<p>Hello, I took the GRE last week and much to my disappointment I received an 1100 (520 Q, 580 V). I know this will be a significant dent in my application but here are my other stats:</p>
<p>3.67 GPA, 3.96 psychology GPA</p>
<p>honors program and completing honors thesis cognitive neuroscience project</p>
<p>lots of extracurriculars, 6 honors societies, president of psych club and psi chi. i don't even know if any of this matters but it certainly fills up my CV.</p>
<p>a lot of research experience at my school. assisted with about 10 different projects there not including honors thesis. worked in a hospital for a summer doing neuropsych testing on patients. involved in several research projects there and got my name mentioned in a book and co author at 2 presentations.</p>
<p>worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab at an ivy league school. got great fmri experience there (i want to do fmri research) but too early for any presentations</p>
<p>overall, i have about 6 poster presentations, 1 publication in an undergrad journals, lots of lab skills and also i should get great LOR's.</p>
<p>so what do you think my chances are for cognitive neuroscience phd programs? i'm applying to some good programs but only a couple top programs. will my 1100 totally ruin my chances?</p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<p>Except for your GRE scores, your profile looks impressive. If you have time to retake the GRE (and study to raise the Q score), then I would recommend it; however, if you can’t, then go forward with your application and hope that programs see that your grades and research experience far outweigh anything a standardized test can measure. I’m sure that many programs would love to have a student with your background.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply!</p>
<p>Is it common for programs to look past a lower end GRE score? I know this varies a ton but I’m just trying to ballpark my chances. </p>
<p>Only one program explicitly told me they heavily weigh GRE scores. The rest say its a variety of factors. But do the ones that say admission is based off a variety of factors still heavily weigh the GRE implicitly?</p>
<p>As you’ve learned, programs vary in their approaches to the GRE, and often there’s no way to predict whether a specific graduate admissions committee will weigh them heavily, even year-to-year. For instance, Duke’s cognitive neuroscience program is rumored to favor the GRE heavily, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t overlook a specific GRE score in favor of excellent recommendations from well-known researchers and extensive research experience. </p>
<p>As a general rule, if a program posts average GRE scores of admitted students, then you can be sure that it matters to them. If they say that they look at a variety of factors, then it’s possible they will overlook GRE scores in light of the rest of the application. </p>
<p>My guess – and this is only conjecture – that science programs will lessen their emphasis on high GRE scores now that the NSF graduate fellowship has dropped GRE scores from its application. Research experience that can be tied into program labs is even more important, if that’s possible.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing about GRE scores: good ones won’t get you in, but bad ones can keep you out. I really think you should consider taking them again, provided that you can get a test date in time. Your quantitative score is far below what it should be.</p>
<p>thank you again for another helpful reply!</p>
<p>i’ve been receiving mixed opinions about retaking the GRE so that’s why I’m on the fence. The professor whose opinion I respect the most said I should be okay with an 1100 as long as I don’t apply to ivy’s or top of the line programs. But other professors have recommended I retake and I guess the 160 dollars (which is a lot for me) is worth upping my chances. </p>
<p>My biggest worry is actually doing worse the second time around. It seems like I can never learn enough tricks on the quantitative to do well. I always come across several problems I just don’t know how to do.</p>
<p>Do you understand how the computer-based GRE works? It starts with easy problems, and then gets progressively more difficult, but only if you get the “easy” questions right. That means that if you get the first 10-15 questions right, you’ll be moved to a higher tier and tougher problems – and a higher score. If you get several wrong in the first bunch, then the computer will never take you to the more difficult problems that will yield that higher score. You can afford more errors later in the test.</p>
<p>Memorize (and revisit) those geometry formulas. Do practice tests, over and over, and figure out what you need to review/know. Work on speedy and accurate mental calculations. Don’t worry so much about the verbal – that score is probably good enough for most neuroscience programs. </p>
<p>You won’t do better if you don’t figure out, and correct, where you went wrong the first time.</p>
<p>I did spend a lot of time studying and learning how the CAT works. I probably did about 10 practice tests before I took the GRE. The sad thing is a 520 in the Q was my second highest score out of all the practice tests. I just can’t seem to learn the math tricks. I think if I go back and learn some of the basics it will help but I’m not sure if 3 weeks is enough time to learn 2 years of high school math properties…</p>
<p>Well, you always have the option of seeing what happens this year with the scores you already have, knowing that you might have to retake the GREs and re-apply next year.</p>
<p>I know, but I’d rather not work at McDonald’s and live with my parents if I don’t get in any graduate schools… </p>
<p>I’ll just retake it and hope for the best with my new score. I’m meeting with my math professor to help with the quantitative so maybe that will help me</p>