So I found a listing of average GRE scores for 20+ universities...

[Cyrone]

http://www.msinus.co...iversities-219/

[1st post ever - just took my first GRE today]

I've been trying to get some intel on average GRE scores (which is incredibly difficult since 90% of the listings use the old format) to gauge my chances. With this list, I am both elated and beaten at the same time - something's really fishy here.

The handful of top/Ivy schools have fairly modest average scores:

MIT: 158 / 159

Stanford: 159 / 158

Duke: 160 / 160

But a bunch of other, public schools have scores that aren't amusing:

Berkeley: 155 / 167

University of Michigan: 160 / 167

Ohio State University: 156 / 165

What's the deal with this discrepancy? Granted some high-end private schools like Rice and Chicago are also at ~165Q but I'm still questioning the accuracy of these. I'm at a 158 / 160 which is okay for my 1st time and studying 2 weeks, but I feel like I have no shot at Berkeley (thankfully most of my targets are abroad and may be more lax). Oh, and nice to meet you guys~ I'm an Environmental Engineer with a passion for international projects. I'll be hangin out here for the next few months and would like to share some tips to get abroad

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[ktwho]

Where did you find this data? I've also seen some data from phds.org for average verbal GRE scores that seemed pretty low--538-578--for the programs I'm applying to.

[midnight]

Where did you find this data? I've also seen some data from phds.org for average verbal GRE scores that seemed pretty low--538-578--for the programs I'm applying to.

I think average verbal scores in the 500s are rather common for many non-humanities programs (of course I can't remember if you're applying to a humanities program or not, so what I'm saying might be moot, haha).

I scored 630v when I took the GRE last year, and that was the 89th percentile, I believe.

Edited October 29, 2012 by midnight streetlight

[ktwho]

Oh, this is in the humanities. Spanish Lit and Linguistics. I was totally shocked and think it's inaccurate.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Well, each program has its own minimum requirements, so the numbers you found were probably just averages of all the programs combined.

[Cyrone]

I provided the link at the top

Regardless of whether they are a "combination", University of Michigan having an average 167Q even across all fields is ridiculous. I guess my main question is where you guys typically go for aggregate scores.

[chaetzli]

I provided the link at the top

Regardless of whether they are a "combination", University of Michigan having an average 167Q even across all fields is ridiculous. I guess my main question is where you guys typically go for aggregate scores.

The information on this page (your link) is BS...

Just compare it with Princeton: http://www.princeton.edu/pub/profile/admission/graduate/

[johnnyboy]

I agree there's something fishy there. Aero at MIT states the average GRE score is 165 , I guess it should be similar for other departments.

[Cyrone]

Damn, this makes me want to retake it now

I'm guessing for Berkeley it would be around ~165 as well. I'm screwed.

[Talha Omer]

Guys this table with average GRE scores at Stanford. Can give you a ball park figure of what to expect when applying here:

http://www.brightlinkprep.com/average-gre-scores-for-stanford/

Edited January 8, 2014 by Talha Omer

[PeakPerformance]

If accurate, I think these lower than expected averages help illustrate that GRE scores clearly are not as important as most people think and that low scores can easily be overlooked for candidates who show themselves to be exceptional in other ways (e.g., publications, conferences, awards, brilliant writing samples).

[hweiruling]

Congratulations on your first ever test. I'm also quite nervous right now as I am reviewing for GMAT. What was the most difficult part of the test? I'm just curios so I can also benchmark the difficulty of the GMAT. Could you give us some tips on your first test? I can see that there are really discrepancies in the GRE scores of 20 universities. There must be some sort of errors in checking or other possible errors which could be attributed to the discrepancies. You just have to choose the school that you really like. Good luck to those who are still planning to take the test may it be GRE or GMAT.

[GeoDUDE!]

Some programs have average GREs in like the low 150s high 140s.... look at SLP and MSW profiles here. If it is a mean across all graduate schools at the university, surely the fields where people do not score high on the GRE will lower the average.

 

Its also important to note that GRE tends to be over emphasised by an applicant: once you get to a certain score the rest of your application will weigh higher in determining your acceptance.