I've been lurking on this board for the past year or so and I just wanted to give hope to those who did not do so well on the GRE Computer Science Subject Test.
I took the test in December. I am not your average test taker in that I am 30, have been out of college for almost 6 years, and hold a Masters in Electrical Engineering. I want to go into computer science because I have been working in AI for a while now. The transition from what I now do (mainly software engineering with computer engineering) to computer science (more theory than applied engineering) showed immensely on my subject test. I scored in the 41st percentile.
But last week I received acceptance into UIUC for a computer science PhD. With financial assistance.
I assume the reason being is that while I did miserably on the test, my other merits more than made up for it. I have close to 20 papers, my undergrad was from a US State University not known for great research, my undergrad GPA was above 3.9, my master's GPA (from the same college) was above a 3.9. I have conducted research since I was an undergrad, I taught labs when I was a graduate student. I compiled 5 letters of recommendation consisting of past faculty, current supervisors, and one from NASA which is where I do contracted research.
Listening to this board had me really bummed out. I watch as people on here talk about the 75th percentile and are upset about their chances. I think this board is serving to convince everyone on here that any performance below the upper 20% on the test is an indication of potential failure when applying to college.
So when I got a letter of acceptance from a school ranked 5th overall in computer science, with financial assistance, I was a little taken aback. I had assumed my chances were gone with that subject test score. I was pretty much devastated when I learned of the score. And who knows, I applied to eight schools in total, including CMU, Cornell, UIUC, UPenn, and Yale and UIUC may be the only one that accepts me. But now I'm starting to take another perspective, one that is much needed after lurking on this board, and one I want to impart to anyone who may think that a score below the 80th percentile spells d-o-o-m.
No matter how you may feel after reading this board, your subject test score is not the only thing these schools consider when they review your application. If you think you did badly, as long as you have other strong merits, good schools will still accept you. Your life is not over if you get in the 70s, or even if you get in the 60s. Heck, it may not be over if you get in the 40s, I'm a prime example.
So don't look at some of the messages on this board that talk about high scores and figure that this means anything lower will result in your application being ignored during the review process. And don't add to some of the frenzied thought where you think the only way to succeed is to get a 90th percentile on the subject test. This is not true. Good scores can help you but bad scores are not the end. Sometimes it seems like the messages on this board indicate that only the very highest scores on the test can get into grad school. Stop believing that and believe in yourself.
Argon
