Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE

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SymmetryMan
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:59 pm

Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE

Post by SymmetryMan » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:24 pm

Hi,
I am an international student and about to complete my MSc from a Canadian University. My undergraduate thesis was on Feynman's path integrals in particle physics. Then in my master's I worked on experimental subatomic physics. I have applied to several US universities to do PhD in theory-HEP. I have good research background and recommendation letters :) But my PGRE score sucks :( (620). Plus, I'm changing my field from experimental to theory!. I don't know if I stand a chance in US universities.
My CGPA is (3.85/4.3).
I have applied to following universities:

SUNY,SB: Rejected already
U Chicago: Rejected already
U CLA : Rejected already

U Mass Amherst : Yet to hear
Virginia Tech : Yet to hear

Any opinion?
Last edited by SymmetryMan on Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

PathIntegrals92
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:42 pm

Re: Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE

Post by PathIntegrals92 » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:19 pm

SymmetryMan wrote:Hi,
I am an international student and about to complete my MSc from a Canadian University. My undergraduate thesis was on Feynman's path integrals in particle physics. Then in my master's I worked on experimental subatomic physics. I have applied to several US universities to do PhD in theory-HEP. I have good research background and recommendation letters :) But my PGRE score sucks :( (620). Plus, I'm changing my field from experimental to theory!. I don't know if any US university gonna select me.

I have applied to following universities:

SUNY,SB: Rejected already
U Chicago: Rejected already
U CLA : Rejected already

U Mass Amherst : Yet to hear
Virginia Tech : Yet to hear

Any opinion?
Hi, I'm sorry your application season is not going the way you hoped. Admission for theory is very competitive and, unfortunately, I don't think your pgre is strong enough. Since you are international, it's even more competitive. I noticed that you applied to mostly public/state schools. I think you would have had a better shot if you had some more private schools, but do not apply to all top 10-20.

If you end up getting rejected from all schools, my suggestion is that you spend time studying very hard for the PGREs and try to aim for a score 800+ ( 900+ is better). Do more research and get excellent LORS. If your gpa is not quite good, maybe take some classes to raise it, otherwise really aim for high pgres+strong research.

HEP-th is the most competitive, so maybe think about whether you really want to do it. If you do, read what I wrote above.

Catria
Posts: 354
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:14 pm

Re: Chances of getting into grad school with low PGRE

Post by Catria » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:45 pm

I understand that NSERC has not been very kind to HEP-TH, hence why I applied to US schools. But my PGRE is in the low-900s, and I got an offer from Minnesota (for HEP-TH, I would say that Stony Brook and Minnesota are rather similar in admissions difficulty)

Any reasons why European schools would prove problematic (other than logistics)?



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