Will my GRE scores (Q: 700, V: 720) get me into a good physics grad program?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Someone1987
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Gre
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
5 replies · 3K views
Someone1987
Messages
70
Reaction score
0
I just took my general GRE today.
Q: 700
V: 720

How are these scores for getting into a good graduate school program in physics. I am a little embarrassed about my 700 on the quantitative. I am a slow test taker and ran out of time.

I have a high GPA (currently a 4.00) and research experience. Will this be enough to get into a good graduate school such as Univeristy of Wisconsin: Madison and Univeristy of Maryland?
 
Physics news on Phys.org

Discussion

Physics grad schools tend not to put any serious weight on your general GRE score. In fact when I was looking at grad schools, a couple even said point blank on their website that they don't even look at the score. It's the subject test score they care about. But to answer your question, my friends from undergrad who got a 4.0 and had research experience (who also happened to have good physics GRE scores) got into good grad schools. One even went to Maryland. So I guess it would be enough to get into a good graduate program like the one's your thinking about.
 
good rec letters will get the job done
 
These should be fine, some schools don't even bother looking at them. Your verbal and writing might be looked at, but your verbal is really good. It's the Physics GRE you need to worry about. Also, try to get good rec letters and a good statement. But if you do well on the physics GRE and have good rec letters, you should be fine. You should definitely be able to get in somewhere with your background as given.
 
I'd heard from my old advisor in aerospace engineering that the admission committees started to get a little bit worried when the quantitative score went below 750. Since you scored 700, I'm guessing the admissions committee might take a little bit of notice, but they wouldn't reject you just for that one statistic. If your PGRE is also low, then you might want to retake the GRE and try to get a higher quantitative so that you can offset that.

On the other hand, your verbal score is extremely good, so that will leave a very good impression. Also, sometimes schools just look at the combined verbal + quantitative score, which in your case is 1420, an excellent number.
 
Thank you for replying. You have helped to make me feel better. This test certainly isn't reflective of my mathematical ability. I am just not good at taking tests very quickly. I hope to do much better on the physics GRE. I think the fact that it's paper based will help too. I have looked at a practice PGRE exam and found that I tended to be doing quite well on it.

I really have no desire to retake the general test as I don't want to risk screwing up again and making me look worse. Since you guys have stated that my scores shouldn't automatically disqualify me, I believe my best course of action should be to focus on and nail the PGRE. Thanks again.