<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm curious about my chances on getting into virology/microbiology PhD with low GRE. I am currently a MS student with 3.7 gpa, extensive research, position in a competitive research assistantship (besides my regular research lab), undergrad GPA 3.5 with a year of of research, however my GRE is 1090 (450V, 640Q, 3W). </p>
<p>Any suggestions: should I retake the GRE or use that time to take more courses? Also, with my current scores and gpa, would I be competitive in mid to top level programs? I would love to go to Stanford or Harvard. </p>
<p>Thanks!
Cory</p>
<p>i have a 480V and 790Q with 5 AW, applying this cycle with a 3.80 from an ivy… worked in lab since soph year with industry internship as well… applied to 9 programs in total and only got 2 interviews so far… so i really think my verbal scores hurt me… i think most top programs want it to be at least 500… yale said somewhere on their website “below 500 verbal is detrimental to your app” or something…</p>
<p>Boy, that sure blows! It’s probably too late to retake your GRE for this admissions cycle, in fact, it would be rough going finding programs still taking applications right now. If you’re talking about next year’s application cycle, then yes, absolutely retake that GRE. This is one of those measures that won’t help you but if you score below a certain level, it sends up flags with the graduate school (though probably not the department)</p>
<p>I couldn’t tell you how competitive you are for Harvard’s Micro or Stanford’s Micro. I applied to Harvard’s micro dept a few years ago with 5 publications, conferences, awards, really good GRE scores (both subject and general) and still got rejected. My suspicion is that they probably don’t take people who don’t have a faculty member lobbying for them. Try getting in contact with somebody you might want to work with.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I will be applying for next year’s cycle. I would like to get into the best school as my stats allow me to. I just wasn’t sure if schools would be more impressed with 1-2 more courses or a better GRE score.</p>
<p>probably better GRE scores… i forgot to mention that i am a double major and that didn’t help either</p>