[gritch]

Hello,

Earlier today I took the general GRE. I'll admit I hardly studied at all - I took a few quick practice tests about a mouth ago and review some vocabulary the few days leading to the test date but that was about it - and I managed to get a 156 on the Verbal Reasoning (apparently that would be 70th percentile) and a disappointing 159 on the Quantitative Reasoning (75th percentile). I am hoping to continue onto graduate school to study inorganic chemistry and was wondering if it might be beneficial for me to study properly and retake the GRE.

I know the GRE isn't the definitive metric for enrollment in graduate schools I'm just considered my quantitative score might weed me out of perspective schools too quickly. Currently I have a 3.7 GPA, I'll have a total of about 7 semesters of undergraduate research experience with a senior thesis, 2 summer internships (one at my home university and one at another university), and should be able to acquire 3 letter of recommendations from professors within the inorganic chemistry field without issue.

Do you think it would be beneficial for me to retake the GRE?

[Corribus]

I applied for graduate school about a week after the deadline for applications had expired because I made a very late change in life-plan.  The University to which I applied told me they would accept my late application but I still needed to submit a GRE score... which I hadn't taken since I was pre-med and only had an MCAT.  Never mind that the MCAT was far harder than GRE - they wanted the GRE and that was that. Bleh.

Anyway, I went in the next day and took the GRE. Had no idea what was on the thing, didn't know how long it was, or anything. Went in about as cold as could be.

I did alright, not stellar, but not embarrassingly bad, either. Can't remember what score I got but it may have been around what you got. Part of the problem was it was one of the first years they did it on a computer (dating myself), which was great... except the program didn't allow you to go back to problems you skipped. Might have been nice to know that going in. So I got done with craploads of time left over and about 30% of the problems not even attempted.

Sigh.

Point I am trying to make is I still got in. Honestly, unlike medical school where they've got to week 95% of applicants out with standardized tests, graduate schools seem to only care that you have a decent GPA and your coursework is adequate. I already knew the professor I wanted to work for, so that probably helped. I always tell my students to call or email professors as the universities they want to apply to, build a relationship before even applying. I think this really helps grease the wheels.

[curiouscat]

Point I am trying to make is I still got in. Honestly, unlike medical school where they've got to week 95% of applicants out with standardized tests, graduate schools seem to only care that you have a decent GPA and your coursework is adequate. I already knew the professor I wanted to work for, so that probably helped. I always tell my students to call or email professors as the universities they want to apply to, build a relationship before even applying. I think this really helps grease the wheels.

I'll offer a counter point to @corribus' story.

I was in Chem. Engineering and had a great GPA but zero undergrad research experience nor publications.

Back then I didn't know the "greasing the wheels" strategy so I applied cold. I had fairly good recommendations (I think) but none from someone who was a stellar fellow in the field (I did my undergrad at a below average, unheard of college).

The result? I did get into a Top10 school for my PhD and in my case, I think the GRE mattered a lot.  I was in the 98ish percentiles for all three. (if I remember right!)

My point: If you have a great everything else, GRE may not matter much; but if not, a good score does help.  Especially when applying to the most competitive programs.

[curiouscat]

PS. Were your scores in the practice tests pretty close to your real score? Or did you just have a bad day. It happens.

Don't take this wrong,  but from what I knew of our Dept.'s search committee (I've had occasions to assist in my past stint as a Research Assistant) a 70'th percentile math score would put you at serious risk of being weeded out at initial selection.

They get literally thousands of applications at the good schools and getting a 80 or 90 percentile in GRE math really isn't that hard. Just putting it frankly.

I'm not saying you need a 90th percentile score to do good Inorg. Chem. Just that so many people have good GRE math scores because as compared to the math you'll do in, say, Quantum Mech or Spectroscopy the GRE stuff really is so easy.

Keep in mind, I was in an Engineering program so maybe Chem. operates very differently. Don't know.

My advice is to introspect if your low score was just due to a bad day or a cavalier attitude or maybe just a a wee bit more prep. could drastically boost your score. If so, don't hesitate to give another attempt.

[gritch]

Thanks for all the input. Sorry I've been so late in replying.

They get literally thousands of applications at the good schools and getting a 80 or 90 percentile in GRE math really isn't that hard. Just putting it frankly.

I'm not saying you need a 90th percentile score to do good Inorg. Chem. Just that so many people have good GRE math scores because as compared to the math you'll do in, say, Quantum Mech or Spectroscopy the GRE stuff really is so easy.

My advice is to introspect if your low score was just due to a bad day or a cavalier attitude or maybe just a a wee bit more prep. could drastically boost your score. If so, don't hesitate to give another attempt.

I think I was definitely guilty a cavalier attitude. I didn't worry at all about the test and normally that works fine for me. I don't consider myself bad at math. By graduation I should have had enough classes for a math minor and then some, which makes the difference in my GRE score and my class load even more noticeable.

I think I should just suck it up, admit that I can't brush this test off as easily as I thought and study.

Well I'll be taking the chemistry subject GRE soon so we'll see how that goes.

[curiouscat]

Thanks for all the input. Sorry I've been so late in replying.

They get literally thousands of applications at the good schools and getting a 80 or 90 percentile in GRE math really isn't that hard. Just putting it frankly.

I'm not saying you need a 90th percentile score to do good Inorg. Chem. Just that so many people have good GRE math scores because as compared to the math you'll do in, say, Quantum Mech or Spectroscopy the GRE stuff really is so easy.

My advice is to introspect if your low score was just due to a bad day or a cavalier attitude or maybe just a a wee bit more prep. could drastically boost your score. If so, don't hesitate to give another attempt.

I think I was definitely guilty a cavalier attitude. I didn't worry at all about the test and normally that works fine for me. I don't consider myself bad at math. By graduation I should have had enough classes for a math minor and then some, which makes the difference in my GRE score and my class load even more noticeable.

I think I should just suck it up, admit that I can't brush this test off as easily as I thought and study.

Well I'll be taking the chemistry subject GRE soon so we'll see how that goes.

Many programs also advertise average scores of past intake.

See if you are lower than that.

[trinitrotoluene]

Your letters of recommendation, GPA, and research experience are MUCH more important that your GRE scores. Keep in mind some of the top end(not all) graduate schools will require the subject GRE. The subject GRE will much more likely "weed you out" rather than the general GRE. I think you have to do pretty bad on the GRE to raise red flags. IMO your scores are fine and assuming you get good letters of recommendation, you should be in good shape.

This is all just my opinion, but you should be good to go for most schools.

My advice, send out as many applications as you can afford - it can be hit or miss

Good luck!