Kitkat

I think that schools will probably not be that crazy really, but I think that it will still be interesting to see grad school reactions this year with all of these new changes. Like you said though, GRE scores are not the only things that they are looking at. I think that the way that it works is that the difficulty of the section is dependent on the first. I don't know how consistant that is since we are still in the early stages of this test at this point, especially after the results from the ranges of the first few months of tests and actual results. For taking both tests, percentage wise, I did a lot better on the newer version then the older one, but I think that it really depends on what your strenghts and weaknesses are. But I think that overall, most issues are that there are not enough materials to study for the newest test yet. Similar material, more so with the quant section. So I think that quant scores will more similar, with the fact that you will have a finer distiction of percentiles at the top. Verbal, the hard numbers will be less perfect looking, but percentiles will look similar.

bigant, you seem very focused on the idea of titles. While I agree that in real life titles are helpful, I have yet to see you make a good argument for having them on the test. While the test is not the best, people agree with you on that aspect, I do not see how that has anything to do with titles. You seem to argue against the idea of not having them, you don't seem to have a good explination of how they are useful in this testing environment. They want to you to read the passage and do something like give them a title (aka give a one sentence summary). Giving you a title would defeat the point of this. They want you to read the passage and do something similar to 'What kind of title would you give this' but with more complicated questions. Just tell be with examples, why are titles important for this type of test?

I had one application like that, and it annoyed me to no end, especially since it was the last one due. I basically had to finish it first to make sure that my LOR's would have enough time to get in on time. All the rest I could put in the recommender's, have them sent out and take my time with the rest of the application, to make sure I did not screw up on the rest of it. I knew about the personal statement, but at the same time, their system wasn't conducive to getting it done over a several day period so that you can take your time with it, review it, not mess up. I'm with you on UMich. The one other school who's app system I didn't like so much was for RGGS at AMNH. Good program and all, but they wanted me to download pdf forms fill them out and then re-upload them. Of course, I didn't have the applications for this. On the upside they did provide this, but I wonder why they couldn't just have a system where you could upload it in whatever form you had it in in the first place. I mean, most computers will accept word format for things.

Well I am hoping that it is just because they were busy at the time, and by multiple times, I mean about twice.

Well, most of the schools seem to have the same idea, that they can either support you up to X # of years or that they only accept if they can support you up to 5 years. To one of your edits ( ); its good to hear that it seems like being a science that is interdisciplinary that there could be more backup sources if necessary.

Here's a question with that... if you got in contact them before hand and they never heard back from them (even with repeated tries), and the application asks if you contacted them, do these attempts still count?

I have been told that with my field that research experience is also an important factor. The point that I am trying to make here is that if you have other aspects that you have that make your application stronger, and your GPA is your weak point, or one of a couple, then while its not great, they should still look at the application.

Yeah, it has completely disappeard at this point. A lot of the programs I have looked at highly reccomend scores in fields realated to what you want to do, so I ended up taking the biology.

Are people still able to get their scores into their schools of choice? Mine came in maybe a week or two before the deadline, and that was after me taking it in the beginning of September. Of course I was still wating on the official scores in Novermber.

Would you be able to give me an example of how a headline would help you find the details in a passage that you need? I am not here to deny the fact that that the headline is a useful and necessary tool in the real world. But how is it there beyond the point of knowing which article to read and not read. It is a simple line at most. There is a limited amount of space for a title, and therefore in my mind, a very limited and very general overview that a title can give you. If you can give me an example of how, in the example of something like the GRE passages, a title can help you, then maybe I can understand the point you are making better. My point is still this, that if you need a title to understand a passage then maybe you don't belong in grad school. While other arguments about unclear sentences and the like have merits, I think the arguments for headlines at this point are still weak. But at the same time, poor sentence structure and bad punctuation might still be interpreted correctly. I just feel that a dependence on headlines shows that you might not have the reading skills necessary for graduate school.

So I know that this is wading into the land of the unknown and speculation. But for those of us who are using the new GRE for our scores to apply to grad school, I am sure that there has been some level of concern about this. How do people think that grad schools will look at the new scores? I am hoping that at least for the schools that I am looking at, they continue to look at the percentiles like they did on the old test. But with the change that ETS made, saying that this test should be better, I don't know if all the schools will agree with that. Some might say, it's still a test (which it is), some saying about the same level of test, some might say its a worse test, and some might see it as better.

What is the funding situation within the field of geosciences? I know that it is a good portion dependent on the schools that we apply to, but what is it like compared to fields like biology, chemistry, physics? Was it hard for people to get a fellowship, an RAship or a TAship within the field..... I wonder, because at this point I am bascially set for the programs I am applying to, and they all say that they fund their students, but I am wondering what the dynamics are for money with such a small group, field wise.

Part of what I think helped me (167V, 160Q) was just the idea of going through as many practice exams as possible before taking the actual one. I think it was just a matter of getting myself so used to it that I didn't psych myself out during the test. That and then if you get so used to the rules, you have more time to take for the questions themselves. So what I might suggest is do a little practice with the barrons and princeton review, do a test, see where you messed up, review do another test and so on. I would suggest trying to do the practice test under similar conditions to the test situation. Don't let yourself have any distractions, and take advantage of break times, during practice and the actual test. I know when I took the actual test, I took the ten min break, and it helped a lot. After all it is a long test, and even if you know the material, your brain gets tired/bored after awhile, even though you know how important it is. I would also suggest that you focus on the section(s) that are most important for the degree that you are looking at. I have noticed that while both sections are important for more competitive schools, the programs themselves will still favor one over the other. Mine for example is more quant heavy (my verbal will be a bonus, but my quant is ave. or above for the programs I am looking at). So as long as the other is in a good range, the more important one is the one that will make or break you in many ways.

