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Gre Scores Required By Schools


italos

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I am starting this new topic since many may ask what are the minimum GRE scores required by Departments.I have contacted some schools and I make public their replies.If you known more with certainty please post here!

 

COLUMBIA:Econ Dep.

"The math section is extremely important. We expect a minimum of 730. Our average score on that section is around 780 (more in some years). The other two sections aren't given as much weight, but we do look at the verbal, especially for international students. We also look approvingly at high analytical writing scores."

 

UCSC

"Our minimum requirements for the GRE is that we like to see strong scores in the quantitative section between 600-700. The verbal and analytical sections are looked at on a case by case basis."

 

PRINCETON

 

"The GRE General Test is required and we do not hold minimum score requirements"

 

ROCHESTER..

"All our statistical information can be found at Admission Statistics, Graduate Program, Economics Department, University of Rochester This information is generalizations of typical scores. We look at the application as a whole, weighing each part equally. These scores should not be considered definitive numbers you must achieve for us to review your application. We will review all applications and look at everything submitted. These numbers give you a general idea of those we have previously accepted."

 

University of Pennsylvania

"The Economics Department rules say you

should have a GRE of above 700 in the Quantitative section to be considered as a serious applicant.

Although most of our applications are above 760. Much weight is put on the math preparation and

how well you done in those classes as well as your recommendation letter and personal statement"

 

NYU.

"Please visit our web site at NYU > A & S > Admissions for information"

 

UC BERKLEY

Explicity stated on the departments website if quantitative score below of 760 test should be retaken

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For all of these schools, you'll probably need an 800 on the quantitative section unless you are heralded as the new Friedman.

 

Here at UVA, in my class, the median GRE quant score was 800

 

Counterexamples from the Profiles and Results posts:

780: Chicago, Rochester, Duke, Maryland, UCLA, U Penn

780: Duke, Rochester

780: U Penn, Northwestern, NYU

780: Maryland, Wisconsin, Duke, Cornell

770: Chicago, Berkeley, Duke

770: Maryland, Michigan

770: JHU, Wisconsin, Cornell

760: UCSB, UVA

760: JHU, UVA

720: UVA, U Washington

 

All of these schools are ranked above UCSC. Most of them are top 20, and a few are even top 10. Chicago and Berkeley are arguably top 5. These are only a handful of the profiles posted up there, but you must remember, that the majority of the profiles posted have a Q GRE of at least 790. I'm not arguing that a high quantitative GRE score doesn't matter; just that I think a 780 is sufficient for most programs. And while UVA may have a median score of 800, UVA accepted an applicant with a 720 Q GRE.

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UCLA: "the Department considers only those with excellent academic records, GRE scores that average in the 80th percentile in verbal, 95 percentile in quantitative, and with a 5.0 in analytical, and those with outstanding letters of recommendation. TOEFL scores must be at least 260" - although they can't mean 95th percentile for quant because an 800 is only 94th :)

 

UCSD: GRE Test Minimum Scores:

  • Verbal Score: 460
  • Quantitative Score: 740
  • Analytical Score: 4.0

UC Davis: "Applicants with GRE verbal scores below the 60th percentile (30th percentile for non-native speakers of English), GRE quantitative below the 70th percentile, or TOEFL scores below 600 (or below 250 if computer based exam or below 68 counting all 4 sections of the iBT exam) will not be considered for admission."

 

Although they add this table of averages,

PercentilesVerbalQuantitativeAnalytical

Writingmedian909067mean838869

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Is a low score on the analytical part a reason to retake?

I never thought this had any importance, but apparently some departments look at it?

e.g. my GRE was q800 v610 analytical4.5

 

Related question: how can you train for verbal and analytical (studying lists of words seems a bit silly), that seems not that obvious. I have never heard that I am not analytical (?).

 

I apologize if this is off topic.

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Is a low score on the analytical part a reason to retake?

I never thought this had any importance, but apparently some departments look at it?

e.g. my GRE was q800 v610 analytical4.5

 

Related question: how can you train for verbal and analytical (studying lists of words seems a bit silly), that seems not that obvious. I have never heard that I am not analytical (?).

 

I apologize if this is off topic.

 

I don't know dude. I wouldn't bother retaking with your scores, because your Q & V are pretty decent and 4.5 isnt disastrous (i'm in a similar position 800/720/4.5 and i certainly shan't bother; I don't want to go to UCLA) but I should think 4.5 might hurt us a little bit at top schools.

