Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I have found the time to go through all the application profiles and compile a list of acceptance/rejection by school based completely on the Physics GRE score. Unfortunately, I did not take information from every applicant. I only took data from domestic males applying to the traditional physics program because this is the information I am most interested in myself. This means I did not use applicants for Astronomy, Applied Physics, etc programs. Even though this study was focused on domestic males, I believe females as well as international students will be able to use this information in order to determine their chances.
The way I did this is very straight-forward. Basically I went through all the profiles, checked if they were a domestic male, checked their PGRE scores, made a long list of schools, and placed the score with the result beside it. For example, Arizona looks like this:
Arizona
920A
840A
830A
750A
730A
710A
630W
610R
550R
Of course, the numbers refer to the PGRE score, A-Accepted, R-Rejected, W-Waitlisted.
In order to condense this material, I took it one step forward, classifying "green", "blue", and "red" zones. The green zone refers to the score range that would likely get you into the school, the blue zone refers to the score range where there are a mixture of acceptances and rejections (or any gap between the green and red zone), and the red zone refers to the score range that would make it extremely difficult for admission. Please note, these ranges guarantee you nothing. Every once and a while there was an anomaly in a red zone or a green zone. For example, someone with a great research background would get accepted with a fairly low score, or visa versa. For example, I have translated Arizona into:
Arizona
710+
620-700
610-
Notice that 620-700 is blue because there are no data points available to evaluate that region. Other schools are not so straight forward, but I have done my best to translate them into this color scheme. This color scheme should be useful for many people trying to gauge themselves. If you are in the green zone, as long as your profile is average, you should get accepted. If you are in the blue zone, how well the rest of your profile looks may be the deciding factor. If you are in the red zone, your profile should be way above average in order to get accepted. This means multiple paper publications or a long history of successful research endeavors. If anyone has questions or would like to see the data set for a specific school let me know. I plan to update this so it looks neater later, but for now you'll have to deal.
Data can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?x8iizli618r174l
Acceptance by PGRE Score
Arizona:
University of Arizona
710+
620-700
610-
California:
California Institute of Technology
980+
840-970
830-
Stanford University
950+
840-940
830-
University of California, Berkeley
900+
800-890
790-
University of California, Davis
750+
650-740
640-
University of California, Irvine
750+
640-740
630-
University of California, Los Angeles
900+
750-890
740-
University of California, Riverside
560+
550-
University of California, San Diego
820+
730-810
720-
University of California, Santa Barbara
920+
790-910
780-
University of California, Santa Cruz
850+
700-840
690-
University of Southern California
750+
740-
Colorado:
University of Colorado, Boulder
870+
770-860
760-
Colorado State University
490+
480-
Connecticut
Yale University
930+
760-920
750-
Florida:
University of Florida
600+
590-
Illinois:
Northwestern University
790+
740-780
730-
University of Chicago
950+
840-940
830-
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
830+
680-820
670-
Indiana
Indiana University
740+
640-730
630-
Purdue University
680+
650-670
640-
Iowa
Iowa State University
610
600-
University of Iowa
610+
600-
Maryland
Johns Hopkins
710+
650-700
640-
University of Maryland, College Park
800+
750-790
740-
Massachusetts:
Boston University
750+
630-740
620-
Brandeis University
630+
620-
Harvard University
990
840-980
830-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
970+
900-960
890-
Northeastern University
580+
570-
Michigan:
Michigan State
610+
600-
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
800+
700-790
690-
Minnesota
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
750+
620-740
610-
Montana:
Montana State University
690+
680-
New Hampshire:
University of New Hampshire
520+
510-
New Jersey:
Princeton
990
900-980
890-
Rutgers
750+
650-740
640-
New York:
Columbia University
920+
750-910
740-
Cornell University
920+
770-910
760
New York University
750+
630-740
620-
Stony Brook
760+
590-740
580-
University of Rochester
610+
600-
North Carolina
Duke University
740+
660-730
650-
North Carolina State University
650+
640-
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
650+
640-
Ohio
Ohio State University
610+
600-
Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
550+
540-
Oregon
Oregon State University
550+
540-
University of Oregon
730+
690-720
680-
Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon
750+
740-
Lehigh University
660+
650-
University of Pennsylvania
750+
630-740
620-
Rhode Island
Brown University
680+
600-670
590-
Texas
Texas A&M
630+
620-
University of Texas, Austin
750+
650-740
640-
Virginia
University of Virginia
700+
690-
Washington
University of Washington, Seattle
760
750
740
Washington State University
590+
580-
Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin, Madison
830+
690-820
680-
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
680+
670-
The way I did this is very straight-forward. Basically I went through all the profiles, checked if they were a domestic male, checked their PGRE scores, made a long list of schools, and placed the score with the result beside it. For example, Arizona looks like this:
Arizona
920A
840A
830A
750A
730A
710A
630W
610R
550R
Of course, the numbers refer to the PGRE score, A-Accepted, R-Rejected, W-Waitlisted.
