<p>I took the GRE this month for application to Fall 2009 programs. I am applying for a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, UCBerkeley, Cornell, UMich, Columbia, CMU, UTAustin</p>
<p>My scores were Q-680 V-650 A-5.0
GPA 3.45/4.0
1 publication first author, three research endeavors, two strong recs, one good rec.</p>
<li>My concern is that certain schools have displayed minimum requirements on their websites. For example, Cornell says they have a minimum GPA req of 3.5/4 and GRE 500V and 750Q.</li>
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<p>Does this mean they’ll trash my application without even looking at the essays, publications, research and recs?</p>
<li>Most of the schools I am applying to have a Dec 15th deadline with the exception of Northwestern and Cornell (end of December). Now is it worth RETAKING the GRE test? I will have to take it Jan 5th which means scores wont reach until Jan 15/20th.</li>
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<p>I would really really appreciate any advice. Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>you're really late to be retaking it. none of those schools are going to see the new score. i would say there's no way it's worth stressing over/cramming and getting an equally lousy score.</p>
<p>Depends how many applicants they have. If they actually state a minimum then yes, unless you're one of those insanely successful people with 3 or 4 pubs, many presentations, etc., you're unlikely to be looked at again; however, most programs will at least take a look at every applicant and rarely set hard and fast minimums -- usually, they simply give priority consideration to those students with GREs above their cut off point</p>
<p>A quant. of 680 will not get you into any of the schools you applied. You need 780+ to be considered competitive. This is especially true for engineering programs. I don't know if it is too late to retake it. You can retake and then let the adcoms know your unofficial score, which is reported to you right after you take the test.</p>
<p>even if i attend one of those schools currently? </p>
<p>i am so resistant to retaking it because i freeze on stdized tests. there have only been three impt ones my entire life: high school magnet test, sat, and gre. ALL three, I freeze in the math section. its just my "thing" with tests. I've stopped trying to fix it.</p>
<p>if i were you i'd probably take it over again after you have lots of time to study and to give up the idea that no matter what you're going to do poorly on the quant section. just curious, what school dyou go to?</p>
<p>You're basically screwed as others have stated. GREs can never get you in but they can keep you out. That GPA doesn't help too much either. Your best bet would be to let your research prof know that you would like to get a masters at your current school.</p>
<p>devine - i am not too comfortable revealing the school since its a pretty small graduating class and im the only female for my year. using this u might be able to track down my school, if you wish lol.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice. it probably looks like im an idiot, but u know my math grades are all A/A+ so the adcoms are gonna wonder themselves what went wrong.
in general, i still think research is key for grad school because after all .,. thats all you will be doing for five years. i dont think the gre is a good gauge of how well you fit in with a dept. i know for example that i work well in a smaller atmosphere. mit or stanford might not be ideal, but again, in terms of resources, they have a lot to offer compared to a small school.
anyways, good luck to everyone and thanks again for the input.</p>
<p>I am wondering where you are able to find the minimum requirements for the grad programs??? I am having a hard time finding them for MANY schools. Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m not in EE (different engineering field), but I got into a number of top 10 programs with a math score of 720. Came from a school on your list, had around a 3.65 GPA, a publication, had a poster presentation or two, and did a bunch of research.</p>
<p>This post is over a year old, don’t bother replying. GoldenMesa is just another one of those people that bumps really old threads for some reason.</p>