alexneuro

The most important thing in a GRE essay is that you answer the question and stay focused. 1- Your thesis should be clearly stated in the first paragraph. 2- Part of staying focused is refraining from adding elements just because they fit the general theme. If the specific theme is national curricula, a quote about education in general does nothing to add to your essay. Before you add something, think about what its function is in the essay. If it did nothing, take it out. Also, don't introduce concepts you have no intention in pursuing or explaining. Examples: a ) Does saying that the campaign was successful help answer the question? Also, by whose standards was it successful? If you are going to make a judgment, you cannot leave it without explanation. If the explanation does not matter, than the initial information also did not matter. b )"With exception to some countries in the Middle East" ... Does this add anything? Why some countries in the Middle East? Are you sure these are the only exceptions? If you are not sure and you can't prove it and it doesn't matter, it should definitely not be in the essay. 3- The way an essay should flow is that each sentence should naturally follow and progress from the idea in the previous sentence. Example: You wrote: "an approach that many nations, such as England, have exercised and for good reason." The following sentence should be about why there are good reasons to implement that approach. You then talked about how it is easier to note standout students. But that was not connected at all to what you had set up previously, that education determines quality of workforce. It would have made more sense to enumerate the reasons why this approach is beneficial. I would write the essay again thinking about keeping it very focused around the subject. Each sentence following the next with complete clarity.

These articles are very enlightening, but once again, all other parameters have gender and ethnicity gaps. The same societal pressures that cause a female minority to believe that she may not be as capable in doing well on the GRE are the ones that keep her from seeking out professors to argue for grades, go to office hours to ask for additional help, or get a student tutor with fear that she may appear less capable. In fact, minorities and women are less likely to push professors for research opportunities and are overlooked when presentation opportunities are available. All of this comes to play when entering graduate school. I did not give my personal example to discredit that this test may be largely unfair. Still, out of all the unfair things I have encountered as a mathematics major at an elite university who happens to be female and minority, the GRE was the one I could control best. I couldn't control I was the only female math major my year or that all but one of my professors were male. Removing the GRE is getting rid of the blatant example of disparity in our system, but it does nothing to diminish the actual disparity. It will also do nothing to change the graduate environment which has, by and large, the same prejudices as the undergraduate environment. That was an incredibly sensitive thing to write and if all colleagues felt like that, it would be a much more welcoming environment for all women.

I know. Depending on where you are from, it is very rude to request information from officials. When I was doing undergrad, I was afraid of going to office hours because I thought it would send the professor the impression that he had done a subpar job in teaching or that I wasn't willing to put in the time to study and learn it myself.

I agree. Once again, I feel like the test does a good job separating people who study for tests and people who enjoy learning and reading. Those who like reading don't really need to study for the verbal. Those who enjoy and are curious about mathematics don't really need to study for quantitative. There is a minimal learning curve for the format of the test that can be learned in a week. No extra time studying can make up for years devoted to reading and learning mathematical concepts fully. An avid reader and student is exactly the type of grad student schools want. In that aspect, the test does help to select a certain profile. If, for some reason, someone was not able to have solid years of reading and learning but applied himself fully to getting a great grade on the GRE,then that kind of tenacity is also something schools value. Out of all the things in an application, this may be the easiest thing to control. Since it can be repeated, there is really no reason to do poorly. Consistently doing badly on the GRE points to a problem either with knowledge, commitment, or stress management. Whatever the case may be, it probably is not a good sign for graduate school success.

I don't think it hurts you at all to ask the admissions committee if you should be expecting interview information. Some master programs don't conduct interviews. In general, international students seem to be fearful of asking the committee questions, afraid that it will somehow "annoy" them into rejecting you. That's simply not the case. It just shows them you are very interested in the program's decision. Just don't send emails every couple of days.

I have a Mathematics BS degree. For people with similar degrees, I believe there is no need to study for the quantitative section much less fret about it. The verbal section to me seems like a good way to separate people who have no interest in reading of any sort from truly curious students who seek knowledge outside of their own fields. Anybody who reads books and magazines for pleasure doesn't need to study for the verbal section. The kind of person who does well on the GRE without studying is usually the one with the right attitude towards learning. He has learned mathematical concepts instead of just memorizing formulas and he has read quality material throughout his academic life. Not to say that, if a different kind of student studies, he can't achieve a high grade. But it's hard to build the vocabulary of a prolific reader or the mathematical confidence of an interested student in a couple of months. As for the score disparity of minorities and women, I have not seen data on this. But it is also true that minorities and women have lower GPAs and we won't do away with that as a parameter. I am a minority, I am female, and English is my third language. I scored 170s on both sections and 5.5 on writing. I did a single practice test and did not study after it. What I did do during my undergraduate degree was be interested beyond grades on the concepts being taught and I read about things that interested me, fiction and non-fiction. I was not the best student grade-wise, but I think the kind of student professors enjoyed having in class. From a very non-scientific sample of my peers, they seem to have similar experiences. Those who were readers and avid learners studied minimally and did great; those who studied for the test did fair. ( The idea that there is any type of causality between the highest scores and failing graduate schools seems a bit preposterous to me even if there was a correlation found. )

Just for other internationals who are freaking out. I've asked many programs and they tend to look at all the international applications together. This can either happen early on or can happen after they have sent out interview requests for nationals. For neuroscience, for example, USC reviewed the applications this week and sent out e-mails for Skype interviews today. University of Pittsburgh is only going to tackle them next week. So don't despair if you have not gotten an interview yet. Many programs haven't even looked at your application. Good luck!