In order to condense this material, I took it one step forward, classifying "green", "blue", and "red" zones. The green zone refers to the score range that would likely get you into the school, the blue zone refers to the score range where there are a mixture of acceptances and rejections (or any gap between the green and red zone), and the red zone refers to the score range that would make it extremely difficult for admission. Please note, these ranges guarantee you nothing. Every once and a while there was an anomaly in a red zone or a green zone. For example, someone with a great research background would get accepted with a fairly low score, or visa versa. For example, I have translated Arizona into:
Arizona
710+
620-700
610-
Notice that 620-700 is blue because there are no data points available to evaluate that region. Other schools are not so straight forward, but I have done my best to translate them into this color scheme. This color scheme should be useful for many people trying to gauge themselves. If you are in the green zone, as long as your profile is average, you should get accepted. If you are in the blue zone, how well the rest of your profile looks may be the deciding factor. If you are in the red zone, your profile should be way above average in order to get accepted. This means multiple paper publications or a long history of successful research endeavors. If anyone has questions or would like to see the data set for a specific school let me know. I plan to update this so it looks neater later, but for now you'll have to deal.
Data can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?x8iizli618r174l
Acceptance by PGRE Score
Arizona:
University of Arizona
710+
620-700
610-
California:
California Institute of Technology
980+
840-970
830-
Stanford University
950+
840-940
830-
University of California, Berkeley
900+
800-890
790-
University of California, Davis
750+
650-740
640-
University of California, Irvine
750+
640-740
630-
University of California, Los Angeles
900+
750-890
740-
University of California, Riverside
560+
550-
University of California, San Diego
820+
730-810
720-
University of California, Santa Barbara
920+
790-910
780-
University of California, Santa Cruz
850+
700-840
690-
University of Southern California
750+
740-
Colorado:
University of Colorado, Boulder
870+
770-860
760-
Colorado State University
490+
480-
Connecticut
Yale University
930+
760-920
750-
Florida:
University of Florida
600+
590-
Illinois:
Northwestern University
790+
740-780
730-
University of Chicago
950+
840-940
830-
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
830+
680-820
670-
Indiana
Indiana University
740+
640-730
630-
Purdue University
680+
650-670
640-
Iowa
Iowa State University
610
600-
University of Iowa
610+
600-
Maryland
Johns Hopkins
710+
650-700
640-
University of Maryland, College Park
800+
750-790
740-
Massachusetts:
Boston University
750+
630-740
620-
Brandeis University
630+
620-
Harvard University
990
840-980
830-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
970+
900-960
890-
Northeastern University
580+
570-
Michigan:
Michigan State
610+
600-
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
800+
700-790
690-
Minnesota
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
750+
620-740
610-
Montana:
Montana State University
690+
680-
New Hampshire:
University of New Hampshire
520+
510-
New Jersey:
Princeton
990
900-980
890-
Rutgers
750+
650-740
640-
New York:
Columbia University
920+
750-910
740-
Cornell University
920+
770-910
760
New York University
750+
630-740
620-
Stony Brook
760+
590-740
580-
University of Rochester
610+
600-
North Carolina
Duke University
740+
660-730
650-
North Carolina State University
650+
640-
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
650+
640-
Ohio
Ohio State University
610+
600-
Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
550+
540-
Oregon
Oregon State University
550+
540-
University of Oregon
730+
690-720
680-
Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon
750+
740-
Lehigh University
660+
650-
University of Pennsylvania
750+
630-740
620-
Rhode Island
Brown University
680+
600-670
590-
Texas
Texas A&M
630+
620-
University of Texas, Austin
750+
650-740
640-
Virginia
