PGRE is a must for international students for Canada?

[physicsfreak88]

I've recently completed a four year honours undergraduate degree (Mphys-astrophysics) at university of Hertfordshire, UK with 2:1 classification. And I'm planning to apply for MSc/PHD in HEP at a Canadian university. I was wondering if Canadian universities are 'too strict' on PGRE scores? (I'dont have time to take it before the deadline). However, I'm planning to take general GRE test in couple of months. What are your opinions on this issue?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Vanadium 50]

1. If they say it's required, it's required.
1B. If they say it's required, and we say "don't worry about it", and they turn you down, don't expect much sympathy from the line, "Well you said it was required - but some guys on the internet said not to worry about it!"

2. Often the department doesn't even see applications that are incomplete. If the school requires it, no PGRE = incomplete.

3. You have poor grades from a low-ranked university, and you want to go to a top ranked school and study one of the most competitive physics branches. You need to take the PGRE, and you need to smoke the PGRE.

 

[physicsfreak88]

1. If they say it's required, it's required.
1B. If they say it's required, and we say "don't worry about it", and they turn you down, don't expect much sympathy from the line, "Well you said it was required - but some guys on the internet said not to worry about it!"GRE.

Thanks for the reply. Well, they don't say it's required but recommened. Often because they want to see if we have covered enough physics at our undergraduate level. According to the course structures between two countries, however, I've almost taken all of their relavant undergrad courses plus some grad courses as well.

 

[Choppy]

Some "between the lines" interpretation may be helpful here.

Often in Canada, the GRE is only recommended as opposed to required, because there isn't a lot of variability in the quality of programs and grade "inflation" in Canadian physics programs. That's not to say there isn't any difference, but there's not enough that a GRE is considered mandatory. The reputation of the individual school is often assessed by the committee members. With international applicants, the situation can be different because the people on the admissions committee won't have the same degree of background knowledge about the applicants' schools. So they may not necessarily say that a GRE is required, but that's because they may often have applicants from specific international schools that they are familiar with. At my school the GRE is required for international applicants. Where I was a graduate student, it was "recommended" but all that international applicants I knew had done in. (Both of these schools are Canadian.)

When you contact the schools that you're interested in (you are doing this - right?) this would be a good question for them.