<p>I am a senior in psychology, and I am hoping to go into either clinical psychology or experimental psychology for graduate school.</p>
<p>I took the GRE this afternoon, and my score was not very good.<br>
I got 450 on the verbal section, and 770 on the math section.</p>
<p>My question is, how much would the verbal score hurt me?</p>
<p>here are some other information I think are important in the process.
I am double majored in psychology and sociology. Overall my GPA is 3.8, but for both of my major, the within-major GPA are both in the 3.90s. I am minored in math. I have taken all the undergraduate level statistics courses offered in the institution I am currently in. I believe it is safe to say that my math back ground is very good compare with the general student population in social science. (the 770 math score is from a couple rather absurd questions in the quantitative section. When I practiced on the practice exams, I will usually get perfect in the math section.)</p>
<p>I have participated in a research project two years ago. In which I was responsible to enter all the survey data into SPSS as well as analyze them. Right now I am engaging in two psychological researches (both are serious research). For one of them I have successfully applied for student research grant. Also, I am hoping to present one of them in a regional psychology conference held in Chicago annually. </p>
<p>I am rather freaked out about my GRE score. But for those who have experience in this, can you tell me whether I am in a good position or not? </p>
<p>I am thinking about retaking the GRE, but I am worrying if I would do worse. </p>
<p>By the way, I am hoping to get into rather decent Grad programs, such as OSU, IU Bloomington and so on. Generally the ones that rank around top 30 or 20…</p>
<p>another question I have is, many people told me that I should get in touch with the professors in institutions I am interest in. Can someone give me some detailed instruction on that? I don’t know what kind of question would be appropriate. Is it common for college seniors to contact graduate school professors?</p>
<p>Sit down with a couple of your favorite professors and discuss your future interests with them. They can give you some insight on particular programs and guide you through the process.</p>
<p>Contact and apply to professors for research match–that is, people who research what you want to. Your V is low for clinical programs, but your Q is very high. Still, many programs, especially for the caliber you’re interested in, automatically cut at 1200-1250, so I’d say you should probably retake if you think you can raise your V and maintain your Q.</p>
<p>To say the truth, I really don’t know whether I can get my verbal higher or not. I am not a native English speaking student, and I have built my vocab mainly for everyday conversation as well as for social science studies. I have been trying to study the GRE vocab, but it is very hard to do since they are mostly found in out of context situations…</p>
<p>Would the other stuffs such as GPA, research experiences and strong background in statistics make up for my low verbal? Of course, I know they are all different things, and have different impacts… But roughly, would the low verbal score kill me despite all the other factors?</p>
<p>The only thing you can do is apply and hope for the best. Certainly, the program will know that you are a non-native speaker, and they know that the verbal GRE is difficult even for native speakers. If the rest of your package is exceptional, then you might overcome it. (Your TOEFL score will be important.)</p>
<p>I suggest that you apply to programs that seem to have a good portion of international students. Although there’s no guarantee that they will overlook low verbal GREs in favor of an otherwise excellent application, the presence of non-native speakers means that they may.</p>
<p>in your grad applications, it will be important for you to indicate that you are not a native English speaker and to indicate your primary language. In this way, you can turn this weakness into a plus (diversity).</p>
<p>I am actually worried about that international students tend to higher GRE score compare to native students… and here I am, a Chinese student who only got 450 on verbal… </p>
<p>I don’t know, I will just apply with all i got right now, and hope for the best.</p>
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