University of Virginia
700+
690-
Washington
University of Washington, Seattle
760
750
740
Washington State University
590+
580-
Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin, Madison
830+
690-820
680-
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
680+
670-
Last edited by WhoaNonstop on Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- HappyQuark
- Posts: 762
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:08 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
If I actively used the bookmark feature in most web browsers and I had a folder in my bookmarks called nifty, this would go in there.
-
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:45 pm
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Nifty indeed. Guess it's now much easier to answer the next "MY PGRE SCORE IS xxx, CAN I GET INTO xxxx?" post
By the way, this is what is called "elite": one likes 990 only, and one does not like anything below 900:
By the way, this is what is called "elite": one likes 990 only, and one does not like anything below 900:
WhoaNonstop wrote: Harvard University
990
840-980
830-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
970+
900-960
890-
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Maybe someday I will do the domestic female profiles and the international students, but for now I'd say it is safe to assume that international students will have to have higher PGRE scores while domestic females slightly lower PGRE scores.
And yes, you're right, this will be nice to have so I don't look like a huge "meanie-head" when I inform people that they don't have a chance to get into a certain school.
-Riley
And yes, you're right, this will be nice to have so I don't look like a huge "meanie-head" when I inform people that they don't have a chance to get into a certain school.
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Neat! I assume you have a file with all the raw data in it; would you mind uploading that somewhere and posting a link? It would be neat to look at and I might have a go at making a chart that includes all the data points somehow.
- HappyQuark
- Posts: 762
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:08 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
A plot that might be neat would be these scores plotted vs school rank and then use I-bars to represent the range between red and green as given in the data.The_Duck wrote:Neat! I assume you have a file with all the raw data in it; would you mind uploading that somewhere and posting a link? It would be neat to look at and I might have a go at making a chart that includes all the data points somehow.
-
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- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:28 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
.
Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
In order to make my ranges, I did not make the bottom of the blue the lowest accepted person. I simply made cuts based on the amount of rejections / acceptances in certain areas. For example, I am well aware of a person with a 770 getting accepted to MIT/Harvard etc, however the majority of the scores at this level were rejected. I have the statistics for all of this stuff if you would like to see it, I will upload the file for those who want it. The way I have sorted these is so people can realistically look at their profiles. It does not mean that if someone was in the red area, they would not get accepted. It basically means very few people are accepted in this range and all of them have a phenomenal application.vesperlynd wrote:Riley,
I think you need to go back through the profiles again. Here are some results I get for domestic males for those applying to top 20 (approximately) schools, in traditional physics programs:
2008:
770: Accepted: Washington, Minnesota, Maryland; Rejected: Michigan
790: Accepted: Stanford, Penn; Rejected MIT, Chicago, Cornell, Berkeley, Harvard
770: Accepted: UIUC, Penn State
790: Accepted: Washington, NYU, Michigan; Rejected: Chicago, Caltech, MIT, Princeton
700: Accepted: Colorado, Michigan, Maryland, Yale; Rejected: MIT, Harvard, Princeton
770: Accepted: MIT, Harvard, Chicago, Yale, MSU, Michigan, Washington; Rejected: Berkeley, Stanford
