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Help on school selection

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:34 pm
by sumith85
Hello

I have done BSc in Physics from Dhaka University,Bangladesh. We do not have GPA system here, just the British style class system. My result and scores are like this

BSc Result :2nd class 59.3% marks

GRE Verbal:670 Quantitative:760 Analytical:4.0

Physics GRE: Hoping around 700 to 800 (Probably it would be 750 or something, sitting for it on November)
And I have no research experience to be worthful.
I am thinking about applying for PhD in Duke University, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University and mostly universities ranking between 30-50. These gradschools are not giving their average GRE scores.So what are my chances in those schools?Especially in schools like Duke , Georgia Tech and Texas A&M. Should I target schools below this range?I am quite in a fix here as to choose my gradschool.

Re: Help on school selection

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:34 pm
by HappyQuark
sumith85 wrote:Hello

I have done BSc in Physics from Dhaka University,Bangladesh. We do not have GPA system here, just the British style class system. My result and scores are like this

BSc Result :2nd class 59.3% marks

GRE Verbal:670 Quantitative:760 Analytical:4.0

Physics GRE: Hoping around 700 to 800 (Probably it would be 750 or something, sitting for it on November)
And I have no research experience to be worthful.
I am thinking about applying for PhD in Duke University, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University and mostly universities ranking between 30-50. These gradschools are not giving their average GRE scores.So what are my chances in those schools?Especially in schools like Duke , Georgia Tech and Texas A&M. Should I target schools below this range?I am quite in a fix here as to choose my gradschool.
If you check http://gradschoolshopper.com, it reports the average GRE and PGRE scores for a number of schools. For whatever reason, it seems to be that roughly half of the schools don't report the values. However, Gradschoolshopper gives the average PGRE for Duke and the Average GRE Quant and Verbal for Texas A&M.

http://physicsgrad.com/groups/duke-univ ... nformation
http://physicsgrad.com/groups/texas-am/ ... nformation

Your best bet to figure out what schools to apply to would be to check the previous years application threads and see if you can find someone with similar stats. You can also check out GradSchoolShopper.com and see if you can find some other average PGRE scores for other schools in the top 30-50.

Re: Help on school selection

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 10:13 pm
by pqortic
as HappyQuark said you should compare yourself with admitted students and available admission stats. after you found out what range of schools fits you apply to 2 or 3 lower rank safety schools that you think your application will be outstanding there and you have high chance of getting offer. specially since you are an international student you might put even more safeties in your list.