<p>I can't believe I spent the last month studying for that thing. </p>
<p>After I did the AW, I got the quantitative section and it went very smoothly. After I finished it, I was feeling very confident that I'd get over a 760. Then came the verbal section, which was a lot harder than on my practice tests. I learned over 3000 words, of which only 2 were on the test.</p>
<p>And then I got another quant section! To make matters worse, on the second question, I clicked C instead of D and I didn't notice until I clicked confirm... </p>
<p>I'm guessing my second quant section was scored.</p>
<p>Well, I was planning on going to engineering grad school, but now I think I'm not cut out for it...</p>
<p>I don't think you should despair. This is the general GRE that we are talking about. Worst case scenario you apply, find that you can't get into the programs you want and take a year of working/research and try again next year (with a retaken GRE). However, I don't think that the difference of 100 points on the GRE would make or break your app. If you are truly nervous, add a safety or two to the list.</p>
<p>I agree. You're not cut out for it. All engineers have memorized every word that appears on the GRE. Not one of your admissions competitors clicked the wrong answer accidentally, and anybody who would even dare to breathe on a grad school application has the stamina to take that four hour test without making stupid mistakes. You should just give up now and dig holes for a living.</p>
<p>Buck up. Clicking a series of answers on a standardized test does not make or break a potential engineer. Do you have a good GPA? Can you conduct research? Do your professors like you and will give you good recommendations? Do you love engineering? I bet you do. Given that you're seriously thinking about engineering for grad school, I highly doubt your non-perfect performance here means you're "not cut out" for it.</p>
<p>If it bugs you, take it again. Or do an internship. Grad schools like internships.</p>
<p>And you should have safeties anyway, if only because they're certain to throw money at you, and your first choices might not come through on the assistantship front.</p>
<p>wow. I took the GRE like yesterday and I got the ultimate low of 570/590. maybe we took the same test! that test was hard. I'm going to take it again very soon.</p>
<p>What kind of scores would you consider to be "good"? If everything else is good (gpa, internship, research, etc), maybe lower gre is not such a problem?</p>
<p>It was funny because I recently retook the GRE. I had spent a lot of time preparing for the Q section and actually scored lower than I did the first time I took it 4 years ago. To add insult to injury I am a former math teacher!</p>
<p>I ended up scoring much better in the V and awa though no where the 600 or 700 level stellar scores you all get. </p>
<p>Anyway cheer up. If your math grades are solid I think you would still stand a chance. Simply retake the test after some more practice. Good luck.</p>
<p>lkf725, a good score would be anything over 750, I suppose. It's pretty much unheard of an engineer getting 660. I don't think anything would make up for it. I'm so embarrassed...</p>
<p>I don't know if I should retake the GRE in November or not. If I do, I'll have to ask my recommenders to write letters to schools that I have no idea about my chances of getting in. I don't want to waste their time if I get a similar score in November. Waiting to ask them to write the letters after I get my scores in November would be too late, unless I can find some programs with late deadlines.</p>
<p>I really wish I wouldn't have messed this up. I don't know what to do now...</p>
<p>
[quote]
What kind of scores would you consider to be "good"? If everything else is good (gpa, internship, research, etc), maybe lower gre is not such a problem?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I hate to be a negative nancy but 660 is definitely low for engineers. Approximately 15% of engineering graduate prospectives score an 800 according to ETS, with some subdisciplines such as EE being closer to 25%. Schools like to admit people who score around their average.</p>
<p>Retake the GRE, but remember that you can't take it more than like three times in one year or something.</p>
<p>Maybe you could find out the range of scores of past grad students at colleges you are interested in, and see where you fit in. I can't believe that everybody at every graduate engineering program has >750. Also, since the gre has MUCH simpler math than you completed in your undergrad engineering program, what does it prove except that you weren't a good test-taker that day? Cheer up! :)</p>
<p>The top 50 schools have an average GRE of 750 or above. He should be worrying because it's the first thing they look at when deciding whether your app is worth their time. Let's not lull tx2000 into complacency. I'm not saying tx2000 is retarded or anything but it may be realllly hard to get admission to a top 50 school based on this one dumb (and yes it is dumb) number. I wouldn't worry about studying verbal further. 600 is above the average for even the #1 engineering school.</p>
<p>I had my scores sent to my undergrad school and one of my potential recommenders is on the graduate school admissions committee. I'm going to feel pretty sheepish asking him for a LOR if he knows how bad my scores are. </p>
<p>I don't know why I sent the scores there... I wish I hadn't</p>
<p>gthopeful, we're not "lulling tx into complacency." I doubt, as he is an intense engineering student who's actually worried he won't have the privilege to stay up every night doing problem sets, we can get him down to anything past "only mildly panicky." We're just trying to reassure him he can still have a future in engineering despite one bad score.</p>
<p>tx2000--
Fact: You want to go to grad school for engineering.
Fact: Your scores are below the average of successful engineering applicants, and you're worried you won't get in because of them.</p>
<p>Where's the part where you "don't know what to do now?" You can change either one of these two facts to make them congruent--you can decide you don't really want to go to grad school and take an alternate professional path, or you can change the scores so that you're more comfortable applying with them. The latter makes more sense, especially since on all your practice tests you scored much higher, and it's likely you just had an unfortunate run-in with chance on this one. But in case the second test doesn't go too well, the first option isn't a life-breaker either.</p>
<p>One more note: People on these boards are in the unfortunate habit of assuming that anyone who isn't in the top 50% of all successful applicant statistics is doomed (e.g. 750 is the average for engineering grad students, so you can't get in unless you get that or above). If all successful applicants needed to be above average to get in to their programs, that average wouldn't be much of an <em>average</em>, now would it? There are accepted students on either side.</p>
<p>So tx2000, if you take it again and don't get the 760+ you were hoping for, don't despair. I'm sure you could find a good school that will take you with a 700 (maybe not the #1 ranked institution, but a good one that will make you happy and will help you launch a successful career. Rankings are bull anyway).</p>