LOW GRE SCORES? STRENGTHENING APPLICATION.

[Ifeadi]

I recently sat for the GRE. My scores: q- 155 v-152. These scores I believe are low and intend sitting for the GRE again in March. I completed my TOEFL as well - scored 105.

 

Before I retake the GRE again in March, I intend applying to schools with my current scores. I would appreciate if you could objectively evaluate my position:

 

GRE: q- 155 v-152

TOEFL: 105

GPA: 3.3/4

Working Experience: 5 years (Telecommunications Engineering)

Honors: Nigeria Govt. Award for Excellence 2002

Publications: Nil

 

Universities I intend applying to: University of Texas Austin (ECE), Pennsylvania State University (ECE), Ohio State University and Cornell (ECE)

 

Do you have any suggestions? Do I retake the tests without applying to these school or are there ways I could strengthen my application? Do note that I would need funding from these universities.

 

 

[Usmivka]

You might find useful. There are a few older ones as well if you look back over the last month in the archives.

 

I feel like I'm always harping the same point, so I hope others will chime in with different advice, but I think the GREs are the least important part of successful application. Sure, if you didn't study or were sick or whatever, take it a second time with all necessary prep. And in this case, if you apply to schools with the old score there is really no reason to focus on it (unless you want to save the application fees and there really were some extenuating circumstances that impacted your test).

 

Much more important is to work on publishing, or at least submitting, a manuscript in your field to show you are an effective researcher and science communicator--these are the skills generally important for grad school. Although, again, others who understand the ins and outs of academia for engineers may have more useful advice--engineering PhDs, probably focus on those publications, but for a ME, I think job experience is the real important thing, and you seem to have that covered.

 

Finally, those don't seem like bad GRE scores to me, but what you should really post is the percentiles if you want informed feedback. The same score can mean really different things depending on your test date.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Usmivka

[33andathirdRPM]

As I understand it, for quantitative field applications, the GRE Quantitative score is used less as a method of being admitted to a program as it is used to reduce the candidacy pool. From what I have seen, you would want to make sure that your score is at, or near, what would have been 800Q with the old GRE scoring method.

[uromastyx]

Based on the numbers (which is only part of the picture) you will want to boost those GRE scores. The Quant is quite low. I'm not in a STEM field, but given your schools I would imagine you'll want to be at least in the 80th percentile to get a decent look at your application. Study hard. You have some time. Best of luck on the retake!

[CP3]

My GRE score was pretty low, I took it in October, after that all of the available dates were taken, so there was no chance of a re-take, I'm just hoping that it won't really matter in my application. It seems like it all depends on your major and the school you are applying to, most say that it doesn't matter too much MOST of the time, GOOD LUCK with everything!

[iowaguy]

What city did you take the GRE in that all the available dates were taken post-October???  That certainly wasn't the case in my part of the country.  I had 5 different testing centers within 1.5 hours to choose from (most had open dates, though some were inconvenient), and this is the rural Midwest...  Would think even more opportunities in most metro areas...