Roberto Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 My GRE Score: Verbal: 500; Quantitative: 800; Analytical Writing: 4.0 :( My Other backgrounds are OK. GPA: 3.99; Econ GPA: 3.94; Math GPA: 4.0; Recommendation: Very famous economists(Not very very famous); Should I apply to top 10 schools? How about top 20s? Would the GRE score greatly decrease my admission probabilities? THX... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeves0923 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 No worries. You are fine. Look at Profiles and Results 2008 and Profiles and Results 2007. Plenty of people with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathMathMath Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I think your scores are good. Without info beyond the #s, I can't say for sure whether you'd get in, but if the rest of your profile is solid, you should be a competitive applicant. But since it is so competitive, I would recommend adding some safety schools outside of the top 20 (assuming you would still want to do a PhD if you don't get into the top 20). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C152dude Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Your econ gpa seems a bit low. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakz Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Your econ gpa seems a bit low. Yeah 3.94 might only get you into top 8 vs. top 5. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C152dude Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Also, having the very famous versus very very famous recommendation will also cost you a spot or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungEconomist Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 GRE looks good to me. Don't let that score determine where you apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakz Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Also, having the very famous versus very very famous recommendation will also cost you a spot or two. Not famous enough. Good luck at top 30! No seriously OP, please apply everywhere you want to. You have a great profile, so take a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 Thanks for your reply! The percentile for my writing is only 37%. Is that usual> Does that mean 37% of the test takers got lower scores than me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeves0923 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 That's right, but you have to remember there are only a small number of possible scores that could mean a wide range of things. You see the explanations and they give the same explanation for 4.5-5.5... there is only so much an adcom can learn from that in my opinion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 You mean the information provided by the "percentile" is so limited and the adcoms don't really weight it much? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeves0923 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 yes that is what i mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakz Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Caveat: I've had adcoms for top 15 schools mention retaking the GRE if I had >550 verbal and >4.0 analytical. I've also had adcoms tell me ">550 verbal and/or >4.0 analytical is fine." In my limited experience, adcoms vary greatly on how they interpret verbal/argumentative scores. Some care much more than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted November 26, 2008 Author Share Posted November 26, 2008 Oh, I feel so depressed...:eek: seems like my long-lasting dream will be broken by the GRE score. :crazy: I am actually a non-native speaker. I got my undergraduate degree in the US. Would I be judged by a lower verbal standard? I took a couple of writing and speaking course. I got A or A+ for all of them. Would this help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakz Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yeah--I'd assume if adcoms care about lit scores, they'd care about lit grades. Also, if you speak the way you write, you probably have nothing to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asianeconomist Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Oh, I feel so depressed...:eek: seems like my long-lasting dream will be broken by the GRE score. :crazy: I am actually a non-native speaker. I got my undergraduate degree in the US. Would I be judged by a lower verbal standard? I took a couple of writing and speaking course. I got A or A+ for all of them. Would this help? Please, please. Someone draw Olm's attention to this. To OP: Don't worry at all. Your GRE AWA should not deny you a Top 10 or even 5 admission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chebert999 Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Actually, my point of view on this is that very famous or famous is not that important. It is what they say about you that is important. I got in at LSE (not top 10 but top 12...LOL), and I did not have any famous references. But their letter was very powerful and it helped me a lot...more than a famous letter. So be careful to what the "famous" economist says in your letter. If he says: "he is a good student...bla bla bla", this is worthless. He has to give a really powerful impression of you to the committee. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econ-07 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 No problem with the GRE score. Most places only care about the Q part of it anyway (except maybe Stanford GSB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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