Accepted PHD Students and GRE

[Rigid_Designator]

Hi,

Just curious, can anyone share with me, for those of you who have been accepted to a PHD program, what your GRE score/percentile ranking was? I realize this is a sensitive topic for many of us so only reply if you're okay with it. I am trying to figure out whether my scores will destroy me or what types of scores DO still get accepted even if they aren't high, for example.

[St0chastic]

Almost all APA accredited PhD programs will post average and median GRE scores for their clinical students.  Some schools will even post these stats for all of their program areas:

Berkeley: http://psychology.berkeley.edu/students/graduate-program/faq-gpa-gre-toefl

Michigan: https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/prospective-students/graduate/program-statistics.html

You might also want to check out this list which Magoosh has compiled:  http://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-scores-for-top-universities/

My impression is that ideally, you want to score >160 verbal, >155 quantitative, and >4.0 analytical writing to be competitive.  Of course, at the most competitive programs you will want to score even more highly.  If there are other aspects of your application that are stellar, you might be able to get away with a slightly lower score.  In my case, I believe that my GRE scores were instrumental in getting me interviews, but I wouldn't worry about your score too much if your overall application is strong.  High GPA, outstanding letters of rec, and ample research experience can make up for a middle-of-the-road score.  

[PinkFreud22]

Verbal: 164/94th percentile

Quantitative: 160/78th percentile

Analytical Writing: 4.5/80th percentile 

Two acceptances and several other interviews. 

Hope that helps and good luck! 

[clinicalapplicant]

I don't remember the exact raw scores, but my percentile was as follows:

Verbal: 81st

Quantitative: 18th

Analytical Writing: 93rd 

I'm sure people are questioning how I was let in, but I do have a lot of research experience, a related Master's degree, and I was a great fit for where the POI wanted the research in the lab to go. Also, my GRE has not once predicted how well I would do in Statistics. I received an A+ last semester in the course, and while at times it was difficult, I managed to pull through. I learned a lot, and no one should feel that an irrelevant score on a ridiculous exam truly captures the student you are. 

Edited February 5, 2016 by clinicalapplicant

[Applicant 1746]

Verbal: 162 (93rd), Quant: 155 (60th), Writing: 5.5 (98th)

My programs haven't extended offers yet, but I've gotten 6 interviews. As others have said, GRE scores around your schools' averages are good to shoot for, and they probably help a lot in shortlisting you/getting you interviews, but from that point on I think committees start to emphasize fit, research experience, etc. over scores. Do I wish I'd scored higher on quant/do I think doing so might have landed me another interview or 2? Probably. Do I think my eventual admission outcomes would look radically different if I had a higher quant score? Nah, probably not.

[Love3]

Verbal: 148 (32nd)

Quantitative: 152 (48th)

Writing: 4.0 (56th)

I am horrible standardized test taker but I'm an excellent student. I was nervous about applying to PhD programs but I went for it anyway because I have a lot of hands-on experience and research experience. I also recieved excellent letters of recommendations and was told my statement of purpose was really good. I don't know how bad you did but I would just make sure (1) the scores are above the cut-off because even if the rest of your application is great, they will not look at it. (2) the rest of your application is amazing. The program may look past your scores if they can see that you have potential from all of your experiences and recommendations. (3) It also depends on the type of PhD program you are applying to. Some are more competitive than others. 

I performed horribly on the GREs. I applied to 9 schools. I received 6 interviews and 2 acceptances so far. 

 

 

 

[lewin]

These scores are on the old scale but here's my anec-data:

Verbal: 690, 97th

Quant: 740, 80th

Writing: 6.0, 97th

Psych: 810, 99th

Applied to 11, interviews at 5, accepted at 4.

[jlh26]

I think applying is such a crapshoot. Some posters on this thread didn't do great on the GRE and still got offers. I am sure there are people out there with great scores who didn't get offers.

