Chemistry GRE Scores Should I submit?

[Anthony D'angelo]

Hi Everyone,

So I am a student with a Masters in Chemical Engineering and I am interested in a few Chemistry PhD programs. SInce I am switching I figured it would be good to take the GRE CHemistry exam. I ended up getting 650, which I thought was decent but it is only around the 33% percentile which seems really bad.

Although I feel that it still is a decent score since I have never taken Analytical, Inorganic, or Physical chemistry undergrad classes. THe question is do I submit these scores to Chemistry programs??? Do they hurt my chances?? Is it better left unknown to these admission boards what my exact Chemistry IQ is???

Credentials:

3.81 Undergrad GPA

3.68 Masters GPA

Thesis and 1 publication

Research Experience at NASA

[bamafan]

What are your subscores? I'm not sure an adcom will look favorably whether or not you have the UG background; in fact, the will likely expect you to, especially since your a ChemE masters student.

If it's required, you should send it. Otherwise, I wouldn't.

[ntraft]

Since the Subject Test is strictly optional and many schools don't even recommend it, I would leave it out. It would have been nice to help you transition into a slightly different field, but you certainly don't need it to bolster your grades, imo. Given that you have a very good GPA and research experience, I would leave it to the reviewers to decide whether you are smart enough and dedicated enough to make the transition. And I'm assuming you make the case for this in your statement of purpose. Having a very clear focus of why you want that particular degree and what you want to research will probably help more.