Does a good General GRE score help at all?

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SUMMARY

A good General GRE score does not significantly enhance an application for graduate programs in physics, particularly in specialized fields like Astrophysics and Cosmology. The consensus among forum participants is that while a low General GRE score may negatively impact an application, a high score does not provide a substantial advantage. The Subject GRE, particularly in Physics, is deemed far more critical for admissions decisions. Additionally, the Verbal GRE score is considered less relevant, as most applicants in the sciences achieve high scores, rendering them less informative.

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Matterwave
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So, I'm applying to graduate school in physics, and my GRE physics score wasn't ideal (not a complete failure, but not ideal), anyways would a good general GRE score help counteract that at all? Or will physics schools only look for good Physics scores and generally not care about the verbal GRE score (I know they do care about the Quant)?

Also, I'm applying to specialize in Astrophysics/cosmology, is that a relatively rare field and will that also help my chances?

I ponder this because I would like to know if I have a high chance of being rejected from the schools I am applying to and would therefore have to take the GRE physics again to apply next year...which means I need to get studying soon >_>
 
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No one really cares about your general GRE score. If it's too low, it might hurt, but a great score really won't really help. The subject GRE is much more important.

P.S. - If anything, I'd say the verbal is more important than the quantitative, if only because virtually everyone going to graduate school in the sciences and engineering has very close to 800... there is no useful information in that score for the majority of applicants.
 
Well, I did pretty well on both so i was hoping it'd help my application a bit heh...
 
TMFKAN64 said:
No one really cares about your general GRE score. If it's too low, it might hurt, but a great score really won't really help. The subject GRE is much more important.

P.S. - If anything, I'd say the verbal is more important than the quantitative, if only because virtually everyone going to graduate school in the sciences and engineering has very close to 800... there is no useful information in that score for the majority of applicants.

Verbal does not matter. I got in with 670, many people from foreign countries get in with much less.
 
Well, guess I better get to studying hehe
 
hamster143 said:
Verbal does not matter. I got in with 670, many people from foreign countries get in with much less.

Doesn't a 670 verbal correspond to a percentile in the 90's?
 

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