Chris Swimmer

GRE Scores for Social Science Programs


Hoping to get into a social science graduate program 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 providing the average GRE scores for majors based on survey data they collect from test takers.

GRE Scores for Social Science Programs (Intended)

Specialty Verbal Quantitative
Social Sciences (General) 153 151
Anthropology and Archaeology 155 149
Economics 154 160
Political Science 157 153
Psychology 152 149
Sociology 153 150
Other 152 149

GRE Scores for Social Science Programs

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.

Score Range for Social Sciences Programs

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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:

GRE Scores for Social Science Programs by Rank

Specialty Program Rank #1-10: Verbal Program Rank #1-10: Quantitative Program Rank #11-50: Verbal Program Rank #11-50: Quantitative Program Rank #51-100: Verbal Program Rank #51-100: Quantitative
Social Sciences (General) 162-166 157-161 159-163 153-157 156-160 150-154
Anthropology and Archaeology 164-168 155-159 161-165 151-155 158-162 148-152
Economics 163-167 166-170 160-164 162-166 157-161 159-163
Political Science 166-170 159-163 163-167 155-159 160-164 152-156
Psychology 161-165 155-159 158-162 151-155 155-159 148-152
Sociology 162-166 156-160 159-163 152-156 156-160 149-153
Other 161-165 155-159 158-162 151-155 151-155 148-152

If you are viewing this chart on a mobile device and cannot see all of the columns for schools ranked #1-50, try turning your device horizontally or view this page on the web.

As you can see, there’s a pretty big distinction between, say, Economics GRE scores and Sociology GRE scores. For example, you’ll obviously be expected to have better GRE math scores for Economics (a quant heavy program) versus Political Science GRE scores in math. The Social Sciences truly span a wide swath of concentrations, and consequently you’ll need to be aware of your particular program.

GRE Scores for Social Science Programs: 50th/70th/90th Percentiles

You can learn more about percentiles in this score percentiles post, but for quick reference, 50th percentile scores are average, 70th percentile is considered good, and 90th percentile is considered great.

Program Verbal
Mean Score
(50th
percentile)
Verbal
Good Score
(70th
percentile)
Verbal
Great Score
(90th
percentile)
Social Sciences (Overall) 153 158 164
Anthropology 155 160 166
Economics 154 159 165
Political Science 157 162 168
Psychology 152 157 163
Sociology 153 158 164
Other Social Sciences 152 153 163
Program Quant
Mean Score
(50th
percentile)
Quant
Good Score
(70th
percentile)
Quant
Great Score
(90th
percentile)
Social Sciences (Overall) 151 152 159
Anthropology 149 150 157
Economics 160 161 168
Political Science 153 154 161
Psychology 149 150 157
Sociology 150 151 158
Other Social Sciences 149 150 157

What Can We Take Away from Social Science Programs’ Average GRE Scores?

As you can see, the average GRE scores for Social Science programs vary widely by subfield. Here are a few key takeaways from the above data:

  • Economics students had the highest combinedGRE scores in the Social Sciences, with average scores of 154 (Verbal) and 160 (Quant); for top ten programs, students’ ranges were around 163-167 (Verbal) and 166-170 (Quant).
  • Psychology students had the lowest GRE scores in this field, with average scores of 152 (Verbal) and 149 (Quant); for top ten programs, students’ ranges were around 161-165 (Verbal) and 155-159 (Quant).
  • If you’re applying to a top ten program in any field, aim for a GRE score of around nine points above average Verbal scores and six points above average Quant scores for your subfield.

Free GRE Resources

Check out the following links for more help preparing for the GRE:

 

Author

  • Chris Swimmer

    Chris Swimmer is an analyst at Magoosh who divides his time between marketing and research projects and helping folks out with their math hang ups while studying for the GRE and the GMAT. Follow him on Google+! And you can follow him @chrisrswimmer on Twitter.

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