<p>If a student is a humanities major, is it true the math score is essentially ignored for grad school apps?</p>
<p>Is there a general rule of thumb on the verbal portion to know you qualify for top vs strong programmes and is there any sort of guideline as to when you can apply directly to PhD versus doing a separate masters?</p>
<p>I have read that the percentile on verbal gives a lower number than math- like 85% math is 750, but 85% verbal is 6-- something. How is this viewed?</p>
<p>In other words if you take the GRE this fall once you get it back, 600, 650,700, 750, how should that shape the list and goals for applications?</p>
<p>For humanities, math is not ignored, it is just much less important - if you get a 300 you are still in a lot of trouble! To know what scores are really needed, consult the websites of the schools of interest, as they will often show average scores for admitted students - if they don’t check a few similar schools to get a similar range. If your scores are a little below this, the rest of your app needs to be that much stronger. If your scores are much below this, you should probably apply somewhere else.</p>
<p>The important thing with the scores is the percentile, not the raw score, and the verbal is harder - it is easier to get an 800 math than it is to get a 700 verbal. All the schools know this and account for it, so you really just need to worry ab out the relationship between your scores and the averages for the schools.</p>
<p>As to straight to PhD programs, it varies by field - some expect you to do the masters first, and will allow straight to PhD only for exceptional students with significant research experience. Others prefer the direct PhD route, and expect a seperate masters only when the student is lagging behind other applicants. If you post the field, there may be others in that field on this forum who can be more specific.</p>
<p>What kind of research does one do in that field? It’s not like science with labs & experiments, so where does an English major stand out the way a bio major with lab research would?</p>
<p>As a science/engineering major I cannot explain humanities research very well, but they do it in great quantity. The PhD in particular at ANY university requires new and unique research contributing to the base of knowledge in the field.</p>
<p>In English Lit, research might include an analysis of the meaning or origin of a particular work or body of work. As long as the resulting opinion is new and supported well by existing sources and documentation, it would count as research, I think.</p>
<p>For graduate admission in English lit, an applicant should have reading ability in at least one language (usually French or German), a strong GPA, a high GRE verbal score (higher quant scores can help a student to compete for fellowships), a coherent and compelling personal statement, an extremely strong writing sample, and excellent letters of rec.</p>
<p>The writing sample is often the most important part of the application, along with “fit” with faculty research.</p>
<p>I’ve been quietly dismayed on the other side of the coin: my D is considering grad work in a field where the top schools want perfect or near-perfect quant scores but seem to dismiss the verbal and writing scores. The quant is necessary but you’d think they would want people who can communicate their findings intelligently.</p>
<p>They don’t dismiss verbal and writing scores when they clearly indicate the student will exhibit shortcomings in general communication. Scores simply need to be “fine.”</p>
<p>After all, can you think of a quant-emphasizing field in which the writing requirements even remotely resemble the AW task of the GRE? Similarly, I have yet to encounter a GRE vocabulary word I didn’t already know the definition of that will ever be a useful term in my field.</p>
<p>In quant-emphasizing fields, the verbal and writing sections clearly do not cater to grad school’s needs to identify the student’s ability to communicate relevant subjects intelligently.</p>
<p>Honestly, GRE math is a joke, and if you are a college graduate from a legitimate college, you should be able to get AT LEAST a 500 on that section with no studying whatsoever - regardless of your major - or something is seriously wrong with you. Most college graduates should be able to get 600+ with minimal studying; it really is just middle school math.</p>