<p>Hey everyone! I am currently graduating with a BS in Physiology & Neuroscience at UC San Diego with a 3.68 GPA. I am going to do the Biology masters program here (no GRE required) next year and want to also apply to Neuroscience PhD programs. I am not doing so amazing on my GRE so far, V: 570 Q: 660, so I might not have super competitive scores to apply with. I will have 3 years of research experience, a good GPA, a MS, and strong letters however. I want to apply to Columbia, MIT, Stanford, UCSF, Yale, Boston University, and Brandeis for neuroscience, will have a good shot with sub par GRE scores? Appreciate everyone's input!</p>
<p>It is a little tough to say, as I’m not sure anyone has a super clear idea of whether those programs use GRE scores as a cutoff or just another indicator of potential. Everything else sounds good, provided your research interests fit with the neuro department at each of those schools. If you did bring the GRE scores up, I definitely think you’d have a shot at those and similar programs.</p>
<p>The good news is, the GRE is probably the lowest down on the totem pole of importance when grad schools evaluate applications. Speaking from personal experience, I wouldn’t worry about your verbal score. You might want to retake the GRE to bump up your Quantitative (which can easily be done with a bit of studying, more so than the verbal). If your writing was fine, that should compensate for your lower verbal score. I was accepted to two of the programs on your list with less than perfect GRE scores. Not once was I asked about my GRE scores. Your research experience will be the most important. Coming from UCSD, I don’t think you will have a problem being a competitive applicant.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply! I am in a bit of a bind. I took my GREs and didn’t do as well as I thought. My scores are a little bit lower than what I listed up there, but not horrible…they’re just average. I don’t have time to retake them before the test changes, and don’t think it’s worth the money to take more classes and spend more time to just raise my score a tiny bit. I am going to work on my research to try to get published and also try to apply for the NSF grad fellowship. Like i said before, I have a good GPA and will be getting my masters…am I really taking a risk if I apply this fall? My professor also told that he would enforce the idea that my GRE in no way depict my dedication and abilities in research. Any suggestions?</p>