Will a GRE combined score of under 1000 eliminate me from grad school?

[Planet Ex]

I am just as stressed out about my GRE scores as the next person, but my scores were awful. I had awful scores for my SAT's, and i still managed to get into a few colleges. My question is two fold: will a GRE score of under 1000 hold me back from being accepted to any grad programs (im applying to general psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and biopsychology programs)? Also, do application reviewers even look at the GRE's? I've heard different things from different people. One faculty that i worked for at my undergraduate university told me that they don't even care. He said that they know if they want you, and they don't pay attention to those things. What do you all think?

[liszt85]

I am just as stressed out about my GRE scores as the next person, but my scores were awful. I had awful scores for my SAT's, and i still managed to get into a few colleges. My question is two fold: will a GRE score of under 1000 hold me back from being accepted to any grad programs (im applying to general psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and biopsychology programs)? Also, do application reviewers even look at the GRE's? I've heard different things from different people. One faculty that i worked for at my undergraduate university told me that they don't even care. He said that they know if they want you, and they don't pay attention to those things. What do you all think?

I've heard that GRE scores are looked at when funding decisions are to be made. So it might be a good idea to retake the GRE just to be safe.

[digits2006]

If you are applying to masters programs, it might not be that bad if it isnt a competitive masters programs. Now, if you are applying to a PhD program, that is when it might get you eliminated very quickly. Email the schools you are gonna apply to and ask.

[LadyL]

Some schools, like Columbia, are open about having a cutoff. The average GRE score is 1199 so most cutoffs seem to be in the 1200-1250 range. However, not all schools have a cutoff. Also, if you can contact professors and generate interest in you as a candidate, you may be able to convince them to at least consider your application despite your GREs. However, I would recommend retaking them since it's a logical way to try to improve this weakness in your app.

[Planet Ex]

Some schools, like Columbia, are open about having a cutoff. The average GRE score is 1199 so most cutoffs seem to be in the 1200-1250 range. However, not all schools have a cutoff. Also, if you can contact professors and generate interest in you as a candidate, you may be able to convince them to at least consider your application despite your GREs. However, I would recommend retaking them since it's a logical way to try to improve this weakness in your app.

Thanx people!

[statzman]

Sometimes schools stipulate that applicants should either GPA or GRE score above certain threshold (in my Master's program it was 3.0 or 1000 respectively). So, if your GPA is high, it may offset your low GRE.

[coyabean]

If you are applying to masters programs, it might not be that bad if it isnt a competitive masters programs. Now, if you are applying to a PhD program, that is when it might get you eliminated very quickly. Email the schools you are gonna apply to and ask.

Hey there. I notice you are applying at USF, albeit different disciplines. Just wondering if you have been there personally, have any feedback on their process, etc. I chose them for their social movements focus and because the common market could make it an affordable master's should i not make it into a PhD. But I know little of the school firsthand.

[coyabean]

If you are applying to masters programs, it might not be that bad if it isnt a competitive masters programs. Now, if you are applying to a PhD program, that is when it might get you eliminated very quickly. Email the schools you are gonna apply to and ask.

Hey there. I notice you are applying at USF, albeit different disciplines. Just wondering if you have been there personally, have any feedback on their process, etc. I chose them for their social movements focus and because the common market could make it an affordable master's should i not make it into a PhD. But I know little of the school firsthand.

[digits2006]

Hey there. I notice you are applying at USF, albeit different disciplines. Just wondering if you have been there personally, have any feedback on their process, etc. I chose them for their social movements focus and because the common market could make it an affordable master's should i not make it into a PhD. But I know little of the school firsthand.

I have never been there. I am also applying there for a master if I do not get into any PhD programs. But, they also offer a PhD at USF. So, if I get in I can stay there for my PhD. I am applying there for Criminology.

[highanxiety]

I've heard that GRE scores are looked at when funding decisions are to be made. So it might be a good idea to retake the GRE just to be safe.

I was concerned about this, as well, however, when I asked the Director of Graduate Admissions at Irvine, she said GRE scores had absolutely no bearing on funding.