 

For me, I had research experience, great letters of recommendation, a 4.0 GPA, and a well-written SOP. My verbal GRE score was not bad but my quant score was dreadful. I'm too embarrassed to say how bad it was (in hindsight I should have taken a refresher math course). Still, I can do stats (got an A and did fine with stats in my labs) but geometry? No way.

I applied to several social programs (only one long shot school) and I received 0 offers or interviews. 

I don't think I will do another application cycle but if I did I would certainly do whatever I needed to do decently on the GRE. Then I would at least not be wondering if that damn quant score is what kept me out.

Edited February 5, 2016 by jlh26

[guest2130]

6 hours ago, jlh26 said:

I think applying is such a crapshoot. Some posters on this thread didn't do great on the GRE and still got offers. I am sure there are people out there with great scores who didn't get offers.

 

For me, I had research experience, great letters of recommendation, a 4.0 GPA, and a well-written SOP. My verbal GRE score was not bad but my quant score was dreadful. I'm too embarrassed to say how bad it was (in hindsight I should have taken a refresher math course). Still, I can do stats (got an A and did fine with stats in my labs) but geometry? No way.

I applied to several social programs (only one long shot school) and I received 0 offers or interviews. 

I don't think I will do another application cycle but if I did I would certainly do whatever I needed to do decently on the GRE. Then I would at least not be wondering if that damn quant score is what kept me out.

I agree, While the GRE does carry some weight, it is different for every school as well. There are some universities that have hard cutoffs, and others that are more lenient and look at the GRE scores secondary to the whole application. 

Like @jlh26 said, it really is a crapshoot. There are people that get rejected from "safety schools" and admitted into their number one, and others that have perfect stats that get rejected everywhere.

My own scores were very medicocre (except for AWA which I got 80%) so hopefully one of the schools I applied to will look past them (especially quant).

 

[vislabgirlx]

I've received 1 official offer so far, 1 unofficial offer, and 3 more interviews. 

Quant: 75th 

Verbal: 93rd

AW: 80th

The most important thing to note is the type of program you are applying to. You can get away with a lower quant score in some fields (such as school or social psychology) so long as it is above the cutoff. For other types of programs (like cognitive neuroscience, where the research might have a heavy computational aspect) your quant score would be more important. Regardless of the type of psych program, a high verbal and AW score are important. 

I applied to computational labs where math is important, but I have a really strong quantitative background (I've taken a ton of stats, as well as linear algebra and other courses from my school's math department) so my 75th percentile score wasn't viewed so harshly. I just suck at taking standardized tests. 

 

[Gvh]

My schools have also yet to extend offers, but I applied to 8 programs and got 2 interviews applying to cognitive programs with emphasis on computation and neuroimaging. However I will note the caveat that POIs from 2 other schools noted my strong candidacy but weren't permitted to interview me due to limited funding for international students :/ Overall I've got the impression that international applicants have a harder time. But I also agree with others that it definitely depends on i) the program ii) the field's emphasis. On a secondary note, I received an interview last year to an Ivy with a 48th percentile Q score. 

Anec-data for this cycle as follows;

Quant: 78th

Verbal: 85th

AW: 80th

Edited February 5, 2016 by Gvh

[FeelTheBern]

Although my SO has not been accepted yet, he received interview invites to his top three programs with a less than stellar quant. score (32nd). This whole process has the "right place at the right time" or "right program at the right time" vibe about it.

11 hours ago, jlh26 said:

I don't think I will do another application cycle but if I did I would certainly do whatever I needed to do decently on the GRE. Then I would at least not be wondering if that damn quant score is what kept me out.