 

On studying, in the studyguide I had (GRE for Dummies!) there were a few tips and a list of word endings to memorise for the verbal - I think the tips helped but I was too lazy to memorise the word endings. For the AW I wouldn't know, I think there are sample essays somewhere that show you what to aim at - from what I gather there is a certain style that scores good marks and it's not necessarily that related to good essay writing.

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I don't know whether the exact score matters much once its above the cutoff score, but it is probably the case that 800 is the median score on the quantitative section among the admitted students in the top 15 programs or so.

 

I'll add to the stats links:

 

CU-Boulder: Department of Economics | University of Colorado at Boulder

Iowa: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/phd/Fall07AdmResults.html

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I don't know whether the exact score matters much once its above the cutoff score, but it is probably the case that 800 is the median score on the quantitative section among the admitted students in the top 15 programs or so.

 

I'll add to the stats links:

 

CU-Boulder: Department of Economics | University of Colorado at Boulder

Iowa: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/phd/Fall07AdmResults.html

 

 

I think that CU-Boulder gets better applicants than the department would otherwise merit, b/c of its location. I am aware that they are good with trade, but not everyone going there specializes in trade. Im sure alot of people would love to live in Boulder for their college/graduate school experience. Any thoughts on locational effects? :hmm::)

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On one hand, a good location should be very attractive to students _and_ faculty. On the other hand, I suspect the location effect is not as strong given that so many economics students are coming from abroad. For many of them, this is the first time they come into US and they generally have no idea what to expect from the location of most of American universities.
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Actually, midranked and lower ranked universities seem to have at least as many if not more foreign students as higher ranked departments. It's not uncommon to have 20% or less American students in many of those departments. Some departments, like say probably Rice or USC sometimes have only foreign students on the job market. I don't know what should explain this, but the most common explanation I have heard is that many Americans, specially the good PhD-quality material students, roughly think that applying to those departments is not worth it because they have very good job opportunities as is (e.g. "either I go one of the top-25 departments which will hopefully will pay off very well OR get a good job now OR say go for a professional degree like JD or MBA"). At the same time, it may well be that a student coming from say India or China will afford a lifestyle as a US graduate student comparable to what they could have in the home country with a job, and get an advanced degree while at it.
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I honestly believe that GRE is way OVERRATED. I think the adcoms know that GRE Q does not say how good is someone at Math. I don't know If I already said this but, when I was undergrad , of all my friends, the one who got 760 was actually the best at Math. I don't know how he managed to get 760, but he destroyed the subject test in math and went to a top 5 math Phd. How he got in, letter of recommendation from a Norbert Wiener Prize winner . I think it's the same in economics. If you get 760 or even 740 and Greg Mankiw recommends you and says you are the smartest of all his student he ever had, you will get in all top5 with fellowship for the rest of your life( i'm exaggerating a bit here). But you get the point...
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I agree with africaecon, yet it is hard to imagine that someone who is good ad math would achieve a score less then say 740. (Although probably someone knows of an example).

 

About locational effects, they do exist. Recently I have attended a lecture which gave an overview of the research history of the university I attend and they elaborated on strengths and weaknesses. It was very much stressed that the mere location was a sometimes a disadvantage to attract young researchers.

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I had lunch this week with a guy, who did his PhD in a top 5 school and works currently in another top 5 school as an assistant professor, in order to ask his experiences and advice for applying to graduate schools. His opinion was that schools are not usually that interested in the verbal score for non-native speakers as they know that it is a bad signal for English skills. Therefore, they are more interested in one's success in the actual language test. It might be, however, that he was just being nice to me (my verbal score is 390), and I'm also aware of the fact that the significance of the verbal section, especially for non-native speakers, is something that really divides opinions.
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I don't doubt the professor. Just that I think for those like me who grew up in a country with English as first language and so have had TOEFL waived by most schools(except Duke and a few others), I think I need some moderate verbal score to kill any lingering doubts. But if you have the TOEFL then the verbal score is surely less important for you. I dont want to take the TOEFL in addition to my GRE retake, plenty application fees, time constraints. I'm no native speaker but I've being taught in, read and spoken English since grade 1 so I'm even less willing to take the TOEFL if I can get it waived....also I hate these tests. They seem to occupy the whole alphabet. TOEFL, SAT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, what else?

 

But don't fret too much about your verbal score, at least don't risk your 800Q. The verbal is far less important for anyone. As to its importance for non-native speakers, there can be arguments on either side, as you said. All not strong enough for you to worry too much.

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