jujubea

Geez! I have a 158 on the quant section and now I'm getting worried seeing that post! Good luck this week Vulpes!

I would directly ask them why they think you shouldn't apply to those schools. You can ask in a humble way, certainly don't be indignant about it, because like another poster said, there could be something they see or understand that you aren't privy to at this point.

One of my letter writers asked me for the names of the individuals to whom his letters should be addressed, and asked that I send that info to him at the same time I give him all the other info to write the letter. When I asked the programs, none of them said to address it to any individuals by name, they all said to address them to some variation of "Graduate Admissions Committee." When I sent my letter writer the information, including the proper variations for how to address the letter, he wrote back with some follow up questions, one of which was, "be sure to include the names of the individuals, faculty, etc, to whom the letters need to be addressed.." What the heck? Which way should I be persistent? Do I press the schools for more specific info, or do I insist to my letter writer that he addresses it as above? Is it inappropriate to be addressing it to a Committee as a whole? Does it look bad or something? Maybe he is just polite and traditional? What is the deal?

Pedanticist - are you still planning on retaking the GRE (per your signature)? I got in touch with my last letter writer today - whew! She's been traveling for a few weeks (she's an anthropologist) so wasn't responding. I was getting my backups lined up. Do you think it will be OK that all three of my letter writers come from non-degree graduate studies, and all the same department? Or would it be better to ask one of my undergrad profs to write a letter instead of one of the grad profs? Neither my undergrad nor my non-degree grad studies are directly related to my programs, and really, pretty much all else is equal about them, so I've been having a hard time deciding.

I was directly told by an adcom member that the GRE is a critical factor in determining eligibility for university-wide funding. The reasoning this person gave was that because it is university wide, and there are so many different fields getting thrown together for consideration, each with department-specific needs, it's too much to all take into unique consideration, so they have to go with more objective, quantifiable measures to make the cuts. This person was very specific that this only applied to the big huge school-wide funding pools though, and that the process within any given department for awarding department-specific aid, is much more subjective and "human" of a process.

Hi - I found this on Magoosh maybe it'll help you a little bit. Gives average scores by major and school ranking. Estimated by the geniuses at Magoosh. http://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-scores-by-program-major/ And congrats on your all-around excellent scores! And whoa - you already got your writing score back? That was like what, 5 business days? That means I could get mine by this Friday!

Congratulations! I cannot imagine attempting to take the GRE in a second language - you rock!

Sure. Not sure what my opinion's worth but no problem! If it helps to know - I retook the GRE after a five year break and got somewhat better scores, so, I decided to send both, to show that a- I had improved, and b- that my brain wasn't going dead despite being out of school for so long. If my scores were worse, I would have sent my old ones only, and/or retaken the exam. If they were basically the same, I would've sent my new ones only, and considered retaking depending on the circumstances.

I like this thread! It's making me excited to be a TA! *fingers crossed!* It sounds challenging!

Sounds like you already know the answer to your own question...! I can't answer the first one for you. Sounds like nail on the head as far as the work experience letter though. And if the Prof at the environmental club saw you in action, then I don't see why not.

If you have a PLAN and you DO it, that to me is good enough.. I quit my job to pursue graduate studies (I quit for many reasons though), and I'm filling my in-between time with relevant educational activities, training, volunteering, and working freelance. I'm in an incredibly fortunate position and so trying to take advantage of it. I will be taking classes in my graduate major during this "off" time also, since I only had two-three classes in my grad major from my undergrad. If you can show that you didn't just willy-nilly drop your job, that you had a plan to get you to grad school, and you're following it successfully, I would THINK you would be alright. I guess I'll let you know how it goes My plan was to quit, handle the personal reasons that I chose to quit when I did, give lots of study time to the GRE, get something published before the end of this year, and start a freelance business in my field. I accomplished this and can put it on my application now, and I also learned a heck of a lot about running a biz. If you're going in to public policy, look for an internship at a local office, at any level of government, or at an NGO in your subfield of interest; do a little bit of research, and see if you can get a relevant op/ed or even an article published about your field; start a relevant blog or organize a relevant community service group. There are TONS of things we can do besides traditional "work" that is A, productive, B, good for your grad applications, and C, much more worthy of your time than traditional work anyway. If you do it right and if you have the luxury, you can spend your time GIVING in a substantial way to the world, while also progressing towards your grad goals. I quit with no job-safety-net, and it has been an incredibly liberating and rewarding decision. It is scary sometimes. People think you're nuts sometimes. And you are a little bit nuts to take such a risk. But that's OK - if it's who you are, and it's for the greater good, you'll be just fine.

