low quantitative GRE, biomedical PhD

Graduate School
1

<p>I just took the GRE and got a 630 verbal (93rd percentile) and 570 (59th percentile). I'm pretty sure I nailed the writing section. I have a 3.65 GPA from a small, private HBCU. I'll have a year of research experience in a very well-respected lab at NIH, and another year from a state university I started out at a few years ago. I already know I'll get glowing recommendations from my mentors, and one of them is a big name in his field. If all goes well, I'll have have two publications by the time I graduate. My current mentor assures me that my minority status will be a plus (T32 grant + minority candidate = free slot!) I've had to pay my own way and work full-time through most of my undergrad years, so I'm a few years older than my fellow applicants. </p>

<p>I'm not happy with my quantitative score, but I'm skeptical I'll do much better on the second try; I generally lose my head on timed math test and make dumb mistakes. Stupid math anxiety. </p>

<p>Anyway, I'm wondering how this affects my chances at with the following schools' micro/immunoPhD programs:</p>

<p>MIT
Harvard
Tufts
U Penn
UVA
U Chicago
Northwestern
Hopkins Public Health
UW Madison
Cornell Weil
U Pitt
Georgetown (w/ NIH GPP program)
CUNY
NYU</p>

<p>I feel like my quantitiative score is the only weak part of my app...but it's pretty weak. Isn't the standard at least in the 70th percentile?</p>

<p>S#$%!</p>

2

<p>OK, the deafening silence on this thread sounds like a “retake it and study this time, jackass” response.</p>

3

<p>Yea, I’d really try for much better on the GRE quantitative for where you are looking at. Your verbal should be just fine. The average at some of these schools is usually about 770 to 780 for quantitative.</p>

4

<p>Your GRE scores should be fine, since youre a minority and seem to have very good stats otherwise-- but I would ask your mentor. If you’re worried you can retake, but I don’t think its necessary. You might get into more places with a higher GRE score, but I would be surprised if you didnt get into at least a couple of your top choices. I would actually drop a couple of your safety schools-- I think you’re going to get into a top school, and you might want to think if its worth it to you to go to somewhere like CUNY or worth just taking another year to get research experience at your current lab–or the lab where you were working at NIH</p>

5

<p>The general GRE isn’t that big of a deal but given the list of competitive programs you are applying for, you probably don’t want to raise a red flag for something as stupid as the general GRE. Maybe you should think about retaking it.</p>