Just took the GRE...

Graduate School
1

<p>So I'm a mechanical engineering major in my junior year and I'm looking to go to a high ranking mechanical engineering grad school where I'll have more/better research opportunities. I just got finished taking the GRE about an hour ago and I can't help but feel a little gutted. </p>

<p>My scores weren't terrible (750Q, 590V) but I was expecting much more than that (I would prefer a higher Q score especially). 750Q only puts me at a little over average for mechanical engineering applicants according to ETS powerprep statistics. :(</p>

<p>The real reason I feel gutted is because I do really well in math and I've been preparing for the GRE for some time now. I started reading and going over vocab as early as last summer and starting early December I've been studying all three sections of the test. Three weeks ago I took a GRE Powerprep test for the first time (which is supposed to be a good indicator of how you actually score). I got a 780Q, 660V. I decided that this was a good result for my first practice test but that I shouldn't get complacent. </p>

<p>So I took more and more practice tests, worked through lots problems in Barrons and Princeton Review and in their practice tests, developed strategies, studied more vocab, etc... fairly intensely up till test time. The day before the test I was consistently scoring 800Q on powerprep and all my verbal scores had always been atleast above 640 on powerprep (I got a 730 on one).</p>

<p>Then I go to take the actual test, and after all this work, I get LOWER then what I got on powerprep in the first place. I realize that the GRE is only one consideration out of several in grad school admissions but I am aiming to get into a top 10 mechanical engineering grad school (i.e. MIT, Purdue, Cornell, Caltech, etc...) and I was really hoping to get a good GRE score and be done with this. </p>

<p>I'm especially concerned about my GRE score since my school (University of Louisville) isn't particularly prestigious in engineering (atleast not on a national level) so some schools, especially ones that are farther away, might attribute my high GPA (3.9) to grade inflation unless I have GRE scores to back it up. (FYI, my school is actually notoriously difficult in engineering regionally and GPAs at the school are far from inflated).</p>

<p>I'm not going to be applying to grad schools till this winter so I have time to take the test again but this still sucks. I put in all this work so that I would not be in this situation but it happened anyway. Anyone been in this type of situation or have advice for me? </p>

<p>Admittedly, half the reason I'm writing this is just to vent but I'm also looking for ideas on what to do. Should I be as worried as I am about a less than perfect math score? Should I definitely take the test again if I want to go to a selective engineering school? Should I try different studying techniques?</p>

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<p>I believe your scores are ok for most schools. Some schools may have strict cutoffs implicitly, but non are above 770 for Quant. If you want to apply to top 20 schools and have the GRE not be a worry, retake it and see if you can bump up the Quant score. I know the exam is a big hassle, but it may calm you down if you see that your score gets above 750, where it belongs.</p>

<p>I was a little unhappy with my 770 610, but that was because I genuinely prepped for a while for it. I felt that my scores were not indicative of my ability or my preparation, but, luckily, most schools don’t think they are.</p>

3

<p>My opinion may be unpopular, but I think you should retake. If it helps, I can recount a similar experience I had with the GRE very recently.</p>

<p>I’m a math major, so getting a good math score was imperative, yet when I took the GRE in December, I got Q: 770 / V: 770. Not really thrilled with the Quantitative percentile either and suspecting that I simply made dumb, flukey mistakes in that section, I took the gamble and retook a few days ago and pulled it up to Q: 800 / V: 750. Honestly, if you can handle a mechanical engineering major, an 800 in the Quantitative section is within your reach. You just have to pace yourself on the first few questions and make sure you get those right, because those determine what the rest of your test will be like, since it’s computer-adaptive. I think I may have rushed too quickly through the Quantitative section before and made a stupid mistake or two on an early question(s) that screwed me over from the start…</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies. The thing is that I felt like I was very methodical on the first 10 questions. I went through and really understood what I was doing and was careful not to make stupid mistakes. Maybe I actually went too slow because I got a little rushed on the last 10 problems. I was hoping that my meticulousness on the first 10 questions would pay off but apparently it didn’t or atleast not as much as I hoped.</p>

<p>So if I take the test a second time (I am leaning that way at the moment so the GRE will not be “a worry” as you say, sephiroth), should I use different studying materials or methods? Are there any particular books or methods you found particularly helpful for quantitative (or verbal, for that matter)? I mainly did a lot of practice tests (GRE Powerprep and Princeton Review mainly) to prepare for the math. I also worked out quite a lot of problems in Barrons and Princeton Review books and read up on strategies with the PR book. </p>

<p>I’m thinking for a second attempt some fresh material might be in order. I also can’t take the test again until February atleast and may opt to wait till spring break or summer break due to a very demanding work I’m expecting this semester. This means I’ve got some time…</p>

5

<p>I agree with the previous poster – consider retaking the test. I hadn’t taken any math classes since freshman year of college and recently scored an 800 Q. You could easily match that score. One thing you may want to consider is not studying at all the day before the test and just let your brain relax. It seems like you gradually intensified your efforts studying for the test until the test day – it’s usually preferable to the opposite. That is, study hard until a week or two before the test, then gradually lessen your efforts each day.</p>

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<p>You people are on crack. Your GPA is high enough to offset any perceived notion that your scores aren’t high enough, because they certainly are good enough. Dont waste your money on taking the GRE again because the difference in a few points isnt going to help you.</p>

