GRE Quandary

Graduate School
1

<p>I took the revised GRE today: 162 verbal and 138 quant (yikes, I know...explanation to follow). For of all, I am an English major, 4.0 GPA (both English and overall), and I am applying to the PhD English program at the University of Florida and the MA English program at the University of North Florida. I am already an undergraduate student at UF (yes, I already know the term "academically-inbred" and am aware of the possible risks), and I have talked to the graduate coordinator about my scores. He has assured me they really do not look that closely at these scores in the English department, particularly the math. (In fact, there is no required score at all for the UF English Department; UNF only requires a 153 verbal, I think.) I have been told my writing sample is very strong and likewise my statement of purpose, and I am getting letters from very prestigious faculty at UF...should I bother retaking the GRE, then? I mean, it seems like he very heavily implied their lack of attention on GRE scores, so I suppose I am being rather paranoid. </p>

<p>Here's what happened on the test, to better explain myself (perhaps I should have included this explanation earlier): I freaked. The verbal section was a huge blur, and I frantically finished both sections (resorting to guessing in not a few instances). I could barely concentrate on what I was reading for fear of "not being good enough"-type thoughts swimming around in my head. It was a very bad experience. Although a 162 is very good, I truly do not feel it is my best, but I'll take it. </p>

<p>By the time I got to the math, I adopted a very defeatist attitude: I perceived that I bombed the verbal and life wasn't worth living anymore, so I said screw the math. I am actually not terrible at math--just a very emotional test-taker. </p>

<p>So, despite my rambling, I suppose I am asking if I should retake the test despite my graduate coordinator's statements. He did not seem phased at all by a 138 math score. I guess he was not kidding when he said they particularly do not focus on the math. Should I just let this one go?</p>

2

<p>No. The GRE isn’t that important, and absolutely nobody will care about your math score if you’re pursuing an English Ph.D.</p>

3

<p>I concur.
If you’re in the sciences or similar, quantitative is the most important, but you still have to do well on verbal because you do still have to be able to communicate your ideas.
In English, the verbal part is the whole game. I can’t imagine schools getting terribly excited over the quantitative score, whether it’s on the extreme upper or lower range. It’s just not terribly relevant.</p>

4

<p>I think the risks of academic inbreeding are vastly overblown. If it’s a good program, it’s a good program, and I’ve never heard of anyone getting rejected from a job because they spent too much time at a good department in their field.</p>

<p>But no, your graduate coordinator is right - in English, what matters much much more are your writing sample and statement of purpose, plus letters of recommendation. The only thing that the GRE could be important for are university fellowships; sometimes the graduate school has a cut-off score, or they prefer to give fellowships to students with higher GRE scores. This is likely not a concern for MA programs, since they are rarely funded in the humanities, but it may be something to think about when applying to PhD programs.</p>

5

<p>Thank you, everyone, for very insightful responses. I think your advice is very sound. Also, sorry for the very stupid grammatical error in the second sentence (i.e., “For of all”). English major fail -_-</p>