790: Accepted: Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA; Rejected: UCSB, Chicago, MIT, Caltech
760: Accepted: Cornell, UT-Austin; Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UCSB
780: Accepted: Stanford, Maryland, Caltech, Cornell, UIUC; Rejected: Chicago
2009:
75%: Accepted: Harvard, Washington, Boulder, Berkeley; Rejected: UIUC, MIT, Stanford\
69%: Accepted: Cornell, Penn, Michigan, Maryland, JHU; Rejected: UIUC, Colorado
71%: Accepted: UCLA, UCSD, UT-Austin; Rejected: Chicago, UCSB, Princeton, Caltech, Penn, Michigan
750: Accepted: UCSB, UCLA; Rejected: JHU, NYU, Columbia
820: Accepted: UCSD, UT-Austin; Rejected: Princeton, UCLA
63%: Accepted: Cornell; Rejected: Stanford, Berkeley
2010:
79%: Accepted: Cornell, UIUC, Chicago, UCSD; Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, UCSB
72%: Accepted: UT-Austin, Washington, UCSD, UCSB
65%: Accepted: UCSB
790: Accepted: UCSB; Rejected: Princeton, Berkeley, Maryland, UIUC
68%: Accepted: Colorado, Maryland, UIUC, Michigan; Rejected: MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Princeton, UCSB, Stanford
820: Accepted: MIT, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin; Waitlisted: Princeton (Plasma)
800: Accepted: Cornell, Minnesota, Michigan; Rejected: Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Berkeley, Columbia, Caltech, UCSB
60%: Accepted: UCSB, UIUC; Rejected: Colorado, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Washington, Michigan
79%: Accepted: UIUC, Maryland, Michigan, UT-Austin; Rejected: Chicago, Cornell, Stanford
800: Accepted: UCLA, Caltech, UCSB, Stanford, Berkeley; Rejected: Princeton, Harvard
66%: Accepted: Michigan, Washington, UT-Austin; Rejected: Berkeley, UIUC, Chicago, Colorado, Cornell, Princeton
Here are some results for domestic women:
68%: Accepted: Cornell, Berkeley, UCSB, Yale, UCLA, Washington
73%: Accepted: Berkeley, Columbia, Penn, Washington; Rejected: Chicago, Harvard
54%: Accepted: Cornell, Boston, JHU; Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Michigan, Chicago, Yale, Columbia
74%: Accepted: Stanford, Maryland, UCSB, Berkeley, Colorado, UIUC, Yale, Michigan; Waitlisted: Harvard; Rejected: MIT
59%: Accepted: Washington, Michigan, Colorado; Rejected: Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Princeton
It's obvious looking at this that the only schools for which the GRE a deal-breaker are Princeton and MIT.
For astronomy programs, as long as you have excellent research and recs from known profs, you can get accepted to top schools with 40-50%.
-Riley
-
- Posts: 194
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:28 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
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Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
If you are not happy with the results of my study, then do not use it. Take the 6 hours out of your own life to do it, and you'll see that what I have posted is a good representative. I did this myself to see how much acceptance correlated to PGRE score and it DOES for many schools. The applicant with the 770 that got accepted to top schools had many publications and a superb research background. Interpret this however you want, but if you'd like it done differently, than do it yourself.
-Riley
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
GRE score also correlates pretty strongly with the strength of other aspects of the application. The fact that GRE scores correlate strongly with acceptance doesn't necessarily mean there's much of a causal relation.WhoaNonstop wrote:If you are not happy with the results of my study, then do not use it. Take the 6 hours out of your own life to do it, and you'll see that what I have posted is a good representative. I did this myself to see how much acceptance correlated to PGRE score and it DOES for many schools. The applicant with the 770 that got accepted to top schools had many publications and a superb research background. Interpret this however you want, but if you'd like it done differently, than do it yourself.
-Riley
-
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- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:28 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
..
Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
If PGRE score correlates strongly with the rest of the application then this is even a better indicator. As I've said before, if PGRE correlates with both the rest of the application and acceptance, this will be helpful to people asking the questions of: "Hey I got a 750 PGRE and want to go to Harvard.".. where statistically I can respond. Well, If your application is superb you'll have a slight chance, but not a single domestic male posting on here has received admittance with a PGRE score lower than 770 to Harvard. Now, I'm in no means saying that there aren't people out there who have gotten in with a 750, just letting the statistics speak for themself. Let me show you an interesting result and I'll let you decide if this information is helpful:kroner wrote:GRE score also correlates pretty strongly with the strength of other aspects of the application. The fact that GRE scores correlate strongly with acceptance doesn't necessarily mean there's much of a causal relation.
Washington
990A
980A
920A
900A
900A
890A
850A
850A
840A
830A
810R
810A
810A
800A
790A
790A
770A
770A
760A
740R
730R
730R
700R
700R
680R
680R
680R
550R
These are the results for domestic males applying to University of Washington. Besides the one anomaly, do you see any sort of trend here? Any? Let me show you another interesting result:
All the PGRE scores over 900 that applied to Berkeley:
Berkeley
990A
990A
990A
990A
990A
990A
990A
990A
980A
980A
980A
990A
960A
950A
940A
930A
930A
920A
920A
910A
910A
910A
900A
900A
-Riley
Last edited by WhoaNonstop on Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I made a statement about this in my initial post (I believe). I don't think anyone with a superb application will look at this and say... "Hey you know what, this schmuck is right, I shouldn't apply". But for the average individual applying to graduate school, that red zone is wonderful information for them, especially when they have no idea how to gauge themselves. I can guarantee you that the majority of people in that range with an average application will indeed get rejected. As for redoing it using percentages, you will notice that not everyone posts their percentile, which presents a problem.vesperlynd wrote: My point is that while it's difficult, it's not impossible and people shouldn't give up if the rest of their application is good.
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Just for the record, I'm almost certain that Berkeley physics would have rejected me and that Washington probably would have if I'd applied. Unfortunately I didn't take the opportunity to mess up your data.
I agree though that this should be helpful for people as a guideline.
I agree though that this should be helpful for people as a guideline.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
..
Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Excellent work, Riley. Your list is certainly helpful for everyone to gauge their chances. GRE is only an indicator and most people realize that. So, I think most people will take your list in the right spirit.
-
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- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:13 pm
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Riley,
Can you please post the data for Northeastern, NYU, and Ohio State? I will look through the profiles if you don't have a chance, but I would like to see it plainly if possible.
Can you please post the data for Northeastern, NYU, and Ohio State? I will look through the profiles if you don't have a chance, but I would like to see it plainly if possible.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Northeasternekuphysics wrote:Riley,
Can you please post the data for Northeastern, NYU, and Ohio State? I will look through the profiles if you don't have a chance, but I would like to see it plainly if possible.
630A
590A
580A
Ohio State
990A
780A
770A
750A
730A
710A
670A
630A
610A
New York University
930A
910A
870A
850A
810A
750A
750A
740R
720R
680A
630A
550R
-Riley
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Just realized that I forgot to upload the file I used to collect all of this. I didn't use anything special, just Microsoft Works, but I'm sure it can still be manipulated in any way desired.
Let me know if anyone has trouble downloading it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?x8iizli618r174l
-Riley
Let me know if anyone has trouble downloading it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?x8iizli618r174l
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Thanks Riley! I downloaded the file, download works fine. Kind of wish I read this forum BEFORE applying.
I wonder what should the PGRE be like for international females... Unfortunately each year one can count those profiles on the fingers on one handWhoaNonstop wrote:Maybe someday I will do the domestic female profiles and the international students, but for now I'd say it is safe to assume that international students will have to have higher PGRE scores while domestic females slightly lower PGRE scores.
