Extremely low GRE, I am devastated, I am even crying, should I give up my application?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi everyone!!</p>

<p>I am from Mexico, and since I begin my undergraduate preparation, I decided that I wanted get a PhD in the USA. During this time, I worked extremelly hard to get an excellent GPA, I gave up my social life, my couple and even my family to get a good preparation in order to apply.</p>

<p>After more than 5 years of excellent results in the university (I got a overall grade of 9.5/10, graduated with honors, good research experience, a TOEFL that I took twice, etc, etc. Good extracurricular activities, teacher assistance, scholarships, etc, etc.... Everything looks really great, until today:</p>

<p>I took the GRE after 6 months of hard preparation, I even took a course, where I was always the best students (as in the 5 years of preparation), I work extremelly hard; but I got an extremelly low score: 148 in both sections. </p>

<p>I am devastasted, I am even crying because I feel that 5 years of hardship, hard work, and dreams are down the drain. I left my life behing for this chance and now, a simple test destroys my entire career. I am even angry because everyone gets into grad schools, everyone took this fucking exam even without preparation and get good scores, and everyone, except me, have good results in the exams. For that reason, I had to retake the TOEFL, because after more than 2 years of study for this exam, I got, 99 and I needed 100, until the second attempt, I got 103. </p>

<p>You may wonder which universities I wanted to apply; well, I was assuming that my hard work of 5 years and my good CV would allow me to apply to Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, JHU, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, UCLA, etc. But with these GRE scores, I am thinking to give up all hope, cry and blame myself for my stupidity and my lack of intelligence. </p>

<p>What shoul I do???... Do I have to give up and find another way to get into research???</p>

<p>By the way, I studies psychology and Neuroscience, and I was planning to apply to a Neuroscience Program. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone!!!</p>

2

<p>Do not give up. Whatever you do, do not let this go.</p>

<p>Colleges value so much more than your standardized test scores. The fact that you’ve put so much effort into your work gives you a leg up in your application; in fact, your struggle could be the very thing that distinguishes you from other students. The important part is that you power through this hardship and see it through to the end. You need to make it very clear who you are and what you’ve been through, because no college could simply ignore the work you’ve put in continuously throughout your academic career.</p>

3

<p>Were you unable to pace yourself properly?</p>

4

<p>Did you take practice tests? If not, why not, and if so, what scores did you get? If your score is comparable to the practice tests then it suggests a systematic problem, if it is less then it suggests either a bad day or a stress problem.</p>

<p>Do you have problems with standardized testing in general? Some people don’t test well and need to make sure that they emphasize other parts of their application!</p>

<p>Have you scheduled a new test? While it is not cheap, you can take this test more than once. If you feel that you can do better, schedule to take it again!</p>

5

<p>Relax. 148 is not that bad. I was in the psychology department at Columbia, and their recommended score was at least ~155 in each section. 148 isn’t that far off from there.</p>

<p>Get your GRE diagnostic report. Once you get your mailed paper scores with the GRE registration number, go to the GRE Diagnostic Service (<a href=“https://grediagnostic.ets.org/GREDWeb/gred/signIn.jsp”>https://grediagnostic.ets.org/GREDWeb/gred/signIn.jsp&lt;/a&gt;) and sign in to check it out. It tells you which questions you got wrong, how difficult they were and in what kinds of sub-sections they were (like inference or details from the reading comprehension). See if there’s a particular pattern you can divine that may have led to your lower scores. Did you run out of time consistently, or do you always get geometry questions wrong, or do you find the sentence completions with two blanks really difficult? The GREDS will help you figure that out.</p>

<p>Armed with that knowledge, you can do some targeted studying. If you have the money and desire, you could hire a private tutor (freelance is cheaper than a test prep company). A private tutor will help you with very targeted sections that you are bad at; I did (do, occasionally) private tutoring for the SAT and my first step was always to either give a diagnostic test or look at diagnostic test results to figure out my students’ weaknesses and focus on improving those. Or you could do studying yourself, without a tutor. Get a book with some more practice questions and practice the ones you have the most trouble with until you understand them. You can use printed and online guides to help you think them through.</p>

<p>If you were planning on applying for fall 2015, I would still apply even with your scores. They aren’t abysmal. I would just plan to retake if you don’t get accepted anywhere.</p>

6

<p>Thanks everyone!!!.. especially AlexOzer.</p>

<p>Well, After considering myself a complete failure, I am tryng to bring my head up, but I can’t. I feel that a useless test has destroyed my entire career and my dreams. I can’t retake the exam because the deadline is December 1. </p>

<p>I don’t know what to do, I feel really miserable. I feel that 5 years of hardwork are down the drain. I am ashamed with my familiy and with those who expected a lot from me. </p>

