Profs: Chances for American Studies Programs?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>My partner just received his GRE WR score and he's a bit bummed, as he only received a 4. He expected a score on the lower side, as he ran out of time, but I think he was still hoping for a miracle 5. And he's still hopeful for his first choice schools. I was wondering if anyone here could offer an opinion on his general chances (i.e. advisor "fit" aside) at top American Studies PhD programs?</p>

<p>GRE score: 700 V/ 650 Q/ WR 4</p>

<p>Graduated summa cum laude, with distinction in all subjects, from an Ivy League undergrad. Wrote his Honor's thesis in the History department (70 pages, so required substantial research over a prolonged time period), but he double majored in Hist/Anthro. His thesis was also one of the few to win a departmental award. I think his final GPA was a 3.8. </p>

<p>He should have two excellent recs. One of his recommenders had suggested Magna to the thesis committee, and asked him -- while a senior himself -- to run one of his undergrad seminars on a day he couldn't come. I'm not sure about the third rec. It will certainly be good, but I don't know if it will be excellent, as he only took one class with the professor.</p>

<p>As a (starving) creative writer, I'm helping him with this personal statement, and I think it will be solid. He knows he needs to name professors, and discuss where his research has been, and where it's going, and identify other scholars that have influenced him. </p>

<p>So what do you think? We figured that 700V is probably a "won't help or hurt" score for top programs, and that Q probably doesn't matter much. But what about that 4? Based on the grading criteria given for the writing section, it seems that 4 isn't a terrible score. 4 = "fine." But he's applying to some very competitive schools. I'd hope that his scholarly paper sample would usurp the GRE WR score? I mean, they ask the vaguest essay questions on that thing, as far as I can remember, and you're sitting in a sterile room with all your nerves reeling. . .right?</p>

2

<p>Every DGS in a humanities grad program (myself included, obviously) knows that departure from a very simplistic essay format (intro, 3 paragraphs of evidence, and conclusion) can substantially lower the writing score on the GRE. There are other factors that can lower this score as well -- and not all of these factors have anything to do with the test taker's actual writing ability.</p>

<p>If anyone on the admissions committee articulated doubts about your partner's writing ability based on that one score, any decent DGS (or experienced senior faculty person) would point said committee member to your partner's verbal score, SOP, and especially, his writing sample.</p>

<p>So in answer to your question, this score should NOT hurt your partner in terms of admissions, or in terms of assistantships.</p>

<p>However, to be perfectly honest, in SOME programs, the relatively low writing score could possibly keep him out of the university-wide fellowship pool, as GREs often "count" more when selecting fellowship nominees. This is because of the relative lack of other metrics in evaluating applicants across the disciplines. Ridiculous, but sometimes the case.</p>