Correlation between PGRE and Rank

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If I had to eat one flavor of ice cream every single day for the rest of my life, I would

Eat my favorite flavor because if I have to eat the same one every day, it might as well be one that I really like.
16
80%
Not eat my favorite flavor because eventually I would grow sick of eating it every day and ultimately I would despise the ice cream I liked the most.
4
20%
 
Total votes: 20

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HappyQuark
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Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:49 am

Disclaimer: The following plot uses values pulled from PhysicsGRE.com's Application Results/Stats page which is grossly incomplete. Furthermore, the analysis method I used was selected for for its ease of execution at the expense of quality. I got sick of writing SOP's so I decided to take a break and occupy an hour of my time parsing profiles to see what correlations I found. As such, all information contained below should regarded strictly as a combination of nonsense, hogwash and bunkum.

The following plot displays the best (i.e. lowest value) ranked university which a person was accepted to (i.e. offered acceptance but not necessarily chose to attend) versus their score on the Physics GRE. For example, if a person scored an 880 on the exam and was accepted at Harvard, Cornell, Columbia and UCLA, that person was assigned a score of 1 for their rank to reflect that a rank 1 school was the best option they were given with the score they got.

Image

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grae313
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by grae313 » Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:56 pm

Kinda seems like top 20 schools are looking for you to get at least 700 to 750 and then it's the rest of the application that makes the difference. 950+ appears to be the exception and looks to pull some weight.
Pretty cool graphic, thanks for doing this.

ryan6
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by ryan6 » Sun Oct 24, 2010 12:31 am

finally! haha, i have been waiting for someone to do this. Thank you. I realize you spent free time doing this, but what might be even more interesting would be separate scatter plots for domestic and foreign applicants. These two pools do not seem to be consistent when it comes to pgre and acceptance.

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:25 am

ryan6 wrote:finally! haha, i have been waiting for someone to do this. Thank you. I realize you spent free time doing this, but what might be even more interesting would be separate scatter plots for domestic and foreign applicants. These two pools do not seem to be consistent when it comes to pgre and acceptance.
Here is a plot with all of the international students removed (i.e. Domestic only).

Image

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satyad18
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by satyad18 » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:33 am

HappyQuark wrote:
ryan6 wrote:finally! haha, i have been waiting for someone to do this. Thank you. I realize you spent free time doing this, but what might be even more interesting would be separate scatter plots for domestic and foreign applicants. These two pools do not seem to be consistent when it comes to pgre and acceptance.
Here is a plot with all of the international students removed (i.e. Domestic only).

Image
Would be very happy if you came up with a plot of all international students. Thanks.

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:18 pm

Image

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:43 pm

And just for the hell of it, here is a 3D Plot of data for domestic students with the Major GPA factored in


Image

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satyad18
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by satyad18 » Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:14 pm

HappyQuark wrote:Image
Thank you. :)

vesperlynd
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by vesperlynd » Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:17 am

..
Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:43 am

vesperlynd wrote:HappyQuark,

Are these plots for physics departments only, or do they also include engineering and astronomy? Great job by the way!
The data includes astronomy programs but not engineering programs.

CarlBrannen
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by CarlBrannen » Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:46 am

It seems that the domestic students go to the best university their PGREs can get them into, while the international applicants end up in schools lower rated than what a domestic applicant would have chosen.

vesperlynd
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by vesperlynd » Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:34 am

..
Last edited by vesperlynd on Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Tue Oct 26, 2010 11:09 am

vesperlynd wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:
vesperlynd wrote:HappyQuark,

Are these plots for physics departments only, or do they also include engineering and astronomy? Great job by the way!
The data includes astronomy programs but not engineering programs.
Can you please make a plot for domestic applicants, physics departments only?
I wish. Unfortunately the astro and physics data in the results table are mixed in and in all likelihood this would require me to go through everyones profile individually and make sure they were applying strictly to physics departments. I might get around to that at some point but right now the GRE and applications have taken priority.

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WhoaNonstop
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by WhoaNonstop » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:11 pm

Now I understand why HappyQuark wants to go into HEP Theory... He loves plotting stuff.

-Riley

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HappyQuark
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by HappyQuark » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:35 pm

WhoaNonstop wrote:Now I understand why HappyQuark wants to go into HEP Theory... He loves plotting stuff.

-Riley
Ok I admit it, I'm addicted to plots. When the last M. Night Shyamalan movie came out, I noticed a trend in his ratings and couldn't help but plot it.

Image

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Skullgrid
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by Skullgrid » Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:52 pm

I'm really liking this thread.

geshi
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Re: Correlation between PGRE and Rank

Post by geshi » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:18 am

HappyQuark wrote:
WhoaNonstop wrote:Now I understand why HappyQuark wants to go into HEP Theory... He loves plotting stuff.

-Riley
Ok I admit it, I'm addicted to plots. When the last M. Night Shyamalan movie came out, I noticed a trend in his ratings and couldn't help but plot it.

Image
Woah woah woah, hang on a minute. You changed your forum avatar!

Oh right, the plot. Some how this trend does not amaze me. Nice plotting :).



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