edgirl

It does help -- if only because it makes me feel better. Thanks!

Taylor, this isn't directly related, but it is indirectly connected. Since you're someone who spends a lot of time thinking abou the GRE: out of curiosity, how much do you think the percentile ranks will move in coming years as the new test becomes, well, no-longer-new? In other words, if my quant score is currently in the 75th/85th/95th percentile, do you foresee big shifts when the new percentiles come out this summer?

My test center was pretty strict about clothing -- I was wearing a sweatshirt, and the staff told me that if I went into the test room with it on, I had to keep it on; unlike Vertices, I wasn't allowed to take it off and put it back on during the test. As it happened, my test center was really warm, so I ended up putting the sweatshirt in my locker and just leaving it there. Might want to ask your test center what their policy is on that, since I was surprised (and annoyed -- really, Prometric, you can't trust me even after you've wanded me and checked all my pockets?).

V 165 = 690 old scale = 96th %ile Q 157 = 730 old scale = 77th %ile concordance and percentiles from ETS: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/understand/

That's really helpful, because it gives me more confidence about the substantive nature of the program. Thank you!

Thanks!

As someone who attended private schools for 12 years and worked in them for 5, I will agree with JiminDC and say without hesitation if that's where you want to work, do the MA lit programs rather than the ed programs. You can always go back for another master's in admin later, when you're readier to think about opening a school, but private schools would absolutely rather see content mastery than pedagogy mastery -- right or wrong, they always feel like they can develop you as a teacher, while they're anxious that you should come in knowing your area inside and out. Between Penn and Northwestern, there is no bad choice -- I'd say it depends on your geographic preference and cost.

Hi everyone! I'm pretty new to the boards, but am hoping to get feedback as I think about which direction to go in for doctoral studies (assuming, of course, I can get myself in somewhere or other). This is really long, so thank you in advance to anyone who makes his/her way through it and has energy left to respond! So here's my deal: I'm interested in lots of different kinds of aspects of education, and I'm not sure yet whether academia, pure research, or an applied position (e.g., in government at the state or federal level) is where I'll end up. Some of the particular things I'm interested in are: the school reform movement/charter schools (specifically, accountability/choice-based reform vs. standards-based reform) education funding teacher preparation, recruitment, retention, promotion merit pay high-stakes testing intersection of public health and public education private schools etc. I think that this range of interests makes a policy or urban education program the right fit, since I'll get to use multiple disciplines to think about problems. But I worry that these programs might be superficial -- that maybe it's better to try to become expert in one discipline (say, sociology) and use that lens to look at the problems that interest me. This is a particular concern for me because I come from an education background but not a research background: I have worked in schools for 8 years, as a teacher, admissions officer, and college counselor, and I have an bachelor's degree in English and a master's in school counseling. (I've worked in private day and boarding, suburban public, and inner-city charter schools.) I'm hoping to spend 2012-2013 in an ed research master's program, learning to do some of the analysis and evaluation I know will be needed down the line -- should hear back about admissions by the end of this month. My hope is that my school-based experience and the research master's will position me for doctoral admission in fall 2013, though I know it's uber-competitive and that I may end up working in the field for a while again after my second master's. But I'd love feedback on policy vs. research vs. urban ed programs, as well as thoughts people might have about what my admission chances might be like for any of these programs at the doctoral level. I'll close by offering stats, which I imagine may be helpful: Undergrad: B.A. in English, GPA 3.6, from an Ivy in 2003 Master's: M.S.Ed. in School and Mental Health Counseling, GPA 3.95, from Penn in 2010 [Potential second master's, M.S. in research/assessment/evaluation, also from Penn, in 2013] GRE: V 170, Q 161, don't yet have AW score If you've made it this far -- thank you! I look forward to hearing people's thoughts! EdGirl

Thanks for the feedback, all! I realize the GRE in and of itself is but one piece in holistic review, but since I'm leaning toward somewhat quantitative fields like ed research, I just wondered whether the Q score would be in the ballpark. Now, on to focusing on the bigger picture!

Hey Dizzi, Thanks for the reply! On the new scale, percentile ranks are V 99 and Q 86. If it helps, the concordance on ETS equates my scores to a V 800 and Q 770. Again, really appreciate the feedback!

Hi folks, I'm new here and would really appreciate any feedback! I'm planning to apply to doctoral programs in ed policy (or, just possibly, ed research) for fall 2013. In preparation for that, I took the GRE yesterday. While I don't have the writing score back yet (duh), I know that my verbal was 170 and my quant was 161. Obviously, I am happy with that verbal score, but I'm curious about the quant score -- is it in the ballpark for doctoral admission to policy and/or research programs? Also, I felt like I tanked the first essay but recovered in the second. I'm not holding out great hopes for my writing score, so I'm also curious if y'all have any feedback on how heavily GSE admissions peeps seem to weigh it, relative both to the other section scores and to the app as a whole. Thanks! EdGirl