UT Tyler Student Receives Perfect Score on GRE

[GRE Pupil]

UT Tyler Student Receives Perfect Score on GRE

January 9, 2006

Stephen Kiepke, Big Sandy senior at The University of Texas at Tyler, received a perfect score of 1600 on the Graduate Record Examination.

“I didn’t really study. I did look online at some practice vocabulary words, but when I saw there were about 100 of them, I just gave up,” said Kiepke, who also made a perfect score of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test during his senior year of high school.

In addition to general reading of science fiction and fantasy novels, Kiepke says he has a good memory and absorbs information easily.

“I didn’t go into the test expecting to do it again, I just did my best,” said Kiepke, who made a 1570 on the practice GRE.

Kiepke is an English major with a minor in classical studies, which includes Greek and Latin literature and languages. He plans to attend graduate school at the University of Oregon, Texas Tech, UT or UT Tyler, pursue his doctorate degree and eventually teach English at the university level.

http://www.uttyler.edu/NEWS/pressrel...6/010906b.html


The kid got a 1600 on his GRE...and applied to those schools?

[Scrawl]

GRE scores do not matter that much, especially in English. The writing sample and LOR are king.

[Serenity]

you don't want 1600....ideal score is ~1500

[GRE Pupil]

Why don't you want a 1600? Will ETS leave a horse's head in your bed?

[GRE_Kickboxer]

No, people will just think you're a nerd. A 1500 makes you look smart but not like a boring bookworm.

Of course, these are just arbitrary interpretations adcoms tend to make.

GRE_Kickboxer

[Scrawl]

Originally Posted by GRE_Kickboxer

No, people will just think you're a nerd. A 1500 makes you look smart but not like a boring bookworm.

Of course, these are just arbitrary interpretations adcoms tend to make.

GRE_Kickboxer

Not exactly. Most schools ranked 10-25+ have a relatively simple screening algorithm, like SCORE = (GRE V+Q)/(constant) + GPA + Letter 'score (0-2)'. If the SCORE is greater than some threshold, then the applicant is shortlisted for review of research experience and SOP.

Top 10 (or 5) admissions is a little more complicated. GREs and GPA are less important, as long as they are above a certain number. However, your LOR, SOP and research experience (especially) are really put under the microscope. Also, your research preference must match very well w/ the PI. In fact, I was told by a professor at a top 5 engineering school that his department rejects "hundreds" of 4.00 students because they either did not have research experience or did not have research goals that matched with the faculties goals.

In short, a 1600 GRE cannot hurt you, but it really doesn't help that much.

[GRE_Kickboxer]

Scrawl:

I know for a fact that some adcoms do look down on perfect scores. For instance, Harvard University once boasted that it did not accept any students into the MBA program with perfect GMAT scores for two years in a row.

The reasoning is simple. Adcoms know, from experience, that certain personality types and thinking styles are correlated with perfect scores. People that get perfect scores on the SAT or GRE tend to be quite introverted, read a lot more, and are often not involved in a lot of extracurricular activites. Even if they have good letters of recommendation, adcoms can remain skeptical.

Again, this is not ALWAYS true. Nonetheless, there are patterns that have been noticed and many IVY league schools do consider this when selecting graduate students.

It's not fair, but it does happen. Make no mistake about that.

[Scrawl]

Originally Posted by GRE_Kickboxer

Scrawl:

I know for a fact that some adcoms do look down on perfect scores. For instance, Harvard University once boasted that it did not accept any students into the MBA program with perfect GMAT scores for two years in a row.

The reasoning is simple. Adcoms know, from experience, that certain personality types and thinking styles are correlated with perfect scores. People that get perfect scores on the SAT or GRE tend to be quite introverted, read a lot more, and are often not involved in a lot of extracurricular activites. Even if they have good letters of recommendation, adcoms can remain skeptical.

Again, this is not ALWAYS true. Nonetheless, there are patterns that have been noticed and many IVY league schools do consider this when selecting graduate students.

It's not fair, but it does happen. Make no mistake about that.

I don't argue this, but I think it is a bit misleading to say that a 1500 is more desirable than a 1600. I don't doubt that many 1600s are rejected, but I do doubt that many are rejected BECAUSE of the 1600. Besides, 1600s are so rare that it is difficult to draw many conclusions.

Perhaps we are looking at it from different perspectives. A Harvard MBA ideal applicant is very different than than Carnegie Mellon ME PhD program's ideal applicant. Many programs want an "introverted bookworm", but I suspect that Ivy MBAs are not among them.

[GRE Pupil]

Scrawl, very interesting insight into the intricacies of the admissions process. Indeed, I have noticed wide disparity in my field among top tier schools and ranks 15-20. Imagine my surprise when schools like Georgetown, Notre Dame, and UVA accept students practically with 1300+ scores and up, yet Yale's scores range from 500(!)-800 in both sections. A very curious falling off.

[Scrawl]

GRE Pupil: yeah, it's a bit counter-intuitive, don't you think? It seems that top 5 admissions is a crap shoot. It must be a case of far too many qualified applicants and too few slots. Oh, well. There's not much we can do about it other than sending in the material and crossing your fingers. Unless, of course, your family can make a million dollar "donation" to the university's endowment .