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2012
The GRE® for Acceptance and Scholarships
Why is the GRE so important?
When asked which graduate school admissions factor is most important to them, more admissions officers selected “the GRE” than any other.
The GRE serves as a common yardstick for admissions officers to compare you to other applicants, regardless of experience, undergraduate major, or undergraduate GPA. Designed to predict success in the first year of graduate school, the GRE serves as a critical piece of evidence to show whether you have what it takes in the classroom and beyond.
Not only a factor in your acceptance, a high GRE can qualify you for merit-based scholarships: More than 2/3 of admissions officers from top graduate school programs report that GRE scores are an important factor in deciding merit-based financial aid.
Your GRE will likely be evaluated as you apply and compete for scholarships. The higher your GRE, the more confident a funder will be in your ability to complete the program.
With the GRE being so important for getting in and getting money, you need to submit the best score you can—and that takes time and preparation. The sooner you get started, the better.
If you have questions about your GRE preparation or about how a strong GRE score can help you, post them here and we’ll respond.
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About the Author:
Lee is Director of Graduate Programs at Kaplan Test Prep. He graduated from Cornell University with a concentration in international and comparative relations and a minor in literature. He has been teaching and tutoring for Kaplan since his college days. After Cornell, Lee worked for famed value-investor and philanthropist Irving Kahn, running his non-profit organization, The New York City Job and Career Center. Lee graduated from business school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a lead organizer of the MIT-Sloan Private Equity Symposium and received honorable mention and publication for his thesis on CPG strategy. After MIT, Lee worked in corporate finance for American Express before rejoining Kaplan. He had a nearly perfect score on the old GRE, and has spent countless hours analyzing the new GRE. Still an active GRE instructor, Lee has helped thousands of students, and has won numerous awards for his teaching and tutoring.
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