<p>I'm specifically interested in the sciences (in engineering and the life sciences).<br>
I wondered if anyone has admission statistics for applicants to PhD programs.
What percentage approximately are accepted?
What statistics in average do they have (GRE,...)?
What is the attrition rate of PhD programs?</p>
<p>I'm looking at a general picture, but any specific informations are more than welcome since I have no idea how competitive it is.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>PS: I also wondered if there were any "safeties" for grad school admission.</p>
<p>My understanding is that many biosciences PhD programs will interview between 25 and 40 percent of applicants, then accept between 50 and 60 percent of those interviewed. Those numbers are not generally released, though, so it's a rough estimate at best.</p>
<p>MIT's graduate biology program is one of the few programs which publishes its GRE score averages (here:">http://web.mit.edu/biology/www/graduate/appfaq.html)):</a>
[quote]
All interested students are encouraged to apply. The average undergraduate GPA for admitted students is 3.62, and the average GRE's are:
Verbal (650; 88%),
Quantitative (738; 87%), and
Analytical (735; 90%).
[/quote]
I suspect, however, that these high numbers more closely reflect the high scores in the applicant pool rather than a specific selection for high scores in the admissions process.</p>
<p>There can indeed be safeties for graduate school admissions, but you can't pick them very accurately using your GRE scores.</p>