gre for international student

[philebus2]

I'm thinking to apply to an anthropology program (PhD). Do you think around 1200 GRE (around 600 Verbal n 650 Quant) points is enough for an international student? I'm considering universities like Harvard, Yale, UPenn etc. Thanks for the help in advance.

Comments

[pigfish]

I know you're concerned about funding and all that, but really you need to examine these schools and determine whether they have professors who are doing research that you would be excited about. Funding is all very well and good, but if you're working on a project you loathe, it won't matter, you'll still be miserable.

[wocka_wocka]

Honestly, you're going to be going up against kids with 1500+ GRE -- international or not, and it would behoove you to get as close to perfect as possible. I'm applying to Harvard, and one of my friends in the program got a 1580. I might not reach that, but cracking the 90% in verbal for my field is critical. For anthro, you need to show competence in math and verbal, so good luck with that.

However that being said, they really take the whole package into consideration, so if the rest of your application is steller, you *might* be able to squeeze by with that score. 1250 is a pretty average score, regardless of applying to Ivies or not.

[philebus2]

Is the GRE so strongly considered? I thought it's mostly for cut off, or not even for that. As I know, for example, at Berkley the GRE is the least important thing in the graduate admission. (I seriously doubt that a not English speaking foreign student can get 1500+ in GRE.:( )
By the way what do you mean by stellar? What kind of applicants could get into Harvard?

[wocka_wocka]

Actually, my friend's "native" language was Korean, and he got the 1580

[philebus2]

I have to assert again that it's very hard to get good scores for international students on GRE. I'm sure your friend studied in the US, before he or she applied or did the GRE. I've never lived in the US and never studied in an English speaking university, I think it's rather presumptuous to expect every foreign student to get 1580 on GRE. I have to put a lot of work to get even 600 in the verbal section. Moreover I'm not convinced that you need so high point for admission, as I wrote previously for education department the average verbal score was round 635, but again it depends on your field of study

[ra912]

I've got a similar concern. I'm an international student who can only afford to study if fully funded by the university. I'm trying to make my application as competitive as I can right now, which I think is the most important thing to do here.

I'm doing my best to make sure I deserve every penny my future uni decides to invest in me, and conversely to make damn sure they get more than their money's worth by taking a chance on this international student.

You gotta recognize that there's no such thing as a free ride, so focus on making yourself worth funding. As idealistic as it sounds, it's my best bet and that of many other international students out there.

[circumfession]

Actually, I think most non-international students are in the same boat. Most of my fellow Americans have little access to outside funding (and I refuse to take on loans for grad school), so we're depending on the program to essentially pay for us for 5-7 years.

I think that you're being very wise in your approach. In a sense, it's almost like a job application, isn't it? you want a privileged spot--you're being paid to study!

[roseofjuly]

Is it enough? Maybe, considering the rest of your package. If you have a stellar GPA, personal statement, and work experience/research experience history then a 1200 may be enough to get in; if you're average in the other areas then it may not. I know at my program (psychology at Columbia) the department states that a student should score at least a 1200 to be considered, and we fund everyone. I'm guessing, however, that the majority of our students scored higher than a 1200.

[gangur]

I'm not in anthro, but in my social science, match with the faculty plays a huge role too. And everyone that gets in gets full funding, either from a fellowship (rare) or a TAship (common). This includes tons of international students too.

[philebus2]

At public universities as well?

[philebus2]

I've just seen your previous comment. Everything is clear now. :) By the way by big state school you mean universities like PennState?

[gangur]

Yes, any R1 state school.