These application cycles are brutal, and although I would never encourage someone to give up on their dream, I completely understand where you are coming from. I know that my SO and I were (jokingly, but not really) planning out our Plan B, which included moving to the Netherlands and never looking back, and definitely not going thru another application cycle. Anyways, if this is something you really want, keep trying because it is possible to get in somewhere (or at least get an interview somewhere), with a low quant. score. I wish you the best of luck wherever life takes you

[Rigid_Designator]

Thanks everyone! These responses are helpful. My verbal is at the 87th percentile and my quant only the 42nd. I was wondering if perhaps the quant score is harming me...but I have also talked to others who got interviews at the same places I applied to with lower GRE scores than me. So perhaps a lot of it comes down to factors you cannot necessarily predict despite having a good application...

[jlh26]

6 hours ago, FeelTheBern said:

Although my SO has not been accepted yet, he received interview invites to his top three programs with a less than stellar quant. score (32nd). This whole process has the "right place at the right time" or "right program at the right time" vibe about it.

These application cycles are brutal, and although I would never encourage someone to give up on their dream, I completely understand where you are coming from. I know that my SO and I were (jokingly, but not really) planning out our Plan B, which included moving to the Netherlands and never looking back, and definitely not going thru another application cycle. Anyways, if this is something you really want, keep trying because it is possible to get in somewhere (or at least get an interview somewhere), with a low quant. score. I wish you the best of luck wherever life takes you

Thank you for the encouragement! I wish you the best too.

I definitely love psych but I am looking into options that might be related to the field but will take less time than a PhD. The reason is that I am 33-- I quit my full-time job a year ago to make this career change. Although I don't regret it, a year means quite a bit to me since the early 30s are prime career building years. I'm just not sure I want to keep applying (and then end up getting my PhD in my 40s). So there are lots of things to consider but I am not giving up on finding something psych-related that I will enjoy.

[The_Old_Wise_One]

Quantitative: 164 (88%)

Verbal: 161 (87%) 

AW: 4 (54%)

Psychology GRE: 740 (88%)

 

So far, I have been accepted to one clinical psych program and have yet to hear from others. 

[transfatfree]

On 2/5/2016 at 0:09 AM, Gvh said:

My schools have also yet to extend offers, but I applied to 8 programs and got 2 interviews applying to cognitive programs with emphasis on computation and neuroimaging. However I will note the caveat that POIs from 2 other schools noted my strong candidacy but weren't permitted to interview me due to limited funding for international students :/ Overall I've got the impression that international applicants have a harder time. But I also agree with others that it definitely depends on i) the program ii) the field's emphasis. On a secondary note, I received an interview last year to an Ivy with a 48th percentile Q score. 

Anec-data for this cycle as follows;

Quant: 78th

Verbal: 85th

AW: 80th

I've heard that international students may be put at a disadvantage when it comes to public schools because of funding, but the two POIs you mentioned are both from private schools. This makes me wonder how funding is allocated within a department, and what hidden difficulties there are for international students to be accepted...

[Gvh]

@transfatfree For what it's worth, the two POIs I was speaking about were from public schools not mentioned in my signature (I am only acknowledging official rejections in my signature), due to the funding issues as you mentioned. However I have also heard anecdotally that even programs in private institutions may give international applicants a harder time because they are not eligible to apply for a slew of federally-based grants as graduate students (e.g. NSF) meaning we would need to be supported either from our own country, or (more feasibly) the department or PI's grant for the entire duration of their PhD. Undoubtedly this depends on the funding mechanisms of that school, but I could understand why a PI would see us less favorably. It just sucks

Edited February 7, 2016 by Gvh

[transfatfree]

@Gvh Thanks a lot for clarifying. That makes perfect sense then. I wish I knew how bad it really is before I applied. To make things worse, from what I heard from my professor, international students are not allowed/preferred to have their clinical psychology internship in VA hospitals. I guess all these hurdles make things so hard for international students to compete when a lot of local students have credentials that are just as good without the language and/or cultural barriers. 

[daisy_may]

I was accepted to a funded PsyD program that is highly competitive so its similar to a PhD... My scores were 154 Q & 156 V. 5.0 writing

[blubed]

I applied to 17, 6 interviews (2 left), 1 official acceptance.

