GRE Scores for Science Programs

Aiming for a science program, like Computer Science or Chemistry, and looking for what GRE score you’ll be expected to have to get into your dream school? Here’s the info from ETS chart that tells us the average GRE scores for majors based on survey data they collect from test takers.

Intended Major	Verbal	Math	AWA
Chemistry	153	157	3.9
Computer & Information Sciences	149	158	3.4
Earth, Atmospheric, and Marine Sciences	154	154	3.9
Mathematical Sciences	154	161	3.9
Physics and Astronomy	156	161	4
Natural Sciences – other	151	151	3.8

The scores above are intended majors. What does “intended” major mean? It simply means that that these are the average scores of people planning on applying to graduate school in a specific major.

Finding a real score range for Physical Sciences Programs

Using a scale drawn from the limited score data in the US News & World Report’s report on graduate schools, here’s a range of scores you could expect:

	Top 10		#11-50		#51-100
	Verbal	Math	Verbal	Math	Verbal	Math
Chemistry	160-164	160-164	156-160	158-162	154-158	156-160
Computer & Information Sciences	156-160	161-165	152-156	159-163	150-154	157-161
Earth, Atmospheric, and Marine Sciences	161-165	157-161	157-161	155-159	155-159	153-157
Mathematical Sciences	161-165	164-168	157-161	162-166	155-159	160-164
Physics and Astronomy	163-167	164-168	159-163	162-166	157-161	160-164
Natural Sciences – other	158-162	154-158	154-158	152-156	152-156	150-154

Remember that you will be applying to a hard science program, so applying to graduate school is anything but easy; this is just a “good-enough” approach should put you in a decent position to create the appropriate study goals. So if you’re interested in a PhD in Physics from MIT, or a Master’s in Computer Science from NYU, then this is a good place to start.