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How high should your GRE score be to help you?


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I know many schools don't even require the GRE and the ones that do typically just want you to meet the minimum so they can use it to weed out weaker applicants. Most schools that I've looked at require a minimum of 300 on the new GRE or 1000 on the old version. I did recently find that GW states that a competitive applicant is actually over a 1150 or 310, which is just different from what I've seen at most programs (not shocking though as GW is an excellent PA program).

 

I have heard that if your GRE score is high enough it can count as a plus for your application rather than just something to check off. I was wondering how high your GRE score should be for it to actually help your application. I've called a few schools and haven't gotten very straightforward answers (though maybe because I was posing the question the wrong way, e.g. to counterbalance a lower GPA). I've been searching the forum and all I've found so far is:

 

“Per UTSW adcom: We don't weight the GRE very heavily, If you get more than 1300+ it can help you and if you do very poorly it will hurt you. As long as you are not doing very poorly don't sweat it.”

(http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php/31278-Can-the-GRE-make-it-or-break-it)

 

I believe a 1300 is about a 314 or 315 or so on the new scale. Does anyone have any other information about how high it would have to be to help you? How about percentiles? Thanks in advance!

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I didn't find an answer on that thread so far, but I've asked my question there so hopefully I can get some information! Thanks for suggesting it. When I get it a response I'll post it here in case anyone else has the same question. If anyone's got an answer in the meantime I'd love to hear it!

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when is a good time to take the gre for the 2013-2014 cycle when the app opens April 17th. I want to apply early to a few schools that require it. I'll have my app ready a tad after april 17th, but I don't graduate until May 10th or so. Should i take the gre sometime in late june - is that still considered early - I believe it takes 15-20 days to send it, and you can send it the day of completing the exam.

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I got a 331 on the new GRE, which is a 1530 or so on the old scale. I think it helped me get some interviews last year despite a pretty weak personal statement, but I did not interview terribly well. I was asked how I got a perfect score on the verbal by a not particularly friendly interviewer at Duke and said something goofy like "um, I read a lot." Lots to work on as I go into the new cycle.

 

I would not worry too much about the GRE. Unless it's insanely high or insanely low no one is going to pay a whole lot of attention to it. It's something they use to weed people out.

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I got a 331 on the new GRE, which is a 1530 or so on the old scale. I think it helped me get some interviews last year despite a pretty weak personal statement, but I did not interview terribly well. I was asked how I got a perfect score on the verbal by a not particularly friendly interviewer at Duke and said something goofy like "um, I read a lot." Lots to work on as I go into the new cycle.

 

I would not worry too much about the GRE. Unless it's insanely high or insanely low no one is going to pay a whole lot of attention to it. It's something they use to weed people out.

 

if your applying in a few days and want to submit it early then shouldn't you be taking your gre like now?

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Torshi... Check with the individual programs that you are applying to you about their requirements. CASPA allows you to record the date that you will be taking the GRE in your application. I say submit your application to every school that you are applying to and then send your GRE score to the program after you have taken it.

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Does anyone know how an unbalanced score would affect anything? I am in the process of GRE prep and I know verbal is my weak area, my practice verbal has been around 147 at the highest, which I need about a 300 composite to be competitive. Obviously I am shooting for at least 150 on each, but what if I substantially improved in math, but not verbal and ended up with like 145 and 155 or a bigger difference?

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Thanks laura, PhD-Pa, and UCS-PA for your responses! It's looking to me like while 300 is a pretty standard minimum, 310+ is competitive, and 320/1300ish and up look good and can possibly help you. (Obviously, different schools value GRE scores differently and interview invites depend on your whole application.)

 

TarheelGirl - Some schools want at least 50th percentile in each section rather than just 300+ total, so I would check with the schools you're interested in to make sure you hit their minimums at the very least! I'm not sure exactly what that kind of gap would look like to adcoms, but a really low score in either section is probably not ideal.

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Does anyone know how an unbalanced score would affect anything? I am in the process of GRE prep and I know verbal is my weak area, my practice verbal has been around 147 at the highest, which I need about a 300 composite to be competitive. Obviously I am shooting for at least 150 on each, but what if I substantially improved in math, but not verbal and ended up with like 145 and 155 or a bigger difference?

 

I also considered the verbal to be my weaker section, but surprised myself by scoring better on it than I did with the math. I'm not sure how much a larger discrepancy matters, but I wouldn't worry too much about it until you have actually taken then test.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I placed in the 90th percentile and I didn't even get an interview for 4 out of the 6 schools I applied to

My GRE was pretty bad, 302.5 total, and probably was a major reason why I did not get an interview in 3 out of 4 schools I applied. However, the other school wanted 298 cumulative. So, I did get in.

But, majority of the schools do want the 50th percentile or higher, and considering how competitive the application process is it serves as a factor to weed people out. Do not disregard it completely.

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I placed in the 90th percentile and I didn't even get an interview for 4 out of the 6 schools I applied to

My GRE was pretty bad, 302.5 total, and probably was a major reason why I did not get an interview in 3 out of 4 schools I applied. However, the other school wanted 298 cumulative. So, I did get in.

But, majority of the schools do want the 50th percentile or higher, and considering how competitive the application process is it serves as a factor to weed people out. Do not disregard it completely.

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