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Yeah, as I mentioned. This "set" is by far the most interesting to pull any results from. But I think for an international female, I don't think it would be a bad approximation to use these results. As domestic females tend to get in with lower scores, and international males tend to have higher scores to get in.kubikat wrote:Thanks Riley! I downloaded the file, download works fine. Kind of wish I read this forum BEFORE applying.
I wonder what should the PGRE be like for international females... Unfortunately each year one can count those profiles on the fingers on one handWhoaNonstop wrote:Maybe someday I will do the domestic female profiles and the international students, but for now I'd say it is safe to assume that international students will have to have higher PGRE scores while domestic females slightly lower PGRE scores.
By the way, if anyone sees anything they'd like to change for my Green/Blue/Red zones, feel free to argue with me. I just made very rough guesses, so if you look at the data and think something needs to be changed, let me know.
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Thanks for posting the data, Riley! I cobbled together an infographic. Schools are sorted by US News ranking.
In the end everyone is either accepted or rejected, so I assume those represented as "waitlisted" in the data and graphic were probably ultimately rejected.
In the raw data I found a few annotations I didn't understand and just ignored in making the above. A few entries are annotated "-PL", e.g. "910A-PL". One is "810Rec" (a typo?). Are these significant?
In the end everyone is either accepted or rejected, so I assume those represented as "waitlisted" in the data and graphic were probably ultimately rejected.
In the raw data I found a few annotations I didn't understand and just ignored in making the above. A few entries are annotated "-PL", e.g. "910A-PL". One is "810Rec" (a typo?). Are these significant?
- WhoaNonstop
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:31 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
The Rec was a note I made and forgot to erase. They seemed to be a weird scenario so I made sure to remember it.The_Duck wrote: A few entries are annotated "-PL", e.g. "910A-PL". One is "810Rec" (a typo?). Are these significant?
However, the PL is only on MIT and Princeton, where there is a separate application to the "Plasma Physics" program (I'm fairly sure it is separate anyways).
Wonderful mapping of the results though.
-Riley
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- Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
So, no one gets rejected from Ohio State?
It's fairly obvious we have too small a sample size, though I do like the chart. I think it shows that schools put just about as much emphasis on the PGRE as we think they do: It's really important, especially if it's low, but it doesn't guarantee anything at the top schools. Also, there's enough spread to give anyone hope, but I'm betting those low scores came with kick-ass recommendations from a PI.
EDIT: I'm not interested in doing this, since I'm busy enough as it is, but I'd be interested in seeing a graph with the schools normalized (give everyone an "average" acceptance of 100 with a "std deviation" of sigma/9.9), and the same for rejections. Then plot an accept score vs reject score, with error bars. That should give us an idea of which schools weigh the PGRE less.
It's fairly obvious we have too small a sample size, though I do like the chart. I think it shows that schools put just about as much emphasis on the PGRE as we think they do: It's really important, especially if it's low, but it doesn't guarantee anything at the top schools. Also, there's enough spread to give anyone hope, but I'm betting those low scores came with kick-ass recommendations from a PI.
EDIT: I'm not interested in doing this, since I'm busy enough as it is, but I'd be interested in seeing a graph with the schools normalized (give everyone an "average" acceptance of 100 with a "std deviation" of sigma/9.9), and the same for rejections. Then plot an accept score vs reject score, with error bars. That should give us an idea of which schools weigh the PGRE less.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Not the requested plot, but one I thought was interesting. I plotted the mean and standard deviation for any school in Riley's list with two or more applicants.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Standard deviation has no meaning with so few samples, other than a somewhat inaccurate measurement of how well we know the information (since mean error is inversely proportional to the root number of samples).
Also there isn't likely a normal distribution of grades, especially for top schools, due to the cap of 990 on scores.
Still, though, it is interesting to see the distribution of scores. Doesn't seem to indicate any one school that doesn't care much about the PGRE (the list seems to follow the general order established in my mind, at least).
