Would anyone like to review a short essay I wrote about how the GRE does not reflect my abilities to do well in grad school ? Also has anyone had any success submitting an essay stating something similar ?
I can’t imagine such an essay being a good idea, unless there are genuinely extenuating circumstances. The people who will be reviewing your application know what reflects an applicant’s ability to do well in grad school, and I think it might be presumptive for someone who is not in grad school to speculate on such a thing. If you are capable of doing well in grad school, then the rest of your application (and your application as a whole) will attest to it. An essay that draws attention to a weakness/negative aspect likely won’t help, especially not as much as one that focuses on your strengths.
Well I stated that I did poorly on the sat and act but did excellent in college. I truly believe that these tests aren’t good indicators of success and should not keep me out or prevent me from getting funded. I wrote a thesis, graduated in the top six percent and graduated with two majors and a minor. That should all be weighed more then a irrelevant test you take on one day. The essay states that I got all As and a couple of Bs in my math and science classes while also writing a thesis. I also graduated from a top program to. Unfortunately because of my GRE, my first attempt at grad school wasn’t great and I only got two offers without funding. I retook the test and did just as bad. I should not be thrown out just because of one aspect. Whatever happened to the GRE is just one aspect of the big picture ? I don’t think so if it alone is enough to get your application thrown out. Sorry I felt like that was a rant but just goes to show you how frustrated I am
They can see your grades in your application. If the GRE is a triage point, they won’t even look at your essays so there is no point. Instead, you need to let your LOR writers know to emphasize that your grades and research accomplishments are indicative of your abilities to succeed. Your personal statement should be about why you are a good fit for their graduate program and how you have prepared yourself for it. Putting a lot of emphasis on the test scores is not a great idea.
Also, you should apply to programs that are not the most highly selective ones. They have a lot of applications and make cuts based on GRE a lot of the time. Instead, a less selective (but still good program that you feel you could attend, would take the time to look at your entire application and see past the GRE scores. You don’t say what your major is and whether you are applying for a Masters of Ph.D. In the case of Masters, not all programs provide funding. They might reserve it for Ph.D. students.
Masters and my LOR are already written. I’m going for geology and reapplying to UT Austin. Would you like to see both my personal statement and my supplemental essay ? I applied last year to UT Austin and my advisor recommended me and didn’t bring up my GRE scores. I’m guessing the committee didn’t award me a TA position since he didn’t have funding. Also, I contacted a professor from my undergrad school and he said to put it in my personal statement. My PS was looked at by two of my letter recommenders already and also UT doesn’t have a cutoff or so they say
Well, then you must realize that not all Masters students get support. Particularly if it is a major research university with a Ph.D. program like UT Austin. Of course you should apply again but don’t put all your eggs in the UT basket. Find other programs that might be more likely to provide you Masters support as backup.
i don’t really want to read your personal statement. If you have had advice and review and want to include the explanation about your GRE scores, you should do so, but then why ask here?
Good luck!
Don’t write this. If programs are requesting that you submit GRE scores when you apply, somebody there believes that the GRE is a good or at least adequate indicator of graduate school success. If you write this in your statement, you run the risk of unintentionally offending someone - or at least coming off presumptuous, as if you deign to tell professors how to select their own incoming classes. (Also, it’s partially incorrect; the GRE is flawed but it’s not totally irrelevant. There’s some evidence that it’s correlated with classroom performance in the early stages of graduate school.)
I agree with @xraymancs that you’d be better off not addressing it in your personal statement, and focusing on your strengths. Addressing weaknesses in your personal statement is supposed to only be done if you have some kind of compelling, resolved reason why you did poorly - for instance, if you got sick during the exam, or were going through a tough time because of a death in the family right before the test. As xraymancs already said, your app reviewers can already see that you got mostly As and Bs in your math and science classes and that you wrote a thesis; it’s up to them to decide whether your GRE scores don’t really reflect your performance and potential.
Also, unless someone told you directly that the reason you were rejected is your GRE scores…maybe it wasn’t your GRE scores alone. There are lots of very accomplished, qualified applicants who apply for admission at competitive programs, so it could’ve been something else. But it’s possible it was your GRE scores; the common saying is that they can’t get you in, but they can keep you out.
A waste of effort. They’ll have your transcripts and your GRE scores. They’ll see your thesis title.
For those colleges where a threshold GRE is required, you will not have a shot. Sorry.
Note, if you are applying to a quant-type program, a lower Verbal score is not necessarily a deal-breaker…
Doesn’t matter what you believe. If the school requires test scores, you have to submit them. If the school uses test scores in their evaluation, they have made the decision that tests are good indicators (of something).
If you want funding, you have to offer them something, and that includes test scores in addition to GPA.
Multiple opinions I guess. I got two offers just without funding and I can’t do grad school with no financial support. UT funds all of their grad students
There’s no cutoff for UT Austin or so they say. And I’m sorry if they really want high test scores. I took it three times already I’m done with it. I’m determined to apply as many times as possible
There is a point at which it is useless to keep applying. If they don’t want you, they don’t want you. It would be best to work for a while and try later with some work experience. Alternatively, as I have mentioned before, find other acceptable options for graduate school that are not UT Austin.
alternatively perhaps apply for a lab manager job at UT in the department of your interest. Work on campus for a year or so and get to know the profs and…
I’m currently still looking for a job my bio and geo majors aren’t much help. That would be a big move for a lab position also. In addition to Austin I also applied to osu which doesn’t require GRE scores. Plus there university of Nebraska and Texas a&m which haven’t given me funding. I really would like to go to Austin though because the oil companies are only hiring from a select number of places due to the state of the industry
Also without the supplemental essay my application would be almost the same except that I applied to work with 10 people instead of just one, and my senior thesis is completed so I submitted that. Oh and I graduated with distinction so that to
I second this. There’s some great geology programs in Canada, which has a large oil industry. UBC, Calgary, and U Alberta would be worth a look in particular, but there’s several others that offer funded master’s programs.
In general, MA programs are money-makers for Universities, so they offer $$ to everyone; indeed, the opposite is true.
UT is a top school. It requires GREs and (likely) uses them in admissions. If your score is <150 and you don’t have a hook, you will have difficulty to be accepted there.
http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/prospective/stats/pdf/avg-gpa-gre-2012.pdf
While I was in grad school, I worked for another grad department. We took in hundreds of calls from people desperate to get into that school’s graduate department. What was explained to me was that there were two hurdles for entry.
1). The graduate admission’s office checked for minimums in GPAs and test scores. If the applicant met the minimums, then the application was forwarded to the appropriate grad department.
2). The targeted department then had their own review of the apps that did make the cutoff.
We were told to refer all questions about GREs back to admissions because we didn’t have access to the admissions files.
I don’t know if this is what most schools do, but that’s what our large school did.
What;s considered to be a hook for you? That’s a term that was used for undergraduate admissions I thought grad school was much more holistic. In any case, I graduated with distinction (top 6% of my class), two majors, a minor, a senior thesis, my school is a top school in geology, and pretty solid letters of recommendation. In addition I have field and lab experience from various courses I took and a couple of awards and scholarships. Whole picture
a hook could be lead author for a top pub, say, Science magazine, or the top peer-reviewed journal in your specialty.
That is very rare for an undergraduate