What is a good GRE score?

A good score is entirely contingent on your situation. We're not trying to tell you what a good score is — we're trying to help you understand that it depends on where you're applying, what programs you're targeting, and how competitive those programs are.

A 155 on Verbal might be excellent for an engineering program that cares primarily about Quant, and underwhelming for a humanities program where Verbal is the focus. A 160 on Quant might be more than enough for one business school and below the median at another. Context is everything.

The most useful thing you can do is research the programs you're applying to. Many publish median or average GRE scores for admitted students. Use those as your benchmark, not a generic definition of “good.”

To see where any specific score falls relative to all test-takers, use our GRE Percentile Calculator. And if you're deciding between the GRE and GMAT, our Score Comparison Tool can help you see how scores translate between the two exams.