<p>Hello everyone!
I want to raise a question about the importance of GRE scores to graduate level funding.
I am applying to study Chinese history (in the history or East Asian studies department) in grad school in December 2014. I am giving myself one month to prepare for the GRE and aiming to score around 90 percentile in the verbal section and 50 percentile in the math section. I don't want to aim for higher that these because I want to spend my time working on the research sample.
I did my research and found that such scores shouldn't hinder me from getting into my dream schools, which are Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, or Princeton (I am applying to other "safe" schools too), but I have also heard that GRE scores can affect funding after getting admitted.
I am wondering if anyone has some insights on whether a 90 percentile in verbal and 50 percentile in math can negatively affect funding in the history/East Asian studies departments in the aforementioned schools. I am hoping to get accepted into a PHD program but can settle for MA programs. I heard that the aforementioned schools are very generous in funding and am wondering if GRE scores play a role in their considerations.
I have tried emailing the schools' contact emails on the departmental websites but have only gotten one reply from Stanford. Does anyone know how to get responses from these people?
Thanks </p>
<p>The GRE generally only factors into funding that is awarded across multiple departments, and that means college/university level fellowships and external fellowships. The GRE is not given much respect overall in universities, so it plays a minimal role in both admissions and funding. One of the few real benefits of it, however, is that it is a metric that can be applied independent of the field, which is why those fellowships tend to rely on a combination of GPA and GRE.</p>
<p>So what does that mean? Well, it varies a lot by department. There are some departments where if you don’t get that fellowship they just fund you through some other means. However, there are definitely some cash-strapped departments that are wholly-dependent on those fellowships to fund their grad students - they won’t admit you if they don’t think you have a good shot, and will tell you outright that if you DON’T get it, you will have to pay your bills yourself!</p>
<p>Still, apply to the schools and see what happens. I would expect those programs to have more than adequate funding. If you are unsure, try contacting a few grad students in the department - they are often more than happy to give you the straight skinny.</p>
<p>^Basically what cosmicfish said.</p>
<p>At your top programs, there shouldn’t be an issue. If you get admitted to the department, they will fund you, because they fund everyone. If those GRE scores are good enough to get admitted (and I expect that the Q won’t be very important in East Asian history) then they will be good enough to get you funded. You may not be competitive for “prestigious” university fellowships, but that won’t really matter much in the long run.</p>
<p>However, as was already mentioned, more mid-ranked programs may be more dependent on support from the graduate school and thus funding there may be more dependent on your GRE scores being good.</p>