EDIT: I think these error bars really should be divided by root number of samples. Otherwise, I suppose this is just a graph of inner quartile range of scores.
Also there isn't likely a normal distribution of grades, especially for top schools, due to the cap of 990 on scores.
Still, though, it is interesting to see the distribution of scores. Doesn't seem to indicate any one school that doesn't care much about the PGRE (the list seems to follow the general order established in my mind, at least).
EDIT: I think these error bars really should be divided by root number of samples. Otherwise, I suppose this is just a graph of inner quartile range of scores.
- WhoaNonstop
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Even though I highly doubt we'd publish a paper on it, I think the previous graph is very helpful, pretty much exactly what one would expect.
-Riley
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I think I should print out of this on a C0size paper and paste it in my room.RabiFlops wrote:Not the requested plot, but one I thought was interesting. I plotted the mean and standard deviation for any school in Riley's list with two or more applicants.
aha that looks nice I can see it.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
WhoaNonstop wrote:Even though I highly doubt we'd publish a paper on it, I think the previous graph is very helpful, pretty much exactly what one would expect.
-Riley
Actually Riley, if someone wanted to go through the pain of working out the other 3 odd years of acceptances, I bet you could get this published, in some journal of Physics Education or something. We'd have to work out the sample bias, but it'd be possible to estimate using the grad schools that do publish their PGRE scores.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
bfollinprm: I acknowledge the flaws with the standard deviation. I just wanted to give a rough idea of the mean and the spread. If you'd like to redo it (and you've got Mathematica), I'd be happy to make the code available.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
RabiFlops wrote:bfollinprm: I acknowledge the flaws with the standard deviation. I just wanted to give a rough idea of the mean and the spread. If you'd like to redo it (and you've got Mathematica), I'd be happy to make the code available.
I don't, no. And I didn't mean to imply that there was a need to fix it, it's not going to make much of a difference (since the real problem is too low of a sample size). It's more for posterity, in case they try to read more into this then they should.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Interestingly, Ohio State says the minimum acceptable PGRE is 600 and their recent average is 683. See:bfollinprm wrote:So, no one gets rejected from Ohio State?
http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/340.pdf
Riley managed to more or less guess the 600 limit even though his only data points were 610+.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
- WhoaNonstop
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
WhoaNonstop wrote: Ohio
Ohio State University
610+
600-
Notice, if there were no data points available I made that range blue, because I had no clue.CarlBrannen wrote:Interestingly, Ohio State says the minimum acceptable PGRE is 600 and their recent average is 683. See:bfollinprm wrote:So, no one gets rejected from Ohio State?
http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/340.pdf
Riley managed to more or less guess the 600 limit even though his only data points were 610+.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
-Riley
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I wonder if that means Ohio State throws away the PGRE once you meet that arbitrary cutoff? They have about a 25% acceptance rate, so I doubt it's due to lack of quality applicants.CarlBrannen wrote: Interestingly, Ohio State says the minimum acceptable PGRE is 600 and their recent average is 683. See:
http://www.aip.org/gpb/pdf_files/340.pdf
Riley managed to more or less guess the 600 limit even though his only data points were 610+.
Re: All my other posts. I just realized I might have seemed a little snobby, and over-critical. I actually think everything Riley's done here (and everything everyone posted over top of it) is awesome. I'm more or less talking out loud about ways to drag even more useful information out of our limited samples (which just might be sufficient at some of the top schools). One of the things that is important in these things is to accurately map the sample space, so rejections are important to any real statistics we can do. I'm sure everyone knows that who's posting, I'm just worried that a junior who stumbles on this thread will take more from it then he/she should.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Hi there!
Unfortunately I have nothing to contribute to this discussion other than this:
I am a female international student, currently applying for a graduate school...
I'll be sure to let you know how it went! (details I mean)
Riley thank so much for this post! Not only did it inform me of my chances,
but also familiarize me with certain universities I would otherwise have not considered applying to!
thanks again!