Wow! That's really helpful to know!

Hmmm. In social sciences a lot of places just say a combined 300 is the cutoff. I'd ask folks in the programs you're looking at about it. Also if you pulled a 3.96 GPA from a real university then you should be able to break 150 on verbal with not too much studying. Retake if you can.

Today I raised my verbal 2 points and math 6 points (from five years ago). Trying to be positive about it We retook same day it looks like! Be interested to hear when you get your writing scores and how you did! Fingers crossed for you and me.

I have several willing LOR writers from a non-degree graduate program I was in - I essentially got to take classes because I worked at the school as an RA. For my undergrad, I did a significant amount of research (a really inordinate amount actually, it was an unorthodox program), so I am wondering if it would be better to have two letters from grad classes, and at least one from undergrad? Grad profs and I have great working relationships, have kept in touch since 2011, knew/know me very well. Undergrad profs I have not spoken to since 2007, though the one I'm considering asking remembers me, and would likely be happy to recommend me strongly, and is also familiar with a different set of my research. What would you recommend? I ask because it is easier for me to get all three from the grad program, so I am inclined to do that. What do you think?

GRE in 2009: 620 (est.161) V / 690 (est.152) Q AWA 4.5 Barron's 1: 156 V / 156 Q Barron's 2: 160 V / 158 Q Kaplan MST 1: 160 V / 154 Q Kaplan MST 2: 160 V / 151 Q PowerPrep 1: 164 V / 161 Q PowerPrep 2: 167 V / 160 Q (all practice tests were taken in the above order, also) 2014 Actual: 163 V / 158 Q Suuuuuper disappointed - especially after seeing everyone's actuals consistently above their practice scores - and seeing how accurate PowerPrep seems to generally be. I definitely know I could have done better on both V and Q. There were several Q questions I knew I could get if I only had another minute or two. It's frustrating because I love to figure out problems, and to not be able to see them through to completion was irritating me! Granted, if I look at the percentile-point improvements I made, I'm pretty happy (about 5 percentile point improvement on verbal, and about a 23 percentile point improvement on the quantitative). I'll add my AWA in a couple weeks when it arrives. How long did it take for some of yours to get to you?

...sigh.... I got a minor concussion yesterday.... what a freak accident.... I do hope my brain stays in tact and able to get its GRE on tomorrow....

I would imagine neither - however, sending your current scores tells your adcomm, look, this is where I am right now... whereas if they see where you were a few years ago, they might wonder if your skills had dropped in the meantime. Of course, that's if they even analyze scores that deeply, which frankly I have no idea if they do or don't! And from what many people say on here, they don't! One prof outright said to me he thinks the GRE is baloney and resents that they are used during the admissions process at all.

Your whole post was great so I don't mean to only single out this piece, but - thank you! I have been so frustrated with the prep materials I invested in because they cover one type of problem, one time ... This is not conducive to re-learning, or learning flat out. Remember the days of real math class in grade school? You repeat, the same, freaking, question types, over, and over, and over, until you essentially have enough patterned data for your brain to really figure it out and *click*! Can't do that with one question, one explanation, and move on. Math is like a language in this way: you can memorize all the vocabulary, and even a few strict grammar rules, but unless you, by yourself, can put it all together and reformulate it and deconstruct it, creatively, you're not going to get too far. Saying and learning and repeating only one sentence-example of a grammar rule is similar to doing only one example of a given type of math problem in my opinion... Now I'm gonna go back and look through my ETS books a little more closely for those winks you mentioned.

Well, that's pretty simple isn't it.... I couldn't find an ICA list, but I had been reading up on my schools through the NCA. Do you know off-hand where ICA hides university program info?

Hmmm, the question then becomes, which schools are viewed as questionable in our major?

You too! Thanks. The ETS book is alright - I do like that it seems to go a little more deeply and differently into some of the math concepts than does Kaplan material. Haven't done much with the verbal book yet.

Wowwww! Excellent scores L13! Congratulations!

Have you spoken to anyone in the departments you plan to apply to? You could ask program managers or secretaries for averages, or you could speak to current students in the program to see what their GRE scores were like. I would say, have at least one of your letter writers explain that your GRE scores aren't a good reflection of your actual academic strengths, in whatever words are appropriate. On top of that, make sure to emphasize your teaching experience. In practical programs, real-world experience can mean the difference between getting in and not. (Knowledge from a close friend who applied to a counseling program). You can also find average GRE scores by major, just search online, sorry I don't have a link handy. Good luck! You can always study up and retake it! And I'd recommend you do, if you can!