Quant GRE was 32nd percentile

Verbal GRE was 71st percentile

Writing was 54th percentile.

*shrug* If a school can't see past my GRE, then good riddance.

[homonculus]

Just now, LabyrinthianMind said:

It really depends on the school, and I guess the country too. I think the US is a little more extreme with the GREs than Canadian schools. However, in terms of Canada, I know UBC is super hard-core with the GREs, so if you don't meet a certain cutoff, they won't even look at the rest of your application. But a lot of other schools are starting to veer away from using GRE cutoffs. I know a particular clinical psych professor who ran his own study on the correlation between GRE quant scores and success in stats courses (in the clinical psych program) and, not surprisingly, found zero correlation. In fact, those who performed the best on the GRE quant were at the bottom of the class in stats, and those who performed poorly on the the GRE quant were at the top of the class in stats. Another clinical psychology professor told me that the AW scores are pretty meaningless, as they're so subjective (an actual person is scoring them), so those scores are often not considered too strongly because they're open to interpretation. 

I think if you have a solid application package your GRE scores won't harm you too much (i.e., there's a good chance that other aspects of your application will outweigh the low GRE scores), but if the other components of your application are not incredibly strong, then poor GRE scores will definitely not help your case and you will likely be overlooked.

I did not do well on the quant section of the GRE (I scored lower than you), but I have a strong application otherwise. I've had two interviews so far, one acceptance, and no rejections. So I think you're right, a lot of it does come down to other factors you cannot predict or control (despite having an excellent application). 

UBC was the only place that ever brought up my AW score. My POI contacted a letter writer to ask if my "low" AW score was representative of my writing (I got a 4, or 56th percentile). On practice tests, I fluctuated between 4 and 4.5, which I consider ridiculous because there is no middle ground between 56th and 80th percentiles. 

[homonculus]

Just now, LabyrinthianMind said:

I'm not surprised! UBC loves the GREs. And you don't need to convince me of the ridiculousness of the GREs, I think they're absurd and truly only test how good of a standardized tester you are. I don't think they reflect how one would fair in grad school, at all.

Yeah, I did well on the other two sections, so I think the GRE has benefited me. I feel I'm a pretty good writer, and my UG professors have told me so, but I didn't do well on AW. I know a lot of people who are competent at math, yet get really low scores on the quant section. This showed me a glimpse of how those people feel about being judged by their scores.  

[aqueousmelodies]

So far I have been accepted at 2 Ph.D. programs, had in-person interviews at 3 other schools (2 of them will be extending offers next week), waitlisted at 3 other schools, and one rejection. No update on 4 applications.

 

My scores were 

157 Verbal (74%)

158 Quant (71%)

4.0 AW (56%)

 

I am applying with my Master's, a thesis and 4 first-author conference presentations, so I think that may have helped.

Edited February 20, 2016 by aqueousmelodies

[Phiner. Determination]

On 2/4/2016 at 11:36 AM, Rigid_Designator said:

Hi,

Just curious, can anyone share with me, for those of you who have been accepted to a PHD program, what your GRE score/percentile ranking was? I realize this is a sensitive topic for many of us so only reply if you're okay with it. I am trying to figure out whether my scores will destroy me or what types of scores DO still get accepted even if they aren't high, for example.

It really depends on what the program is looking for in applicants. My scores were atrocious ( All below the 50th percentile. Was in a abusive three cycle relationship with the GRE.), yet I received offers from three R1 universities. I believe my research, GPA, professional activities,  interviews, and LORs made a HUGE difference. I also went for a Masters after my BS.  Best of luck! 

Edited February 25, 2016 by Phiner. Determination

[IOnknow]

I applied to 2 I/O programs with V 157 (74th) Q 150 (40th) AW 4.5 (80th) and got interviews at both. Accepted by one so far. However, I do have a lot of research experience and am currently in a masters program GPA 4.0