GRE Scores for Arts and Humanities Programs

Okay, okay, I know that the arts and humanities encompasses quite a wide swath of concentrations, from studio art to philosophy, but that’s how the ETS likes to lump them into one group and so I guess there’s a common thread in there somewhere. For these programs, the importance of the GRE ranges from vital to negligible, but if you’re here reading this page, I can assume that you actually care about what scores you’ll need.

Anyway, here’s the score data from the ETS chart providing the average GRE scores for majors based on survey data collected from test takers.

Intended Majors GRE Scores

Program	Verbal	Math	AWA
Humanities and Arts	157	149	4.2
Arts – History, theory, criticism	156	149	4.2
Arts – Performance and Studio	153	150	4.8
English Language and Literature	157	148	4.3
Foreign Languages and Literatures	155	150	4.0
History	156	148	4.2
Philosophy	160	153	4.4
Other	158	152	4.3

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.

GRE score range for Arts and Humanities Programs

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

	Top 10		#11-50		#51-100
	Verbal	Math	Verbal	Math	Verbal	Math
Humanities and Arts	164-168	152-156	160-164	150-154	158-162	148-152
Arts – History, theory, and criticism	163-167	152-156	159-163	150-154	157-161	148-152
Arts – Performance and Studio	160-164	153-157	156-160	151-155	154-158	149-153
English Language and Literature	164-168	151-155	160-164	149-153	158-162	147-151
Foreign Languages and Literatures	162-166	153-157	158-162	151-155	156-160	149-153
History	163-167	151-155	159-163	149-153	157-161	147-151
Philosophy	167-170	156-160	163-167	154-158	161-165	152-156
Other	165-169	155-159	161-165	153-157	159-163	151-155

Note that it could very well be that the methodology I describe below doesn’t apply to creative programs performance and visual arts, as the GRE scores could be flat across all tiers of scores (since GRE scores are probably relatively unimportant).

The scores of philosophy program applicants are some of the highest of any group, pushing the top program averages to near-perfect levels. For English applicants, it’s no surprise how high the verbal scores are, though scores below philosophy students might be a relief to some. 

Remember that you should bare in mind the relative importance of the GRE for your program. The GRE score for history programs is likely going to be weighed a lot differently than if you’re pursuing some kind performance masters.