How much of a difference will my score make?
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 10:09 am
Hi all,
I've come to this board to try and decide whether I should retake the GRE Mathematics Subject Test in October. I've already signed up for the test, so I won't have an issue there. However, I took the September test and got a 73rd percentile. I'm trying to decide how much a slightly improved score could make. In the September test, I got 6 Topology questions, which felt like a lot based on practice tests. I'm not very good at topology--definitely my worst field in mathematics--so that may have impacted my score negatively. I've heard that 85th percentile is kind of the "here or better is largely equivalent," so I'm wondering if I should try and take the test to try and get that.
Are my assumptions correct? And how much would slightly improving my score improve my chances of getting into a good graduate program? I'm thinking about applying to Berkeley and Brown as sort of "shooting for the stars" schools, and I'm also planning on applying to:
Penn State
UC, Boulder
UC, Storrs
Michigan
Missouri
New Hampshire
Washington
Washington University, St. Louis
Wesleyan
and maybe some others.
I've come to this board to try and decide whether I should retake the GRE Mathematics Subject Test in October. I've already signed up for the test, so I won't have an issue there. However, I took the September test and got a 73rd percentile. I'm trying to decide how much a slightly improved score could make. In the September test, I got 6 Topology questions, which felt like a lot based on practice tests. I'm not very good at topology--definitely my worst field in mathematics--so that may have impacted my score negatively. I've heard that 85th percentile is kind of the "here or better is largely equivalent," so I'm wondering if I should try and take the test to try and get that.
Are my assumptions correct? And how much would slightly improving my score improve my chances of getting into a good graduate program? I'm thinking about applying to Berkeley and Brown as sort of "shooting for the stars" schools, and I'm also planning on applying to:
Penn State
UC, Boulder
UC, Storrs
Michigan
Missouri
New Hampshire
Washington
Washington University, St. Louis
Wesleyan
and maybe some others.