<p>Do you think that I should still apply?. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone!! </p>

7

<p>What are the percentiles associated with 148?</p>

8

<p>30%, aproximately! :(</p>

9

<p>First of all, if you are determined enough, you will be able to reach your goal. it might take a year off so you can improve your GRE scores or it might mean that you will have to apply to some less selective schools which don’t put so much emphasis on GRE scores. Talk to your research mentors and find out which schools might take you because of your strong academic record. Frankly, performance in actual courses is more important to me than a high GRE score when I look at applications. Sure, apply to some of your dream programs but cover your bases with some other programs which have good faculty and where you would be happy attending. Remember that as far as finding positions after your Ph.D. your thesis advisor’s reputation is more important than the name of the school on your diploma. There are plenty of really good researchers at less highly touted programs.</p>

10

<p>Thanks xraymancs!.</p>

<p>I do not what to do, I have two days to decide if I continue with this or I give up. Part of me refuses to give up because I know that I worked extremelly hard to this chance. I NEVER REST ONE DAY during 5 years. You may think that I am exaggrerating, but I am not. My desire to get a PhD was bigger than anything. I studied really hard for the GRE, between 8 and 10 hours per day. I was always kind of fool in the university, for that reason, I had to wuit my social life and my family to be “in line and beyond” from the rest of my classmates. </p>

<p>I am afraid that when the committe see my scores, they will throw my application away!!!. :(</p>

<p>I do not have money, I do not have time… and I do not what to do! </p>

11

<p>It might be different for a PhD but I don’t think that a lot of weight is put on GREs. I’m applying for my masters and I got a 145 in both sections. I’m just horrible at standardized tests but schools like someone else said value so much more then your GRE. If the rest of your application is solid give it a shot and apply you’ll definitely get in somewhere. all the schools I’ve talked to at least said that they will look at your application regardless of your GRE. A GRE score does not indicate a good or bad researcher and schools know this </p>

12

<p>Hi Columbia!!.</p>

<p>So, do you think that I should still apply?. I am really ashamed with my parents, my friends, etc. I do not want a test to destroy my entire dram of becoming a researcher. I know that one bad day should not have to outweigh 5 years or really hard work, but it might different what I think from what the committee of admissions thinks</p>

<p>So, what do you think that I should do???</p>

13

<p>Here is food for thought: Apply with all materials to meet application deadlines. Follow @juillet advice and try to retake as soon as possible, if you think you can improve. If you get a higher score, write to your schools and ask them if you may substitute in your new scores. I would think they would let you augment your application with updates (if they are significant) until decisions are made. You need to meet the current deadlines to create files in their systems. Don’t guess what they will do, put your best foot forward and allow them to do their job of evaluating your application package and making a decision.</p>

14

<p>By all means apply but make sure that you apply to a range of universities. You have said multiple times that your goal is to get a Ph.D. That is not the same as saying you want to get a Ph.D. from Harvard. You may not be able to do the latter but you can still find a school that will give you the opportunity to reach your real goal. That of getting a Ph.D.</p>

<p>Don’t get hung up on getting into one of the schools you mentioned in your original post. You can’t control if they decide to admit you or not but you can maximize your chances of getting into a Ph.D. program.</p>

15

<p>I think like me you should go ahead and apply. I added three schools to my list to improve my chances </p>

16

<p>Many thanks everyone… I really appreciate all your help and support.</p>

<p>I am truly convinced that a simple test does not define my motivations and endurance to get a PhD and become a researcher. I really love the science, and nothing else was in mind since then, I have been only thinking in being a researcher. </p>

17

<p>My advisor just told me I have to retake them because a lot of schools have a cutoff :confused: I left my book home so I don’t know how I’ll study for one in a couple of weeks and I don’t think I’ll improve. </p>

18

I am just bumping to say that I received a score ‘slightly’ lower than that in both sections and a 4 on the writing. It is now too late to retake the test. I did study and maintain a 3.7 GPA, so I know that I am not a total slack off.Maybe having classes 5x a week, working an excruciating job, and balancing studies for the GRE was not the smartest idea for ‘me’. I will leave it at that.

My schools that I am not applying to are not a prestigious as yours,but they are quite known (at least in my field). I am hoping that my high GPA, undergrad scholarship awards/recognition by prestigious Honor Societies; my multi-lingual skills (highly valued in my field); my LORs and SOP will counter the very low GRE scores.

If I get accepted anywhere, I will be sure to post my results to this post. It will be for the the sake of giving future applicants hope that the GRE is not God and that there might be hope for them.

I’m in the application process right now. I’m going for a Masters in International Affairs.