<p>tdgause,
I understand you are so mad over this test. I am too, believe me. But I think the most crucial question here is not: is the GRE fair? is it a good predictor of success in graduate school? (Of course, not) The important question is: is our academic career over because we flunked the GRE? And the answer to that is NO. Believe me, during the past few weeks, I asked MANY people who know exactly what they're talking about. It's definitely not the end of the world if we have many other things going for us, which I think is the case for most of us. So cheer up, everybody.</p>
<p>thanks for the encouragement NEUROTOX! it is much appreciated. good luck to everyone on finals. only 2 weeks of fall semester left. and you know what-- all of our applications are gonna S H I N E! :)</p>
<p>yea, only 2 more weeks and i get to graduate!!! wahoo. after 4.5 yrs at this place...
as for our shining, it'll be fun to see when the decisions roll in and everyone posts who got accepted/rejected from where.</p>
<p>OOOOOHHH MAN-- someone's gonna have to buy the prozac in bulk for those of us who dont make it... </p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>I am currently an international graduate student, pursuing my master’s degree in educational psychology. I am willing to apply for a Ph.D, so I started working on my application since I am planning to graduate this year (May 2012) and I want to start with my PhD the next Fall.
However, GRE is mandatory for all the schools that I am interested in. Honestly I am a horrible standardized exams taker and I am pretty sure that I have no chance in doing fine on the GRE! I have a very high GPA so far and I just started helping my advisor in her research, like 2 weeks ago. I am really stressed out. I really want to go for Ph.D! I just need to be given the chance of being a doctorate student in the educational psychology field in order to prove how competitive and successful I am! I would appreciate your suggestions about what to focus on in my application. What are the things that strenghten my application if my GRE scores are so bad.
Thank you in advamce.</p>
<p>A 700Q is a low score? I wish that was my quant score when I applied. :</p>
<p>I disagree with others who think GRE scores aren’t important. It surely depends on field, department and school but in my field, in every top university I have worked, we cared VERY much about scores. High scores are not impressive at all, but definitely necessary (so required but not sufficient). Yes research experience and letters matter a lot as well, but we have tested out the value of GRE and its a pretty powerful predictor of success in our field’s PhD programs. There is simply way too much grade inflation, and too little variance in letter quality these days. Sure if you have actual publications it helps a lot…but anyone can get research experience and get a decent letter.</p>
<p>Having said that, there is no value in worrying about something you can do nothing about. Put forth your best effort on the rest and apply widely. There is tremendous variability and human judgment, biases, and sheer luck in graduate admissions programs (what other files came in, who are you contrasted with that day, how did the group discussion evolve, who was rooting for you). You probably have no idea just how unpredictable and less that systematic and consistent it can be. And as I tell my former students applying to programs: try your best, go wide, and go to the BEST program that will take you. You will find a program, it might not be the top X program, but it might be the best one for you (or you might just get lucky too).</p>
<p>Elocin- Yes, 700 is a pretty low score for the science majors, but it shouldn’t be a killer.</p>
<p>These schools need a metric to measure applicants, and the GRE is it. That all it is, a metric. It does not measure the strength of your undergrad program, it does not indicate how smart you are, or how well you can solve a problem. Your ability to do 10th grade math is no predictor of success in graduate school. I used to hear the same thing about the ACT, that if you don’t do well on it you are not intelligent. But, we all know that is a lie.
I bombed the GRE the first time I took it (610V, 580Q), I took the GRE again, and guess what (680-780Q, don’t remember the V) my range was over 1300. The problem was I didn’t know how to pace myself on the Quant section, not that I was dumb.
In the real world of science, you have weeks or years to solve problems; not 1.5 minutes (check your units). Show me the research, and then I will know how suited you are for a, wait for it, a research degree (PhD).
I have been doing this for years, and I can tell you I have seen a lot of things that people right out of undergrad have never thought about. I had a boss who had a PhD from a top 10 science program, who built here career on other peoples work. I have seen a guy with a PhD from a school you haven’t heard from in Canada, blow his competition (all from top 10 chemistry grad programs) out of the water. At my company, all of the best engineers are not from GT, Stanford, or MIT; they are from schools like Tuskegee, North Carolina A&T, University of Cincinnati, University of Florida; not the sexiest programs I would grant you. Its about creativity at the end of the day. Its about drive, and hard work. That’s what it is all about. Youre GPA, and LORs are the only, and best metric of both. Your SOP should show passion for the subject.</p>
<p>Then what is considered a high score for quant these days? An 800? I heard as long as you get into the 700 range you’re competitive.</p>
<p>I agree that a 700 in the quantitative section of the GRE is good enough to keep you a viable candidate for graduate study in the sciences and with study, practice and repeated attempts at the GRE most college students with a reasonably good aptitude for Math should be able to reach it.</p>
<p>The Verbal section of the GRE is another story. It is really an IQ test that can not be effectively studied for and repeated tries at it rarely yield much or any improvement. Scores over 700 are rare and generally achieved by people who score two or more standard deviations above the mean on IQ tests.</p>