When most people think about the University of Southern California, one thing comes to mind: football! But USC is a whole lot more than its elite sports programs. Found in sunny southern California (surprise!), the school is also the home of stellar graduate programs that deserve at least as much attention as its football team!
So what will it take to get into USC grad programs? First of all, you’ll need great GRE scores–preferably those that fall into the middle 50% or higher of USC GRE scores for those recently admitted into their programs. Read on to see what you’ll need to make the cut!
Average GRE scores for USC – Engineering and Education
Engineering and Education program hopefuls are in luck: these two programs provide actual GRE scores for USC admits to US News & World Report every year. This means that you can find out exactly what types of scores will help–or hurt–your application.
With that in mind, here’s the US News & World Report data on the Engineering and Education programs at USC:
| Program | Average Verbal Scores for Admitted Students | Average Quantitative Scores for Admitted Students |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering - Master's | 152 | 165 |
| Engineering - PhD | 154 | 167 |
| Education - Master's | 152 | 156 |
| Education - PhD | 153 | 157 |
Estimating USC GRE Scores in Other Disciplines
If you’re not looking to apply for Education or Engineering programs at USC, are you out of luck when it comes to finding a GRE score range for USC? Not at all!
Although USC only provides concrete GRE score ranges for admits from Engineering and Education, we’ve been able to use these scores and the programs’ rankings to come up with score ranges for other USC programs. Are these scores precise? No, but they’re great estimates to use when setting your GRE goals. Take a look at where your program falls in the grand scheme of USC GRE scores:
| Program | US News Rank | Estimated Verbal Range | Estimated Quantitative Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biological Sciences | 54 | 156-160 | 153-157 |
| Chemistry | 48 | 159-163 | 160-164 |
| Computer Science | 20 | 155-159 | 161-165 |
| Earth Sciences | 31 | 160-164 | 156-160 |
| Economics | 36 | 160-164 | 162-166 |
| English | 32 | 163-167 | 151-155 |
| Fine Arts | 53 | 156-160 | 150-154 |
| History | 38 | 162-166 | 151-155 |
| Mathematics | 44 | 159-163 | 165-169 |
| Physics | 61 | 158-162 | 161-165 |
| Psychology | 26 | 158-162 | 151-155 |
| Public Administration | 4 | 162-166 | 156-160 |
| Social Work | 25 | 155-159 | 147-151 |
| Sociology | 34 | 159-163 | 152-156 |
To find out how these GRE scores stack up, take a look at GRE percentile rankings.
Resources to Get the GRE Scores You’ll Need for USC
Need more help preparing for the GRE? Check out the following links:
Notes about Comments
While I’d love to give everyone some kind of hard and fast number for your chances (it’s a nerve wracking, opaque experience, I know), I unfortunately can’t. This is because there are numerous factors involved in the admissions decisions and most of those factors aren’t the GRE. The best I can do is tell you below/at/above the score range, but that information you can see for yourself above. My universal recommendation is that you check where you stand compared to the tables above. Then have a look at the forums to see student experiences. Good luck! 🙂
