I met the same situation to get right students.
I have been AP for two years. The department has a strict GRE policy (V+M>=1200). There are only two students with Chemical Engineering background.
The bad thing is that the students have to take about 6 undergraduate
courses. Some students will fail during these undergraduate course study.
It wastes a lot of time, money and energy.
Is this GRE requirement (V+M>=1200) too high or the application fee of $75 is too much? I am wondering how to g