Okay GPA and GRE. Do I have a chance?

[pinay53]

Hey everyone, sorry I feel like everyone is asking this question.  Right now I am in the process of applying to grad schools.  My GPA is a 3.29 which I know isn't very competitive.  My GRE verbal was 153 in the 58th percentile, quantitative is 150 in the 41st percentile, and writing is a 4.5 in the 78th percentile.  I'm also an out of field student, but I've taken some pre-requisite classes.  The schools I'm currently applying to are UNC Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, NC Central University, and maybe Radford University.  Anyways, what I want to know is if I have a chance to get in to any of these places or if someone could recommend me a school not too far from North Carolina that might accept me.

[MadtownJacket]

I applied to UNC and the minimum threshold was 50% for the GRE.  I'm not sure if that was specific to the department or the Grad School, but you might want to look at that and consider taking the GRE again perhaps?

[sayjo]

I'm not applying to any of those schools, but I've heard that UNC Chapel Hill is CRAZY competitive.  I'm not sure if your GPA & GRE will be enough to get you in there.  That said, you're out of field, so you might have some other cool life experiences that will help get your application noticed.  Schools don't look at numbers alone.

[autismadvocate]

You've got a chance, from what I've seen. Although as others have stated, UNC Chapel Hill is unlikely as they are quite competitive and their stats are somewhat more competitive than what you've got - I thought about applying there, too and put together a list of their average scores (in order: GRE Qual, GRE Quant, GRE Writing, GPA, and the percentage of applicants they accept). You're slightly low for GRE Qualitative and Quantitative, and pretty significantly below for the GPA. But assuming the other schools are less competitive than for UNC Chapel Hill, I'd say you probably have a decently good chance for them, and UNC Chapel Hill is still worth applying for.

 

154-157

150-154

4-4.5

3.77

Total Apps:

341

Offers:

44 (13%)

W/ funds:

12 (27%)

[midnight]

I definitely encourage you to apply to Radford and to consider UVA, JMU, and ODU, too. UVA openly states on their site that while they prefer GRE scores to be 150+, they look at the total applicant and don't exclude based on numbers, which is a really nice thing to see during this process (and you meet their minima anyway). Also, their application is straightforward, simple, and not due until February 1, something that I appreciated when I applied last year!

 

Good luck!

Edited January 3, 2014 by midnight