GRE passes minimum requirement, but ain't great... retake?

[rael]

Hello all,

I took the GRE on 10/9 and man, these scores are just not great.

Verbal: 159 (80th percentile)

Quant: 152 (52th percentile)

AW: 3.5 (30th percentile)

On the old scale, it's about a 1260-1270.

I am applying to chem/biomedical sciences PhD programs and I know for a fact my quant score is sub-par. However, my overall score passes the "bare minimum" requirement that most schools seem to have. The highest minium score I've seen is 1200, so I really just passed over that hurdle. But, my score falls about 30-50 points below the average scores of the admitted students at the schools I'm applying to. Should I be worried? The rest of my app should be lookin' good. I have 2 awesome/1decent LORs, GPA of 3.80 and major GPA of 3.87, 1.5+ years of research experience in 2 two labs, 1 presentation at an ACS meeting and 1 abstract accepted by Pittconn, and currently in the works on a paper. I also have worked at my school's physical plant department compiling the school's chemical inventory and MSDSs (selling point: I'm a pro at OSHA standards), and I am a CRLA-certified chemistry tutor.

Do my pros outweigh the cons of a "meh" GRE? I technically have time to take it again but I want to focus my time and energy into studying for the chem GRE on Nov. 12, and my other classes in school. Or should I take the GRE again?

FYI here's some of the schools I'm applying to:

Albert Einstein College of Biomedical Sciences

NYU Sackler

Weill Cornell Grad School of Medical Sciences

Columbia

Sloan-Kettering

Thanks!

[kaykaykay]

If you are in sciences your quant gre seems to be concerning to me. maybe you can ask this in your field's subforum too, but in my experience scores have to pass a minimum separately and not in aggregate in reality. since there are usually a lot of qualified applicants a subpar qre (not even in the same ballpark as the rest) can sink an application.

[iowaguy]

I would retake if I were in your shoes. IMHO you're not going to be very competitive applying to a school like Columbia biochem with a 52% quant...

[hitchhiker]

Although you have great LORs, research experience etc, it's likely that other candidates will have the same. I'd retake if I were you. The quant and AW are pretty low in percentile terms, honestly.

Edited October 23, 2012 by hitchhiker

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

Some schools have higher thresholds. I'd aim for 1300+.

[midnight]

OK, this question isn't wholly directed at you, rael, but I'm confused as to how STEM majors are scoring in the 50th percentile for what's essentially 10th or very low-level 11th grade high school math?

Perhaps to improve your quant score, you should really go over what you think hurt you the most while taking the GRE--was it an entire branch of math like geometry that messed you up, or was it something even simpler like forgetting how to approach radicals or exponents but unfortunately receiving a lot of those questions? Or was it merely a problem with the test format?

I think understanding what went wrong will help you immensely. Surely someone interested in biomed with an impressive chemistry background like yours should be able to perform a lot better on a test like the GRE.

ETA: I highly recommend the Princeton Review 2013 GRE prep book as well as working through The Ultimate Math Refresher.

Good luck!

Edited October 26, 2012 by midnight streetlight

[rockbender]

I agree with the above posters; you should really consider retaking the general test. The rest of your application looks great, but it would be risky to assume that it will make up for the low Q score. Have you contacted any POIs at the schools you are planning to apply to? You could maybe drop your GRE scores and see how they react. If they respond negatively, you should take it as a sign that you absolutely need to retake the GREs.

Perhaps to improve your quant score, you should really go over what you think hurt you the most while taking the GRE--was it an entire branch of math like geometry that messed you up, or was it something even simpler like forgetting how to approach radicals or exponents but unfortunately receiving a lot of those questions? Or was it merely a problem with the test format?

It shouldn't be too hard to raise the Q score. The above advice is great. I would add that the "brute force" approach (doing hundreds of practice problems) is actually very effective for the GREs - the more problems you do beforehand, the less likely you are to be surprised by a weird question on the actual test.