Average GRE Scores for top MS Universities in USA
Good GRE score for Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley
Some common questions we get from international applicants:
- What are the average GRE score for an MS in USA for Engineering, Computer Science, Maths, Education etc?
- What’s a good GRE score for top U.S. universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, UCLA?
- What’s a good GRE score range?
Read on to find answers to these questions.
If you’re planning to get into a top graduate program in the US, you would be aware of the importance of a good GRE score in the application process. Often applicants are curious to know what a good score would be to get into a particular graduate school of their choice. The GRE scores would differ depending upon the school you choose. Again, within a particular university / school, it would vary depending upon the field you select.
The mean GRE scores for some disciplines as per ETS data are given below:
Average GRE Scores for Masters degree in USA
Masters Degree | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Business | 151 | 156 |
2. | Social sciences | 153 | 152 |
3. | Physical sciences | 151 | 160 |
4. | Life sciences | 151 | 151 |
5. | Arts and humanities | 156 | 150 |
Though the above table represents the mean scores across various schools, the average GRE score for the top ranked schools tend to be much higher. Let’s see how much the average GRE score varies depending upon the school or the program you wish to apply to.
[Note: Many schools have relaxed the GRE requirement during the Covid pandemic. The scores represented are historical trends from the years before.]
Average GRE Scores for MS in Engineering
University Name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
162 | 167 |
2. | Harvard | 80 to 85th percentile – 158 to 160 | 80 to 85th percentile – 163 to 166 |
3. | Stanford | 162 | 168 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
157 | 165 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
155 | 166 |
6. | Princeton (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
162 | 166 |
7. | Yale | 155 | 167 |
8. | Carnegie Mellon University | 153 | 163 |
9. | University of Southern California | 151 | 166 |
10. | UCLA | 158 | 168 |
11. | Cornell | 153 | 160 |
12. | Columbia University (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
155 | 166 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Computer Science
University name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
160 | 164 |
2. | Harvard | 160 | 164 |
3. | Stanford | 162 | 166 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
160 | 164 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania | 159 | 168 |
6. | Princeton (No longer a requirement during Covid) |
164 | 167 |
7. | Yale | 162 | 166 |
8. | University of Southern California (Not required during Covid. Will resume in 2022) |
155 | 161 |
9. | UCLA (Covid update: GRE Requirement for Fall 2022-2023 Admissions Cycle Only) |
155 | 161 |
10. | Cornell | 160 | 164 |
11. | Columbia University (Not required during Covid. Will resume in 2022) |
155 | 161 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Psychology
University name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (GRE not required) |
163 | 154 |
2. | Harvard (GRE is optional) |
163 | 154 |
3. | Stanford (Not required) |
163 | 154 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley | 163 | 160 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania | 158 | 151 |
6. | Princeton (Not required) |
165 | 168 |
7. | Yale (Not required for Fall 2021. Expected to resume in 2022) |
163 | 154 |
8. | University of Southern California (Not required for Fall 2021. Expected to resume in 2022) |
158 | 151 |
9. | UCLA | 163 | 154 |
10. | Cornell (Not required in 2021 application process) |
158 | 151 |
11. | Columbia University (Not required until Fall 2022) |
Combined score >310 | Combined score >310 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Physics
University name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Not required during Covid. Will resume in 2022) |
167 | 167 |
2. | Harvard (Not required during Covid. May resume in 2022) |
167 | 167 |
3. | Stanford (Not required during Covid. May resume in 2022) |
167 | 167 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley (Not accepting General GRE for Fall 2022. May resume in 2023. Subject GRE is optional) |
167 | 167 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania | 162 | 164 |
6. | Princeton (For 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 applications, both General GRE and Subject GRE are optional |
168 | 170 |
7. | Yale | 162 | 164 |
8. | University of Southern California (No GRE required during Covid) |
159 | 162 |
9. | UCLA (No GRE required) |
162 | 164 |
