A competitive GRE score is fundamentally relative, depending entirely on the specific graduate programs and academic disciplines you target. Understanding how to interpret score percentiles and program-specific benchmarks provides the most meaningful framework for evaluating your performance.
Program-Specific Benchmarking
Your target institutions provide the most relevant scoring context.
- Departmental Score Ranges. Most graduate programs publish average GRE scores for their admitted students. Consequently, a good GRE score typically falls at or above the 75th percentile of these published ranges for your specific programs.
- Disciplinary Emphasis Variations. Engineering programs often prioritize quantitative scores, while humanities departments focus more heavily on verbal and analytical writing performance. Therefore, a good GRE score balances overall performance with strength in your field's emphasized section.
- Institutional Competitiveness Tier. Highly selective programs generally expect scores in the 80th-90th percentiles, while less competitive programs may accept scores closer to the 50th percentile.
General Competitive Score Ranges
Broad percentile benchmarks provide useful orientation points.
- Highly Competitive Range. Scores at or above the 80th percentile (approximately 162 Verbal, 165 Quantitative, 5.0 Analytical Writing) are considered strong for most top-tier programs.
- Solidly Competitive Range. Scores between the 60th-80th percentiles (approximately 157-161 Verbal, 160-164 Quantitative, 4.5 Analytical Writing) represent solid performance for many reputable programs.
- Minimally Competitive Range. Scores below the 50th percentile may require compensation through exceptional other application components.
Strategic Score Interpretation
Several contextual factors influence how programs evaluate your scores.
- Holistic Application Context. Strong undergraduate records, relevant experience, or compelling writing samples can sometimes offset slightly lower scores.
- Section Score Balance. Uneven profiles with one dramatically weaker section often raise more concerns than consistently moderate scores across all sections.
- Testing Trends. Many programs now emphasize section percentiles more heavily than raw scores due to recent test changes.
Ultimately, determining what constitutes a good GRE score requires thorough research into your specific target programs' admission statistics and priorities. The most effective approach involves identifying 5-10 prospective programs, compiling their average admitted student scores, and using these ranges to establish your personal target scores. This program-specific methodology provides more meaningful guidance than general percentile benchmarks alone.