<p>I'm in my early 30's, having flunked out of my first undergrad school. After working for 8 years, I decided to give school another go. I spent a year and a half at a small community school rehabilitating my GPA, then transferred to a large state school. So far I've completed seven math courses (two at graduate level) with A or A+ marks. My major GPA is 4.0, and overall is 3.25 (all the bad grades are ten years old). By the time I graduate I will have completed at least three more graduate courses, hopefully with similar grades.</p>
<p>My team received Honorable Mention in our school's first year to participate in COMAP's math modeling competition. I participated in a summer REU. I expect to have three strong LORs.</p>
<p>My GRE general scores are 700 verbal and 800 quantitative. I haven't received my writing score yet, but I think I did well.</p>
<p>So far so good...but I'm worried about my math subject score. I took the test yesterday, and my honest guess is that my score will be near the 60th percentile. I can only base this on the number of questions I answered, and the scoring instructions on a practice test I have--I answered 47 questions, which if all correct, would <em>just</em> squeeze me into the 80th percentile on the practice test. I understand different tests are weighted differently, but I doubt the difference is terribly significant.</p>
<p>So--what if I scored in the 60th percentile on the subject test? What ranks of schools can I expect a 10%, 50%, 90% chance of gaining admission to? Any important information I left out?</p>
<p>Don't fret over the score, it is done, so just wait to see. Was it required to take?</p>
<p>It depends on which programs I apply to. I think top 30 or better programs all require it.</p>
<p>Considering your domination of graduate math courses, I doubt you have much to worry about. A large state school can mean a lot of things, I don't know if you are refering to a top-10 state school or state school that no one even in your own state has heard of. So, I would apply to schools across the board in terms of prestige to be safe. Some top 10 if you like, two safeties farther down the list but still in the top 50. To take into account the presitge of your state school, I would talk to a professors and get some recommendations on specific schools. Who knows they may have a connection that could secure you admission. Your GRE scores are practically orgasmic, so I wouldn't be suprised if you got into a top 25 program. </p>
<p>What is working to your advantage is that you are older and wiser than all the applicants fresh out of undergrad. Your subject GRE score is important but a lot of people end up doing better on it than they thought. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Euler321, the state school I'm attending is the University of Iowa. I sincerely hope I did better on the subject test than I estimate, but we'll see. It feels like November 19th is a hundred years away. /sigh</p>
<p>Tiny Boss,</p>
<p>Its scary how similar my profile is to yours. I am in my late 20s, bombed my undergrad (did well in some advanced courses though), went on to work and now want to re-enter grad school. Unfortunately, i didn't enrol in any place, just continued my day-job and learn math on my own. I have a 1420 in my gre and I just got my subject test results (you can probably get yours too if you call ets now) and its horrible (mid-50 percentile). So, now i'm stuck. If i apply to low-ranked schools i won't get any funding. Do you (or any one else ) have any suggestions?</p>