GRE retest, just for future funding?

[nananiemand]

Hello all!

 

I was wondering if anyone could provide some advice about whether or not I should consider retesting for a better GRE score. My current score is:    Verb. 160, Quant. 145, Essay 3.5

 

I wasn't in a great place when I took this test originally, hence the pretty low essay portion (I'm a very confident writer, but evidently a poor instructions reader. I literally did this: I thought the first essay was a "short answer" and only wrote five paragraphs... I also honestly did -not- study for the quant portion, sadly). I was always planning on retesting, but now I've been accepted to a program for the Fall and the issue isn't as pressing. However, I still notice that GRE scores are needed for fellowships (I have an NSF GRF, but my PhD will be in social sciences with a median completion of 8.5 years).

 

Based on all this, should I be planning to retest? If not this year, than in a few years when I'm getting ready for dissertation grant-writing? How strongly do GRE scores affect various fellowships/grants?

 

Thanks~~

[.letmeinplz//]

I can see GRE mattering on judging new admit vs new admit funding, but once you are there for a few years if they are still looking at standardized test scores and not the actual work you've done at the university, with your professors, etc... I don't know about that decision...

 

I feel bad for the guy who has 30 publications and a nobel prize but can't get funding because he has a 60% quant...

Edited April 22, 2015 by <ian>

[Mechanician2015]

I can see GRE mattering on judging new admit vs new admit funding, but once you are there for a few years if they are still looking at standardized test scores and not the actual work you've done at the university, with your professors, etc... I don't know about that decision...

 

I feel bad for the guy who has 30 publications and a nobel prize but can't get funding because he has a 60% quant...

In the "results" section you can see people fully funded with V=Q=60%... To what extent is it true? No way to know... but if true, I guess it just shows that graduate school is more about research and network, than standarized tests.

[nananiemand]

Yeah... That really is the answer I'd like. I do -not- want to take the test again. Not a true believer here...

[.letmeinplz//]

In the "results" section you can see people fully funded with V=Q=60%... To what extent is it true? No way to know... but if true, I guess it just shows that graduate school is more about research and network, than standarized tests.

As I would expect from programs that understand your potential to do well in research and grad school is not tied to your ability to do geometry on a timed test in a small room with sticky keyboards.

[TakeruK]

I also think GRE scores are only relevant for "entry-level" fellowships. I recently applied for a NASA fellowship that is meant for people in the last 2-3 years of their program and no GRE scores were requested at all. Transcripts were still requested though, but word-of-mouth says that they are not very heavily weighted. In my field anyways, funding decisions made after the first couple of years of grad school heavily focus on research productivity/output. If you want to best improve your chances at future funding beyond the GRFP, spend the X hours you were planning on studying for the GRE on your research

[Mechanician2015]

As I would expect from programs that understand your potential to do well in research and grad school is not tied to your ability to do geometry on a timed test in a small room with sticky keyboards.

Agree. I think math is so much more than what the GRE "measures"

 

The thing is that for those of us will little to no research experience and limited opportunities to do it... a stellar GRE/GPA is pretty much the core of good funding when applying(because once in, I don't think it matters at all).

Edited April 22, 2015 by Mechanician2015

[Cogidubnus]

The GRE counts a little bit for NDSEG, but is combined with GPA/transcript, I think. I don't remember if NSF asks for GRE, but if they do, it's not heavily weighted.