Do I need to re-take the GRE? (Biological Sciences Advice)

[sleepyjoey]

Hi,

I have a BA in Psychology from San Diego State University with a meager 3.0 GPA.

 

I am finishing my Masters of Science in Molecular Biology / Immunology from a smaller CSU school, (California State University San Marcos) with a good GPA of 3.95.

 

My GRE score from 2011 (I got into my masters program with) was V 151 / Q 158, and W 4.5. Percentiles are 50%, 71% and 80% respectively.

 

I am trying to get into UCSD or Scripps Research for a PhD program in Molecular Biology or Biomedical Sciences. At this point would my GRE be a serious hindrance to my application and should I try to cram / re-take it for this application period?

 

-Joey

[Vene]

I'd doublecheck to see if you even need to report your old GRE score since you have a masters. The verbal score does seem a bit low to me, but it sounds like you have other strong points. If I was you I'd probably retake it, unless the programs don't require those with a MS to submit scores in which case I wouldn't bother telling them what the score is.

[Monochrome Spring]

Make sure that none of the programs you are applying to have a minimum cutoff for GRE scores.

 

If you are fine for minimums, ask an admissions secretary or potential advisor at the program how much they think they your GRE scores will matter in the admissions process, as it varies with each program. You can use that to gauge if you want to retake it.

 

I personally think that the verbal score is low. If you are going to retake the exam, you could also shoot for 80th percentile on quant. because it looks like you just need to get the harder trick questions if you're already at 70th. I have a blog post on GradCafe explaining how I studied for the GRE that might help -

[aberrant]

My bias opinion is that your quant is a little bit low (below 80%). verbal is acceptable if you are a international student. Then again, that's just based on my limited knowledge at my alma mater and school of interest years ago.

[GeoDUDE!]

I think it really depends on how strong your thesis is: I would still retake the GRE. 320 is a competitive score.

[peachypie]

If you have time yet this fall, I'd plan on re-taking it.  it is a bit on the low side and the last thing you want to do is limit yourself on something you could still change.

[sleepyjoey]

Thank you all for the thoughtful advice. 

I'll begin studying to retake it. I'll end up taking it in Oct so I can have my apps submitted in November. Thank you Macchiato for the GRE resources.

 

I'll start with the Princeton Review Book and once finished I'll go through Magoosh and ETS prep stuff if time warrants. 

 

-Joey

[bsharpe269]

Joey, I also agree with others that retaking it would be a good idea. Your current scores arent horrible so if you dont do better and have to submit those then you may be just fine. Since those are both very competitive programs though, retaking could be helpful. I really recommend magoosh and actually, unlike others, I am more worried about the math score than the verbal. Since you are applying to competitive science programs, I would try to get this score above 160. I highly recommend buying magoosh (if you get it on sale then it is only $100). I basically only used it for the bank of practice questions for both verbal and math and brought my scores up from 157V,161Q to 162V,168Q. I hear that Manhattan is good as well but cannot speak about it personally. I think that the money for one of the these programs is worth it since you get tons of practice questions that are formatted just like ETS questions, with the same litlte calculator and everything. Repeating tons of questions was really helpful since a big part of doing well on the test is just knowing what answer the test makers are looking for. Memorizing vocab does also go a long way. I only memorized 250 words but since the same words show up repeatedly on the test, that was enough to cover most of the important vocab.

[sleepyjoey]

UCSD contacted me (finally) and said their cutoff for biological sciences is 75% in all categories across the board. Definitely re-taking it!

FYI!

[sleepyjoey]

So the Results... 

the ETS power prep practice scores: 160Q and 156V, which was still a bit low, but I ran out of study time before the test.

ACTUAL SCORES:  156Q ,  159V,   5.5A .... 64%,   81%, and 90%+ respectively. 

I bombed one of the quant sections by wasting time on a problem and forcing me to guess some on the back end that hurt my score. I'll let you guys know if I get in anywhere with the low quant score! lol.

 

Thanks,

 

-Joey