<p>Just wondering if anybody had an idea of how much weight schools place on this section of the GRE. It seems kinda notorious for being ignored by graduate schools...but I just got a 6.0 and I'm applying to statistics programs for my Ph.D, think this will stand out?</p>
<p>I'm sorry I don't have the answer to your question but I wanted to get some advice from some math/stats people. I'm studying for the GRE's to take next month or so. I know I want to go into stats/math... where have you gone to do your research? I'm looking for a masters... I graduated UCLA last year with a 3.8 GPA for a math/econ major. I'm really interested in stats but have only taken 2 in college... can you help me with anything? Or any math-related forums elsewhere that may know the answer?</p>
<p>Most programs do not put much weight on the analytical portion, but an 6.0 will stand out despite that since it is so rare. It won't put you on the absolutly in list depending on your other stats, but it could cause them to give your application a second look.</p>
<p>Okay, I have a question about this. First of all, congratulations on you 6.0. That's a seriously terrific score. Okay, but here's the question. <em>Everyone</em> says that a 6.0 analytical writing is incredibly rare. But a 5.5 was only the 85% my year. Is there something I am not understanding about the way the G.R.E. uses statistics? I have never actually spoken face to face with anyone who received a 6.0. But you'd think that 15% of the applicant pool would still be walking around and applying to the top five programs. Okay. You don't have to answer. It's a bit of a stupid question. But I've been curious.</p>
<p>Since only certain scores are awarded (no 5.87 or anything), the percentiles on each score are a little odd.</p>
<p>6.0 is 96th percentile; 4% of test-takers get a 6.0. 5.5 is 85th percentile; 11% of test-takers get a 5.5. I believe the distribution probably looks like a bell curve.</p>
<p>Oh. That's really cool. And pretty obvious now that you explain it. Good thing I'm applying in religion, huh?</p>