chaetzli

Congrats to the WM admit! Sent by postal service... how old-fashioned

Thanks! I just wish I could start adding names in the proton section

Yay... another one!! Amazing!

Yeah, this is now the "happy phase" where everyone is receiving acceptances . But soon the bloodshed will start (first wave of rejection letters) . I hope those who haven't received an acceptance yet will get good news soon! Edit: Congrats to the UNC admit! (Quigley, have you been admitted to UNC?)

Hey, this is great!!! Congrats!! I am really happy for you (after seeing how worried you were). Now you can relax a bit!!

Did you see the FS post on the results board (Classics)? Looks quite similar to what you've just described...

Congrats - this is great!!!!

For those of you who need a distraction: "How America's Top Colleges Reflect (and Massively Distort) the Country's Racial Evolution" http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/how-americas-top-colleges-reflect-and-massively-distort-the-countrys-racial-evolution/267415/ I found this article today and thought it's pretty interesting!

Yeah, after many sleepless nights last year I decided to force myself to relax a bit this year. I'll have a cocktail for everyone on this forum (by the end of this vacation I'll probably have to go to rehab) But seriously: I was so stressed out last year and ended up being rejected everywhere. That's life! Checking GradCafe 100X per day didn't get my into grad school. Being rejected sucks but I ended up in a really cool research position... you always have to see the positive side of a negative experience. This year, I also made a list with things I am looking forward to if I get rejected again (getting a new big apartment, getting a dog...). I really recommend that you guys don't worry too much. Most of us will get their decisions in two to three weeks - no need to check your mailbox every ten minutes. There is nothing you can do at this point. I wish everyone good luck with their applications!! May you all get into the program of your dreams!

See... this is why in a week from now I am going to Thailand for 16 days: no cell phone, no internet - no stress. Just palm trees, beach and cocktails. There will still be enough time to panic when I come home and there is no acceptance letter in my mailbox!

Didn't you guys just receive a mail telling you it will take them weeks to figure out the GRE scores stuff? Why should they do that and send out acceptance letters a few days later?! Don’t feed the trolls. They got enough food from us last year

It's the IR/Pacific Studies thing I guess...

NYU+Harvard faculty with Princeton's campus and Stanford's weather (+ Boston's "Cheesecake Factory" and New Haven's "Prime 16")

Last application cycle someone got into Stanford and Yale with pretty similar scores (same Q score). So I wouldn’t worry too much!

I am currently helping a friend with her BA thesis (ergo therapy) and found a paragraph in a book that exactly describes what happens to me if I spend too much time on GradCafe: (Lazarus and Folkman 1984: Stress, Appraisal, and Coping) A person with a recently diagnose illness (i.e. grad school applications) perseveres in gathering and evaluation information, the acquisition of which contributes to uncertainty and increases anxiety. He gets trapped in a cycle of problem-focused coping (information-gathering and –evaluating) which exacerbates his emotional distress and interferes with mechanisms such as avoidance that might otherwise be used to reduce distress.

I am a Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship 2013-2014 grantee. If you have any questions regarding the application process, just PM me. I am happy to help!

Since I am reapplying to some schools, I had to add a new letter. I didn't want to substitute one of the other letters and thus I submitted four recs. I hope they will read all of them...

I have four

I totally understand that you are frustrated! It is a torturous test for most of us and it is hard to tell why some people have more difficulties than others. I took the test five times so I definitely know how much retakes suck . So here is my advice: Verbal: I increased my score from 150 to 163 and all I did is practicing words. I installed several vocab apps on my iPhone, had Barron's word list, Kaplan's top XYZ. words .... Trust me, it is all about vocab. Magoosh has some great strategies to approach the reading comprehension questions but I don't think that learning these strategies made a big difference (in my case). Quant: Here I increased my score from 155 to 161. This is the part of the GRE I invested the most time and effort while practicing. I am still disappointed that I couldn't get a higher scores. I guess it's because I am struggling with the testing conditions (time limitations, length of the test...). My advice is to take as many timed prep tests as possible. The most difficult part of the GRE-Q is reading questions carefully and stay focused under pressure. I also liked NOVA's math prep book (not the Math Bible) as there are all types of questions that are covered on the actual test.

This looks very familiar to me. I also got consistently higher scores on any practice test but I think this is just a consequence of the less favorable testing conditions on the actual test. Interestingly, your actual score reflects the mean of you practice scores (at least those of the manhattan prep).

I suggest that you report the second score because 1) AW doesn't seem to be that important for most programs 2) Your writing sample and SOP can compensate the mediocre score 3) I checked Harvard education and they publish following statistics Ed.D. students Verbal Average: 91.5 (percentile) Quantitative Average: 77.6 (percentile) Analytical Writing Average: 5.1 and V:73% is way below their average.

Thank you for your response and the list of GRE scores you posted. I believe we should be very careful comparing scores from 2008 with 2012 scores. While 650 on the old format actually translates into a 150 on the new one, the percentile scores have changed substantially since then (even though it is probably less severe close to the mean scores). Just look at the 2011/2012 percentile score changes. A Q:159 was the 82nd %ile in 2011. Now, it is only the 77th %ile! That's a 5 percentage points change within one year! Even if schools admitted students with lower scores, those were probably special cases (the student was on a sports team, son/daughter of someone famous/rich…). Thus, it is very unlikely that a 'normal' person will be admitted with very low scores. As poker player, I'd rather not play this hand because the odds are just against you . Just look at the statements/scores that are published on the universities' webpages. I really do not recommend someone with a Q-score of 150 to apply there. Both scores should be (at least) in the 70-80th percentile to be competitive for the top 20 schools. Columbia: The department has no required minimum GRE score, and since its applicants come from all over the world, actual GRE scores vary quite a bit. In general, persons offered admission to the Ph.D. program receive GRE scores in the ninetieth percentile, and students admitted to the M.A. program perform slightly less well. Verbal scores are sometimes lower for applicants whose first language is not English. Berkeley: Due to the highly competitive applicant pool we receive each year, the average scores of admitted students are typically in the 80th percentile or higher on each of the three sections of the GRE General Test. NYU: If your GRE scores are not in the 90th percentile we would be looking for other indicators of likely success in the program. We make allowances for lower verbal GRE scores for non-native speakers of English. UCSD: Average: V: 165, Q:162, AW 4.9 Duke: Average: V: 164, Q:162 Wisconsin-Madison: Of the applicants admitted, the average GRE verbal score was in the 93rd percentile, quantitative score in the 81st percentile, and writing analytic score in the 86th percentile. Princeton: (for social sciences: admits) V: 164, Q: 163 Ohio State: The average combined verbal and quantitative GRE scores of admitted students typically is 82%. The average for the writing component is 76%.

Let me have a look at some schools tonight. I'll PM you.

I had the exact same problem. Out of high school for 6 years and did not remember any of the GRE-Q stuff. It takes a while until you learn the math concepts again. Actually, I am still struggling with the Q-part of the GRE because of the time constraints and the stress-factor. I suggest that you apply next year. This option really sucks - I know! But last year I was rejected anywhere. I'm 100% sure universities did not even look at my file because of the GRE score. I had a verbal score that was identical to your quant score - 150. I am reapplying with this year with much better scores: v:163 and q:161 (and believe me: I am still insecure whether my scores are good enough for Columbia etc.). If this is no option for you -> retake!! However, even with q:156 there is a good chance that top programs weed out your application. If I were you, I'd definitely add some safety schools (check GRE averages on webpage). I apologize if this sounds very harsh. But being rejected sucks. I just don't want someone else to make the same mistakes as I did.