Taylor12

According to one of the members on the admissions committe in my department (sociology) the letters of recommendation are read first, followed by the statement of purpose. So yes, the statement of purpose is counted more highly then students think.

@BrianM & TheFez - Thanks for the advice! I've decided to retake it, this time though I will study (I didn't at all last time), hopefully I'll do better lol. It's really just that quantitative part that kills me, but I should be able to fix that. Thanks again!

@BrokenRecord: Thanks for your comment, it was very helpful. By "well-rounded" I meant that I've got the following in the works: Served as a TA for both online and face-to-face courses Two articles that I will be sending out for review (fingers crossed) by November Conference experience Multiple Committees/school service Member of AKD, other societies, etc. And lastly, a strong research agenda. The research I am conducting for my thesis is filling a major gap (from what my advisor tells me) and I've got several offshoots/papers I'm writing/will be writing from that. I don't know if this is considered well-rounded to others in (or out of) my field, but for my cohort in particular it's pretty good. I am seriously thinking of re-taking the GRE just to make it match up with the rest of my portfolio (which is why I posted this question), I just wanted to see if anyone knew if/thought the GRE didn't matter as much if you have already proved you can do well in an academic environment (sort of like the SAT).

Hi everyone, I am new to the forums, but didn't see this while I was scrolling through GRE topics. I will be applying this fall for Ph.D. programs in sociology, but I am already in the process of getting my M.A. I had low GRE scores (1000 or a total of 299 on the new scale), but aside from that my application is pretty well-rounded. My question(s) then are the following: (1) does anyone know if GRE scores matter as much in the Ph.D. application process if you're already in graduate school and (2) has low GRE scores kept anyone from being accepted to a program they really wanted to get into (even with a master's degree)? I tried contacting the graduate director of my top choice in program, but she gave me a somewhat flimsy answer ("there are no cut-off scores"--not sure if that's totally true). Anybody have experience with this? I am ultimately trying to decide whether I should retake the exam. Thank you all in advance, Taylor