That is very true. After all, here we are talking about wanting to go to grad school, they want to see how serious you are about the application. The main point I think most people though, is not that they want to hand in anything late really, or that they need to double the essay length to truly get across why they would be good for a program (although in some cases I think that they would), but rather, how much over is too much and getting into that situation you imply in your example? I think everyone in these forums understands the fact that many adcomms have a lot of applications to look through, and will only want to read so much before their eyes glaze over.

I think the main reason why a school would want to know what other schools you are applying to is to see where they are compared to other schools, and how likely you would be to go to their school. For example, if you are applying to a bunch of Ivies, and then the local state school as a back up, and have the background to have a good chance at the Ivies, the state school might not take you just because they might see it as a wasted offer, when they can get someone who is more likely to say yes to their offer.

It really depends on the programs that you are applying to ........ I assume at this point, cutoffs for the new percentages will be the same as the old one ......

So with one of my applications, there are two seperate things that they want to see, as the same part. They break it up like this: Statement 1: past research experience (length of up to 500 words) Statement 2: proposed research interests (length of up to 500 words) Has anyone else seen anything like this? Any suggestion on how to do this? I don't think that it will be that hard to adjust what I have been writing other schools to adjust to this, and it gives me more space to talk about each one. But I feel like this is different then most SoP's that people ask for.

I would say that if the rest of the application that you are submitting is good, then it is not something that you have to worry about too much. You did not score that much lower then what you were looking for. If you have a good GPA, and did well in the math courses you took to be an econ major, that should balance it out. In other words, only explain if you feel comfortable doing so, and in that case do not spend much time on it. It should be more of an explanation of a one time issue, that should not affect your ability to succeed in grad school. After all you had a normal stress response to a bad situation, and you tried to your best in that case, and I have to say very well in that case.

Not in psych, so I won't try to analyze this or anything. But I know exaclty how you feel about this whole process. I haven't even finished any applications yet, so at least I still have some control over them, and therefore the panic I do feel. But I feel that once I do submit them all I feel all the waiting will drive me nuts. Basically I am at the point where I am making contingency plans for if I don't get into any program. (Jobs and the like. You know ) My bf keeps telling me that I am being silly for all this worry, and he is probably right. Just think of it this way, your expecting the worst, hoping for the best, and will probably get something somewhere in the middle, in the land of the realistic.

Well since you seem to have the time for it, I would say try to retake it by mid to late Dec. At most it takes about 2 weeks to send out the scores. Yes, getting the AW up would be good, you shouldn't spend too much time on that. Most programs I have looked at, as long as you get a 4.0-4.5 your fine. But I think that your biggest issue would be the quant score as you know. I would say that in that case, just give yourself a lot of time trying to answer quant sections within the set time that they give you on the test as practice. Your background is solid, but not spectacular, as far as the basics go. It's not going to keep you out, but if you can, raising your quant score might help you out, making it slightly stronger.

I think that LateAntique is right, in that it depends on how the rest of the application looks. There is the fact that you most likely will not be able to take, and have schools receive the scores in time for their deadlines. Yes, your score is low for the field, especially since you are going for the physics end of it, which generally wants it more. Even I was told to get a higher Q score, and I am going to paleobiology and sedimentology. It was mainly for the more competitive programs. So one thing I am wondering about is which schools you are looking at. If you are not looking at the top 25, or not many, then it is less of an issue. But have you done any research? How good is your GPA? How good is your fit to the programs you are applying to? What are your LOR's like? If those are all good, then that can easily balance out the GRE. I would think if the rest of your application is good, then the GRE is going to be more a factor for fellowships. In that case, I would talk to programs to see if you can retake it and see if you can get a higher score.

Every GRE score is independent from all the others. So the low score won't automatically make the next one be a low score. All you have to do is study more on the things you did not do well on, and try to do better on the next. If you do, good luck!

I had this problem a lot when I was trying to figure out what schools that I might want to apply to, and am still having to a lesser extent with the schools that I am applying to now. With the ones I looked at, but am not looking to apply to, my main issue was that if you want to make it this difficult for me to find out simple information because I might want to go to your school, then why would I want to go there. It gave me the impression that if they are that sloppy about their website, they might be that sloppy in their program. While this might not be true, I feel that applying to grad school is a two way street in the sense that while I have to prove that I am worth them paying me to go there, they have to make me feel the program is worth going to. If I have a horrible time getting through the first time through their website, just to have a basic idea about it, it wasn't worth my time. With the programs that I am applying to now, my main issue is in what I have to do with uploading a lot of documents. Some of them do it better then others. But at least with these programs, I was able to find all the information I need without a problem for the most part.

I'm rather sad that I can't go to AGU this year. It was originally the plan until our data got delayed. But on the upside, it looks like I will still get to go to a regional one (GSA) in March.