Took GRE today...V 470, Q 750 too bad for a CS major?

Graduate School
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<p>Hi, guys. </p>

<pre><code> I'm aiming for a CS master's program ranked between 20 to 60.
</code></pre>

<p>Profile:
1. GPA:3.7, CS GPA: 3.8.
2. Currently doing a research project with a professor in the summer. Last semester, worked as student software developer for a media group in the university.
3. Recommendation letters: One from the professor that I'm doing the research project with. One from the CS professor that I worked with in the media group. One from a professor with whom I took three classes with and got decent grades. </p>

<p>I took my GRE today and I got 470 on the verbal and 750 on the math. I could get like 600 on the verbal when doing the Barron's practice tests. But I don't know why today's reading comprehension was so hard that I almost had no clue about it. I was almost stuck on the second reading comprehension and wasted too much time.</p>

<p>On the math part, still the time limit...I didn't even get to the last question before the test was over... but I guess a 750 is acceptable?</p>

<p>I'm a little disappointed by the scores. I'm from a lesser known CS program in a state university. Is my profile sufficient to get into a CS master's program ranked 20 to 60? </p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>I think yes. The Q score is at the lowest end of what you’d want, percentile-wise only 85 because of the many who get 800. But I think you can get in with it. What was the percentile on the V? You will need to check individual school websites to see if the verbal is below minimum for any. I don’t think anyone has below Q750 as requirement, but most accepted students will be higher. The rest of your application may mitigate that.</p>

<p>This is fun, I don’t know how valid, but they have compiled criteria rom the websites of the schools for you:
<a href=“http://www.cs.utep.edu/admissions/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cs.utep.edu/admissions/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>It should be below 60…</p>

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<p>I think you should be able to get into ranked programs between 20 to 60. Where do you plan on applying?</p>

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<p>I’m considering Purdue, Indiana U, U of Pitt, Penn State and Stony Brook.</p>

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<p>From Perdue website: Although the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not a Graduate School requirement, many graduate programs require this test. Check the graduate program instruction page for this requirement.</p>

<p>and the CS department page does not mention GRE at all. Looks like you don’t have to send it to them.</p>

<p>IU says: We require GRE scores for all applicants and cannot process your application until we receive them. We do not have cut-offs for GRE scores, preferring instead to use the full information available in your application to evaluate.</p>

<p>so continue one at a time…</p>

<p>ARe you looking at a retake?</p>

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<p>@BrownParent: I’m not sure about whether to retake it… My GRE score, especially the verbal is kind of low…but will a very low verbal score really hurt my application(I know my Q is not stellar either…)? Given that I’m applying to a CS MS program instead of a PhD and I will not apply to any extremely top ranked program. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>470 verbal is ok (borderline). But 750 quant is defintely too low for any top CS programs.</p>

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<p>@ wifey: Yeah…my Q is also too low for CS. I’ll definitely retake the GRE… i hate GRE…</p>

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<p>wifey, not really a true statement. While, that is a lowish score for CS accepted students, but it is not a dealbreaker. My daughter got Q750 (but much higher verbal and high AW) and was accepted into several top CS PhD programs. Of course she had other things going on in her application. While it wasn’t helping her, there is evidence to suggest that the very top programs place less emphasis on these scores or completely ignore them, like MIT. But for masters programs, it may be more critical.</p>

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<p>top CS PhD programs… like what? please be more specific. </p>

<p>I was not implying 750 is a strict cutoff. But there is NO WAY you get into pretigious programs like Cal, or MIT, not even their masters programs (unless your other aspects of applications are VERY VERY strong to offset the low Q score, which I think happened on your kid).</p>

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<p>^ at MIT the EECS PhD admissions does not required any GRE. They do not have an EECS terminal masters except for MIT undergrads.</p>

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<p>Just a question for everyone: If I retake GRE and get a higher score, will the schools I applied to pick the higher score?</p>

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<p>You should get into Stony Brook with your current stats. My stats are much worse than yours and I was accepted into their program.</p>

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<p>@ambiance: Where did you do your undergraduate?</p>

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<p>UCLA, UW Madison, Maryland, I’m guessing that is not top enough for you, not Cal or MIT. But, again, MIT does not accept GRE scores.</p>

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<p>UCLA is a great school. Wisconsin-Madison, Maryland are just OK. (I hope you kid selected UCLA.)</p>

<p>But I was talking about the real top and extremely selective school like Princeton, Cal Tech, Stanford, Cal, MIT (ok, MIT doesn’t require GRE, but still hard to get into). </p>

<p>Princeton’s CS website actually makes it clear that they “expect to see score of 770 and above on the quantitative section and 4.5/6 on the analytic writing section.”</p>

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<p>Your scores wont take you out of the running. It should be an afterthought with the rest of your application…the GREs arent like the SATs they are not as big in the application process.</p>

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<p>@philipghu: I graduated from a small unranked state school.</p>

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<p>@ambiance: The computer science program I’m currently in is also unranked. You said you got into Stony Brook with a “non-stellar” profile…which really gives me some confidence…(PS: I just got a B for a CS class I’m taking in the summer, it lowered my major GPA to 3.78…but I guess that shouldn’t affect too much…)</p>