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I recently received my math subject gre scores and did extremely poor on it (620: 41 percentile). This was an absolute shock to me as I have been preparing for the test since summer but I want to make no excuses. At first I was planning to apply to a lot of top 25 pure math grad schools but now I am looking at schools at the lower end of top 50 as my top choice.

I would like to know if there are strong math schools that do not have any test scores cut off/ do not require math gre scores.

Some examples of such schools are: Texas A&M and UC San Diego.

My current academic profile: My math GPA is 3.8 and I have lots of research experience with 2 publications. I'm taking a grad course and complete 2 more before I graduate.

Mast
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Rutherford Mark
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    It is my understanding that 20-30 ranged schools are not outside such a percentage with a strong application otherwise. – Chris C Nov 24 '14 at 13:10
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    It technically would depend on the major, would it not? – Compass Nov 24 '14 at 14:24
  • @Compass: I am planning for pure math grad schools – Rutherford Mark Nov 24 '14 at 14:59
  • Your score seems out of step with your other achievements. You might want to start by analyzing the reason for the discrepancy. For example, did you take the exam without having taken a practice exam first? If so, then simply retaking the test might result in a higher score, since you'd now be familiar with the format. If you didn't take a practice test, does your surprise at your low score mean that you did better on the practice test? If that's the case, could this low score have been the result of anxiety? –  Nov 24 '14 at 20:56
  • Could you clarify whether your score is on the GRE general exam or the math subject exam? – Pete L. Clark Nov 25 '14 at 03:41
  • @PeteL.Clark: The score is on gre math subject exam – Rutherford Mark Nov 25 '14 at 06:22
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    In that case: the score is by no means "extremely poor". The exam is only taken by those seriously considering math grad school, and a lot of programs do not require it. But I agree that the score is more typical of applicants in top 50 programs than top 20 programs. In terms of where you should apply: the faculty at your own institution know much more about your profile than we do. What do they say? – Pete L. Clark Nov 25 '14 at 06:42
  • I agree with others that this score is not the end of the world (if you do not plan on going to a top 20 school just now). As an anecdote, my undergrad was a top 50 program. It doesn't even require the math GRE, and I know at least one person in the grad program now got a 1st percentile on hers. To be fair, I don't know a single thing about the rest of her application and she could be a math ed. grad student, but based on my conversations with professors in the department (including those on the admissions committee), no one cares about the math GRE there. – JohnnyMo1 Mar 29 '15 at 15:18

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