ristastic

So far it's just my writing sample that's holding up the bunch. I'm still finishing my thesis and hoping to use a portion of it, but it will be done by Dec. 12th, which is my first deadline. I'm working on my SOPs and have 1 recommender who I know will wait until the last second (argh!) I can't wait to be finished with these!

I'm applying for an art history PhD also, my current MA adviser warned me that admissions last year was "a disaster," meaning they received a ton more applications than usual, but obviously for budgetary reasons won't also increase the amount of students they admit. She thinks it will probably be a similar situation this year. sigh.

What a great summation of every reason I hate the GRE. I just had a conversation with my thesis adviser about the writing section, which in theory is maybe the best test of "grad student potential," but just like the other sections, as soon as you figure out how to game it and write exactly what they want you to, you'll get a good score that doesn't necessarily communicate your real writing abilities. My adviser thinks it actually discourages the sort of writing that [humanities] grad students should be doing. The GRE is simply a measure of how well you can prepare for a standardized test.

I'm in a similar position- art history PhD, and I scored a 660 and a 630 on two GREs. I'm told that I should have gotten a 700 to be "very competitive," but also that mid-600s is pretty good also. I guess the main thing to remember is that your GRE scores are fairly low on the list of what's important for a strong application. I second the database idea! Most of my frustrations with the GRE stem from the fact that no one really knows what adcoms look for, or what the expectations are for them.

I'm applying for an art history PhD and the GRE and I have an extremely complex relationship. I took it in August and got a 660V, 480Q, 5.5AW. I was told by pretty much everyone to try and raise my verbal and to not worry about the math, however low. I just took it this past weekend and got, much to my surprise after only studying for verbal, a 630V, 610Q and I imagine the AW will be a 5.5 or so. I know that "the GRE won't get you in, but it can keep you out." Are these scores going to keep me out? Are they going to kill my financial aid chances? I'm not really interested in taking it a 3rd time (mostly because that math score will never happen again), so am I better off just concentrating on my SOP/writing sample?

If I remember correctly, I think GRE scores are optional for the University of Illinois Urbana for the art history program, but I think that was the only one I ran across!

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. I've always struggled with the quant section of any standardized test...this 480 was after 2 months of dedicated study! Sigh, back to the drawing board, I guess.

Hey everyone, I just took a GRE for fall 2010 phd admissions. I got a 660V and 480Q, and I think the essays were solid enough for a 5 or 5.5. My question is, if I'm applying to competitive schools (a few Ivies, etc.), should I retake the test and try to score at least a 1200? How much do humanities admissions committees really look at Quant scores? Any advice?

I took the GRE over the weekend, and scored 660V, 480Q, and I expect the essays to be 5's or 5.5's. I'm applying for an art history PhD for fall 2010, and am not sure if I should bother retaking the test? I think the rest of my application will be fairly strong, good recs, etc. Any advice?

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd introduce myself...I'm also applying for art history phds for fall 2010. My concentration is medieval, though I also love early Renaissance. I'm finishing up my MA in NYC right now, and looking at mostly "top tier" schools because I'd like to stay on the east coast, with a few "second tier" schools. I'm wondering when people started contacting professors, and what the proper etiquette is for that whole process?

I'm applying to art history PhD programs next fall and want to get a jump on getting a better GRE score. I'm just wondering though, how much does a low quantitative score really hurt an application? My writing and verbal scores are high, but the math always brings me down. Any success stories of candidates with relatively low Q scores getting into humanities PhDs?