<p>Hello, I just took my first time GRE earlier today, got 800/550 on it. I'm wondering if that's a decent score for schools around 15~20ish rank (Upenn, Penn State, Polytechnic, etc).</p>
<p>It costs 140 per test, so I don't really want to retake it unless necessary. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>i think so. I'm not totally sure (we'll need a EE grad applicant to confirm this), but I remember reading in several places that 500/600 for engineering is common. I think for engineering it's just crucial that you get 800 on the quantitative.</p>
<p>You will be fine with the 550, I don't suspect it will set off any alarms. I had a 800/570 and had no problems. Typically, anything over a 500 is going to be fine for engineering.</p>
<p>it's a good score. no need to retake.</p>
<p>Thanks alot!</p>
<p>550's slightly below what the average at the very best schools (10-30 points), so yeah if you're aiming for top 15-20 that's a competitive score.</p>
<p>From what I've heard from admissions people, GREs don't really matter a whole lot. They're more important in international students who aren't necessarily able to function as well on the English portions of the exam.</p>
<p>That said, I got something like a 750m/620v/5.5w and got into a number of top 10 programs in materials engineering.</p>
<p>The 550 is perfectly acceptable (it puts you at around the 70th percentile), especially since you are applying for an MS in a scientific discipline.</p>