am applying for PhD econ and mine 161 will worsen my situation. Therefore I will retake - your's fine.

[pemdas]

by the way, i know math majors who took GRE twice and got 780 which is 163 on new scale. So you can rest and be proud in some way with your achievement. Many of us will score 166 and higher not because of being smarter but because of many other factors involved in test-taking abilities as well as many other qualities factored into the score.

One of the most essential qualities easily factored into score even if you were studying the tested subject all your life is the attention span. Ability to concentrate on some subject and to overcome the stress is a very significant contributing factor for the standardized test's score. Most people who have high GPAs are shocked by low GRE/GMAT scores. The fact however is that those two tests require much longer time and greater ability to concentrate from the healthy grown-ups than human physiology allows. These two tests will require our attention span to be of length more than 40 minutes with some quick rebuilding breaks of approx. 1 minute or so. So if we need to concentrate on something for more than 40 minutes we should experience stress, because this will be contra to our biological systems (the whole discussion of 40 min-s may not regarded as my speculation; it's the scientifically proven fact by doctors)

The best way to prepare for GRE test can be increasing one's attention span and getting ready for rebuilding the lost concentration in exam. This should help, in my opinion.

[bookend]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. Best of luck when you retake the test!

[Hanyuye]

by the way, i know math majors who took GRE twice and got 780 which is 163 on new scale. So you can rest and be proud in some way with your achievement. Many of us will score 166 and higher not because of being smarter but because of many other factors involved in test-taking abilities as well as many other qualities factored into the score.

One of the most essential qualities easily factored into score even if you were studying the tested subject all your life is the attention span. Ability to concentrate on some subject and to overcome the stress is a very significant contributing factor for the standardized test's score. Most people who have high GPAs are shocked by low GRE/GMAT scores. The fact however is that those two tests require much longer time and greater ability to concentrate from the healthy grown-ups than human physiology allows. These two tests will require our attention span to be of length more than 40 minutes with some quick rebuilding breaks of approx. 1 minute or so. So if we need to concentrate on something for more than 40 minutes we should experience stress, because this will be contra to our biological systems (the whole discussion of 40 min-s may not regarded as my speculation; it's the scientifically proven fact by doctors)

The best way to prepare for GRE test can be increasing one's attention span and getting ready for rebuilding the lost concentration in exam. This should help, in my opinion.

I just retook the exam yesterday. My second time, got an approximate score(at end of exam) 152/V 159 Q. This is worse than my score last year and I'm EXTREMELY furious. I am a math major now and haven't taken advanced math courses for 5 years and now I'm back in my groove. But the GRE's wording, 35 minute timer of the exam is extremely pathetic. The verbose quality of their questions is unnecessary. This exam doesn't cover calculus or college math and yet it stumbles us or me. I either need private tutoring on this exam or need to totally revamp my studying habits for it.

Also, there were questions on standard deviation that I completely forgot how to solve. These sd questions were not in any kaplan, princeton review, barrons book I bought in 2011. And the questions in these books are MUCH easier than the real exam. If anyone could throw me a huge doggybone and suggest ways to get at least a 165 on the Q, we'd appreciate it!

[pemdas]

Hey don't be that dismayed with your performance on GRE. Get hold of 8 math series strategic guides for MGMAT math and study them for 20 days (I can help here with books, send pm), review the chapters and solve chapter end problems there, appox. 15 after each unit. Next, download nova's math gre bible and all questions from there, again by refreshing theory with the book examples; solve all questions from nova This will take another 10-15 days. Buy one of MGRE's kindle editions (8-9 bucks) and have access to 5 tests simulating a real exam. Take practice tests and score at least 165.

I am the math minor with econ major ugrad. and have master's too. Yet on exam day I lost my vigor (been sleep-deprived due to long distance traveling from my country to another place - goddamned ETS doesn't conduct CBT exams in my country) and surrendered last three questions in the third math section (one was experimental and that doesn't help either). At the test center, I had experienced a power outage during my last math section with all kind of destructive effects, somehow managed to jump 160. So you can do this.

I will be retaking my exam in October at the different test center. Good luck with your studies, and I hope you will score in the 99th percentile on math section of GRE.