10. | Cornell (Not required for 2022 admissions) |
167 | 167 |
11. | Columbia University | 162 | 164 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Chemistry
University name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Not required during Covid. Will resume in 2022) |
164 | 163 |
2. | Harvard (GRE not required/optional) |
164 | 163 |
3. | Stanford (Not required during Covid. May resume in 2022) |
164 | 163 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley (Not required during Covid. May resume in 2023) |
164 | 163 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania (Not required but recommended for Physical Chemistry applications) |
159 | 160 |
6. | Princeton (Not required but recommended) |
164 | 168 |
7. | Yale (Not required during Covid) |
159 | 160 |
8. | University of Southern California (No GRE required during Covid) |
156 | 158 |
9. | UCLA | 158-160 | 161-163 |
10. | Cornell (Not required for 2022 admissions) |
164 | 163 |
11. | Columbia University | 164 | 163 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Mathematics
University Name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Not required during Covid. Will resume in 2022) |
165 | 167 |
2. | Harvard (General GRE not required. Subject GRE required) |
165 | 167 |
3. | Stanford (Admission to PhD only. Master’s not offered to applicants from outside Stanford) |
165 | 167 |
4. | University of California-Berkeley (Not required during Covid. May resume in 2023) |
165 | 167 |
5. | University of Pennsylvania | 160 | 164 |
6. | Princeton (Not accepted for Fall 2022) |
168 | 168 |
7. | Yale | 165 | 167 |
8. | University of Southern California | 157 | 162 |
9. | UCLA (Not required for 2022 admissions) |
165 | 167 |
10. | Cornell (Not required for 2022 admissions) |
160 | 164 |
11. | Columbia University | 165 | 167 |
Average GRE Scores for MS in Education
University Name | Average Verbal | Average Quantitative | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Harvard | 163 | 158 |
2. | Stanford | 161 | 156 |
3. | University of California-Berkeley | 159 | 152 |
4. | University of Pennsylvania | 162 | 156 |
5. | University of South California | 161 | 154 |
6. | UCLA | 158 | 152 |
7. | Columbia University | 158 | 153 |
8. | Northwestern University | 161 | 153 |
Data Source: Individual school websites, U.S. News, Magoosh, PrepScholar, Prodigy
The GRE verbal and quantitative sections are scored on a scale of 130-170 in one-point increment in each of the two sections. You can score anywhere from 130 to 170 which means that the number of possible scores that can be obtained are limited to just 41. This range means that even a small jump in your GRE score can give a boost to your percentile ranking.
To read more on how GRE score percentile changes as per your scaled score, check out this GRE score percentile table.
Some programs like engineering put greater emphasis on the quantitative score whereas there’s lesser focus on the verbal score. So, applicants aiming for a top engineering college need to come up with a competitive quantitative score while you may work on getting a good verbal score as well.
The reverse is true for fields like psychology, arts and humanities where you’d need to have a good verbal score.
What’s a good GRE score range?
The GRE score forms an important component of the application process. However, you also need to remember, it’s not just the GRE score that matters; there are other components of the application that would be taken in to account. An impressive undergrad score, work experience or extracurriculars would help, and then there are your letters of recommendation as well as your SOP (Statement of Purpose) that can contribute to building a strong application.
As discussed before, there’s no perfect answer to what your GRE score should be to get into a particular program as each school you apply to would have their own averages. So, you’d need to check with the university where you wish to apply to see what the average GRE scores have been for the previous years.
The ETS provides test statistics (test percentage distribution of scores) for different fields for the entire range of scores candidates obtain over a three year period in each of the GRE sections. We’ve arranged this GRE score range (applies to both the verbal and quantitative sections) and provided ratings based on the general perception of what a good or not-so-good GRE score would be.
GRE score range | Ratings | |
---|---|---|
1. | 165-170 | Excellent |
2. | 155-164 | Very good |
3. | 150-154 | Good |
4. | 140-149 | Needs improvement |
5. | 130-139 | Poor |
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- Average GRE scores for MIT
- Average GRE scores for Harvard
- Average GRE scores for Stanford
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