Apply to US Schools with a PGRE Score of 830?

[h0dgey84bc]

Hi,

So the PGRE scores are finally in, I didn't do as well as I might of hoped (830, 79th percentile) , as I'm an international student (UK) and want to do a PhD in HEP Theory, so I was aiming for 900+ for the best schools, I guess.

I'm not really sure what to do now, I have a few UK schools I've applied for anyway so there's always that to fall back on, but I'm wondering after all this effort if I should still apply to some US places? My profile basically is: UK (4 year, undergrad taught) Master's degree, top few in year (so quite high GPA when converted) w/ publication. General GRE scores were 780 Q, 570 V, 5.5 Writing. PGRE 830.

So I'm obviously not getting into Harvard/Princeton/MIT/Caltech/Stanford/Berkeley, is there anywhere that will take me with HEP theory be so uber competitive and being international?

Any advice most appreciated.

 

[tmc]

What's your research experience like?

 

[h0dgey84bc]

Research experience consists of my fourth year masters project from which the paper was published in JHEP (was HEP-phenomenology related to LHC detection channel though, not 100% theoretical)