Should I retake the GRE for Mech. Eng. PhD apps?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm currently a M.S. student in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (recently ranked top 10 for mech. eng.) getting ready to apply for PhD work at top schools in the field. Here are my "stats":</p>

<p>M.S. GPA: 3.733
GRE Q: 790
GRE V: 580
GRE W: 4.5</p>

<p>I currently do work in research groups in two different departments (solar thermal power in mechanical engineering and climate change tracking/visualization in computer science), was a T.A. for undergrad heat transfer last semester, and was appointed to the University Senate Research Committee for two consecutive terms. By time of application I'll have been lead author on an abstract/poster at a conference and co-author on another paper for the csci work, and (pending review) lead author on a technical report to the ASME 2011 Congress. I also have research experience at the undergrad level as well as a double major in physics and mech. eng. Here are my top choices for PhD work, in rough order:</p>

<ul>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
</ul>

<p>First, what's the gut reaction on how realistic these choices are?
Second, should I be retaking the GRE to bump my scores or would it be better to spend the time focusing on my research?</p>

<p>By the way, my goal is to continue with heat transfer aspects of solar power conversion (whether it be thermal, thermoelectric, concentrated PV, etc.). Interested in dabbling some into the materials science side of it as well.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your GRE is totally fine.
MIT, Stanford, Caltech, etc are incredibly competitive schools. You look like a great candidate though. But just to be safe, apply to some lower ranked “safety” schools too.</p>

3

<p>Um… you may need a few more publications for some of them, but no one can be sure.</p>

4

<p>could you suggest some useful GRE references to applying mechanical eng in PHD?</p>