Unfortunately I have nothing to contribute to this discussion other than this:
I am a female international student, currently applying for a graduate school...
I'll be sure to let you know how it went! (details I mean)
Riley thank so much for this post! Not only did it inform me of my chances,
but also familiarize me with certain universities I would otherwise have not considered applying to!
thanks again!
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Does anyone have the raw data that went into this? It seems that all the links are broken.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Do we have an update on this subject? Has anyone else been doing the same awesome super work that Riley has done before?
Also, Riley could you make the data available for download again? The link is no longer available.
-DT-
Also, Riley could you make the data available for download again? The link is no longer available.
-DT-
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I'm very surprised about John Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
710+
650-700
640-
Isn't it a top 20 university? Or have I got the wrong impression
This makes it look sort of like a safety school.
I'd also be interested in Astronomy data on JHU, given it hosts STScI
Johns Hopkins
710+
650-700
640-
Isn't it a top 20 university? Or have I got the wrong impression
This makes it look sort of like a safety school.
I'd also be interested in Astronomy data on JHU, given it hosts STScI
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
It's important to point out that these averages are almost universally higher than actual averages reported by universities (e.g. Chicago reports avg pGRE of 840 and Wisconsin-Madison one of 780). Applicants beware that undergraduates posting at a community called physicsgre.com will, unsurprisingly, tend to higher pGRE scores relative to their overall profile. But don't rule out universities that splendidly align with your research experience because you do not meet the average pGRE reported here.RabiFlops wrote:Not the requested plot, but one I thought was interesting. I plotted the mean and standard deviation for any school in Riley's list with two or more applicants.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I would like to see updated results
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
For what it's worth, this will be my project for the next week. Going through all of the 2010-2015 acceptances. Probably not making fancy plots, but at least putting the data into an easily-searchable list.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
On behalf of everyone, thank you in advance. I can't tell you how many time I referenced this post, so it'll be great to have an updated one.Dishsoap wrote:For what it's worth, this will be my project for the next week. Going through all of the 2010-2015 acceptances. Probably not making fancy plots, but at least putting the data into an easily-searchable list.
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Just a head's up: someone already did 2011-2013 (I believe). It is somewhere in this forum. I can help you find it if you'd like.Dishsoap wrote:For what it's worth, this will be my project for the next week. Going through all of the 2010-2015 acceptances. Probably not making fancy plots, but at least putting the data into an easily-searchable list.
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
I have also run across this in my travels, which is what motivated me, but I haven't seen it since. I was thinking of just doing it all on my own, that way I can take data and store it as I please, so don't worry about it.physicsphdplz wrote:Just a head's up: someone already did 2011-2013 (I believe). It is somewhere in this forum. I can help you find it if you'd like.Dishsoap wrote:For what it's worth, this will be my project for the next week. Going through all of the 2010-2015 acceptances. Probably not making fancy plots, but at least putting the data into an easily-searchable list.
I'm thinking of doing so in the format that vesperlynd used above and storing it in Excel (I also thought about Mathematica, but I want everyone to be able to see it.) Initially I wanted to separate out males/females and international/domestic, but I think just an overall picture will be good starting out.
- WhoaNonstop
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Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Hey guys,
I had a private message asking for the raw data file that I had linked in the original post. Of course, that has expired. I'm about 100% sure I do not have the file anymore but it shouldn't be that hard to scrape old profiles with some regex. Unfortunately I don't have the time I use to to put that together.
-Riley
I had a private message asking for the raw data file that I had linked in the original post. Of course, that has expired. I'm about 100% sure I do not have the file anymore but it shouldn't be that hard to scrape old profiles with some regex. Unfortunately I don't have the time I use to to put that together.
-Riley
Re: Acceptance by PGRE Score Summary
Hey!
How did get this data? I tried to donwload it, but it expired.
How did get this data? I tried to donwload it, but it expired.