Not sure if this is specific to Irvine, but I have a suspicion it is true across all programs.

Hope this clears it up.

[liszt85]

I was concerned about this, as well, however, when I asked the Director of Graduate Admissions at Irvine, she said GRE scores had absolutely no bearing on funding.

Not sure if this is specific to Irvine, but I have a suspicion it is true across all programs.

Hope this clears it up.

Depends on the source of the funding. If you're competing for a university wide fellowship, I would believe that standardized scores like the GRE will play some role. If its a departmental funding, they could possibly evaluate you against other applicants without having to look at the GRE but how do you compare apples and oranges (when competing for funding at the university level for instance)? So I'm pretty positive that the GRE score plays some role in funding decisions of certain kinds.

[moralresearcher]

I am just as stressed out about my GRE scores as the next person, but my scores were awful. I had awful scores for my SAT's, and i still managed to get into a few colleges. My question is two fold: will a GRE score of under 1000 hold me back from being accepted to any grad programs (im applying to general psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and biopsychology programs)? Also, do application reviewers even look at the GRE's? I've heard different things from different people. One faculty that i worked for at my undergraduate university told me that they don't even care. He said that they know if they want you, and they don't pay attention to those things. What do you all think?

Short answer: probably (unfortunately).

Long answer: maybe. If (like other posters have said) you can generate some interest in yourself, then someone may fish you out of the reject pile, but that depends on a lot of things, like whether or not someone with higher scores also generated interest in him/herself, whether or not the graduate college automatically rejects people with scores below 1000, if the professor is willing to take someone with scores that low (several aren't, especially at PhD programs. Especially competitive PhD programs). I would say study hard and take it again (but only if you are confident that you will score over 1000--one really low score might look like a fluke, 2 looks like you can't hack it). Also, beef up your research experience and apply to a master's program first, because it is very unlikely (not impossible, but VERY unlikely) that you will get admitted to a PhD program with scores that low.

[PsychGirl1]

Not true. I got into the 4th best ranked graduate program in my field (Criminal Justice) and had a total 690 GRE score. I have a 3.7 GPA in the Masters, which shows the methodology of the GRE test was incorrect in proving my success in the program. I graduated Magna Cum Laude undergrad with a double major, which helped get me accepted into the MA. I am applying to PhD programs and some have told me my GRE score will not automatically hinder me from being accepted. Other program want me to apply as they think I can be an asset. I am a Law Enforcement Officer as well, which helps too. I scored around 10% of the bottom of the barrel. Not trolling here, but a lot of advice about GRE scores on this site is theoretically correct but realistically just not true.

 

I think we all agree that this can happen... but the majority of Psych programs that I know about do have a cut-off. For some programs, it means that faculty members won't even be able to review your file if you fall below the cutoff. For other programs, it means that your professor will just have to defend why they want to interview you if you fall below the cutoff. Cut-off values can range from quite high scores to fairly low scores. Other programs don't use cut-offs at all. Even some MA/MS programs use cut-offs, and I know that for a fact.

 

However, once you get past the cut-off, it's not necessarily used after that. Depending on the program, GRE scores go anywhere from completely irrelevant to just one factor in your application. From my experience, it's not used to determine your base funding, but they would be considered for any sort of additional school-based or program-based scholarship/fellowship.

 

My advice: Try to retake and get the GRE as high as possible. Then apply to a large number of schools (like, larger than the normally-already-very-large number of apps). Hopefully with this, you will hit some schools without cutoffs (or with very low cutoffs) so that your app gets reviewed by a decent number of faculty. I'd also apply to both PhD and MA/MS programs, or schools that have both.

[JungWild&Free]

I would look at the average scores for the schools that you are interested in applying to to see how competitive your score will be.  The stats are usually posted on the graduate school's website.  The fact is, your application will get more consideration with the best combination of factors, the GRE being only one of them.  But if it wasn't considered at all, they wouldn't make you take it.  I know of several instances of a low GRE score keeping someone from being considered, I also know of instances where people were admitted regardless of a low GRE.  Both happen.  The best defense is to improve your score.