How Graduate School Application is Reviewed and Accepted

I’m responding to readers question about Statement of purpose and importance of SOP in getting admission to graduate school.

Bindhu – I read your Happy Schools blog and its very great work and thank you for helping us. I have a doubt regarding Statement of Purpose, whether the graduate school admission committee will give equal importance to Statement of Purpose and the scores from GRE or TOEFL or Academic scores or its just part of everything

That’s a good question and I’m sure many students will have the same question in mind. I have discussed about Graduate School application process in detail ( Part 1 and Part 2 ), but haven’t explained in detail about the importance of different parts of graduate school application. If your graduate school application has reached department, implies that you have satisfied some of the minimum requirements set by the graduate school. But, that’s not all over.

I will explain with example based on GRE Score:

Case 1:

Minimum GRE for admission : 1100

Applicant’s score : 900

Admission chances : 15%

Case 2:

Minimum GRE for admission : 1100

Applicant’s score : 1050

Grad school Admission chances : 25%

Now, SOP, Recommendation Letters, Resume, Academic Percentage will come into picture. Suppose you have some 10 backlogs, then admission chances are very slim ( <10% )

Suppose you have very good recommendation and very good academic percentage ( distinction, university rank, class topper,..) then you might get conditional admission.

Just to make sure, when you are on the bubble, tips and strategies from double you admission chances with low GRE will come in to be useful.

Case 3:

Minimum GRE for admission : 1100

Applicant’s score : 1130

Admission chances : 60%

- Unless the Academic performance is very poor, you will not have any problems in getting admission.

Case 4:

Minimum GRE for admission : 1100

Applicant’s score : 1250+

Admission chances : 95%+

If the GRE, Academic percentage, recommendation letter are good and much more than minimum requirements, then there is very good chance to get admission with some form of Tuition Waiver, Scholarship. To really improve the chances of getting scholarship, simple tips from secret of getting admission with scholarship will come in handy.

Above four cases must have given you an overall idea on how each and every documents will be helpful to get admission. Overall, its a balanced mix of all requirements that contributes to the decision made by the graduate school admission committee.

Case 1-4:

If your TOEFL score is below the minimum requirement set by the graduate school, then you might get conditional admission, asking you to take Test of Spoken English either offered by ETS or by the graduate schools itself.

If I have missed some different possible scenario’s let me know, I will be more than happy to discuss about that too.

Above all the business model of the graduate school will also play a major role. for every graduate student who gets admission into the college, universities make profits.

Related posts:

1. What happens after Graduate School Application is submitted
2. Checklist for Graduate School Application [15 Items]
3. 10 Steps to Find Graduate School Admission Requirements
4. 5 Tips to make your Graduate School application Stand Out
5. Minimum Requirements for Masters Degree Admission?
6. What happens after Graduate School Application is submitted : Part 2