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<p>I think your money would be better spent on other things. For most professors, the GRE is one of the least important parts of your application. I know people who got into top 20 schools with 750s. If you’re rejected anywhere, it probably won’t be because of your quant score.</p>

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<p>@navyasw02: My undergrad institution isn’t that well known for engineering (atleast on a national level) so my concern is that top schools may not be familiar with the rigor of my university and therefore not value my high GPA if they see that my test scores are below the average for their applicants. </p>

<p>@pdetoolbox: Just out of curiosity, what schools were these? Did they have other areas on their application that were remarkable (patents, publications, etc…)?</p>

<p>This is from UC Berkeley’s ME website: "</p>

<p>“Most successful applicants last year had GPAs above 3.7 and GRE quantitative scores above 90%. For Fall 2010 we had approximately 940 applicants for about 75 admission slots.” </p>

<ul>
<li>[UC</a> Berkeley Mechanical Engineering](<a href=“http://www.me.berkeley.edu/StudentAffairs/ProspectiveStudents/Graduate/Tips.html]UC”>http://www.me.berkeley.edu/StudentAffairs/ProspectiveStudents/Graduate/Tips.html)</li>
</ul>

<p>From emailing them previously it seems like raising my scores would actually increase my odds of admission there if not at other schools. That’s just the sense I get…</p>

<p>I’m going to talk to email some of the schools I’m most interested in and see what they think. Basically, I scored in the ~83rd percentile on both Q and V. I know I can score about 90 percentile so the question is if I will have better odds getting into a competitive program like UC Berkeley, Caltech, Cornell, etc… if I have 90th percentile scores rather than 80th percentile. </p>

<p>I know it’s expensive to retake the test but I’m going to be spending quite a bit of money to just apply to these schools anyway. My thinking is that if I can make my application stronger through retaking the test then it’s worth doing. I’ve got some time to think about it though.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input everyone.</p>

9

<p>Is your engineering program ABET accredited? If so, it doesn’t much matter where your undergrad degree is from if you have solid grades which you do. Mechanical engineering curricula at the undergrad level arent any different just because you went to University of Louisville instead of MIT.</p>

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<p>Yes it is ABET accredited. However, although the curriculum may be standardized, aren’t there still differences in rigor/difficult between programs that grad schools take into account? Different schools give different percentages of A’s, B’s, etc… and have students of different academic abilities (i.e. Princeton has much higher undergraduate admissions standards than U of L).</p>

<p>It seems like grade inflation is a big issue and that if your undergrad institution isn’t reputable then a high GPA isn’t as valuable (i.e. a 3.7 from Cornell would probably be valued higher than a 3.7 from State University X). I could be wrong though. These sentiments are just based on what I’ve read and the research I’ve done on graduate school admissions.</p>

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<p>Sounds like you’ve already got your mind made up. I’m just saying that if I had your academic profile, I wouldnt waste the time or money to take it again. It is a risk I’m willing to accept, especially since there’s no guarantee I’d do better the second time or that higher scores will get me in. You may not be willing to take that risk, even if it is small.</p>

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<p>Take it again because it seems you’re interested in the top schools. If this was a molecular biology program or a social science program then it wouldn’t really matter. But because it’s a quantitative heavy field, it will matter to a certain degree. You only apply once in your life to grad school, and this is something that will impact your life for a long time. The math section matters for quantitative heavy fields, and may become a deal breaker if research experience/LORS/GPA between two applicants are close. This is especially important if you don’t come from a very well known school and you’re shooting for the top.</p>

<p>And I think all it takes to get to the 800 is practice, practice, practice. Make sure you practice in test-like conditions and you time yourself with every question/setting. Also, always take notes when you read the questions, and if you can afford it, re-do the early questions twice to absolute make sure that you’re not making any dumb mistakes (misreadings, calculations…etc).</p>

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<p>“Is your engineering program ABET accredited? If so, it doesn’t much matter where your undergrad degree is from if you have solid grades which you do. Mechanical engineering curricula at the undergrad level arent any different just because you went to University of Louisville instead of MIT”</p>

<p>That’s not even close to true,both that the curricula aren’t different and that the admissions people won’t care.</p>

<p>Let me quote to you from a document that I’ve found very helpful </p>

<p>“Once again: Your score on the GRE will be largely ignored by the top schools, particularly if you are coming from a top school. AT CMU we look at the verbal GRE score only when the applicant is not a native speaker of English. We look at the subject test score only when we have an application from a school whose CS department we’re not familiar with. At lesser-ranked schools, however, your GRE score can be the difference between your getting in or not.”</p>

<p>Granted this is for CS, but I’d imagine this kind of thinking prevails across engineering at tier 1 schools</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf[/url]”>http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>is a link to the document I’m referencing, by the way, I’ve found it very helpful</p>

<p>Later on in the document they talk about the GPA inflation you’re citing.</p>

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<p>duke3k - while that may be true for CS, undergrad Mechanical Engineering curricula are just about as cookie cutter and unimaginative as it gets. Every school teaches the same foundation courses and most of those haven’t changed since Newton developed half the stuff. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most schools even use the same books for most courses. The only real variation is in upper level courses which are different, but we’re really just talking about a small handful of courses.</p>