Concerns about applying this year

[mswcandidate18]

Hello everyone! So here is my story:

I am a second year clinical psychology graduate student applying to developmental, health, clinical, and counseling psychology, as well as Human Development and Family Sciences PhD programs this upcoming Fall. My components are as follows:

- 3.71 undergraduate GPA (from an R1 institution) and a 4.0 graduate GPA

- currently taking an additional statistics course as an elective about structural equation modeling

-have had about 4 years of research experience, with a year and a half of experience working in labs that are my research interests

-have about 7 posters (none first author) that are closely related to my research interest and a abstract submitted to a conference where I am first author that is my research interest

- have 3 manuscripts in preparation, with one of them being submitted before I apply

-have good letters of recommendation from my advisor, and two of my secondary mentors

- am part of the Psi Chi honors society 

-the sucky part (idk if it is): GRE was 147V and 156Q and I’m waiting to get my writing score back. 

Should I be worried about my GRE scores? I cannot afford to take them again (since I have a busy semester). Would it make or break my application? Does my criteria make me a strong candidate in graduate school? Thank you!

[JoePianist]

Your verbal score on the GRE is definitely not competitive for an accredited clinical psychology doctoral program – you’ll need to get that up to 150 at least 

[mswcandidate18]

2 hours ago, JoePianist said:

Your verbal score on the GRE is definitely not competitive for an accredited clinical psychology doctoral program – you’ll need to get that up to 150 at least 

What if the program does not have a Clifford score?

[mswcandidate18]

6 hours ago, JoePianist said:

Your verbal score on the GRE is definitely not competitive for an accredited clinical psychology doctoral program – you’ll need to get that up to 150 at least 

Sorry, I meant cuttoff. 

[PsyDuck90]

It's a tough call. You can look at the admissions data on the program websites. The rest of your application is really strong, so some schools may overlook it. Others may still use your GRE as an informal cutoff. 

[ResilientDreams]

Are there clinical psychology programs that are GRE optional? I don't know much about clinical. If not, I would really advise taking the GRE again. 

[PsycUndergrad]

I would retake it if at all possible. Most programs have cut-offs around the 70th percentile or higher. This is often true even if they don’t mention it on their website, or state that they don’t have an official cut-off score. 

You’re a very strong applicant otherwise, so some schools might be willing to overlook it. You might want to apply to schools that get fewer applications because they might be able to look at applications more closely vs. screening out everyone under a certain percentile. 

Edited August 31, 2018 by PsycUndergrad

[Clinapp2017]

The GRE scores are not good as is. To be the most competitive for clinical programs, you want to at least surpass the 310 cutoff for the combined score. My undergrad mentor (who was heavily involved in admissions across the department) said he even thought going above 320 combined makes students the most competitive. 

 

It sucks, but gre and pubs are the only things that carry the same weight across applicants. A high gpa is good, but a 4.0 means different things across programs with different rigor. 

 

 

[loffire]

if you don't mind me hijacking this thread, i scored 162v160q but my awa was 4.0 and i'm worried that my awa is gonna affect my chances, especially since im an international student. I graduated from university at buffalo so I don't need take a toefl despite being an international student. Would taking it perhaps help with my shitty awa score? Does anyone have any insight with regard to that? Appreciate any advice!

[ResilientDreams]

4 hours ago, loffire said:

if you don't mind me hijacking this thread, i scored 162v160q but my awa was 4.0 and i'm worried that my awa is gonna affect my chances, especially since im an international student. I graduated from university at buffalo so I don't need take a toefl despite being an international student. Would taking it perhaps help with my shitty awa score? Does anyone have any insight with regard to that? Appreciate any advice!

In the future, it's better to start a separate thread so that the original thread can be focused on the OP's question.  I think your score is fine though. In my opinion, two high scores make up for one low score, especially if the rest of the application is strong. In OP's case however, they had two low scores so I would suggest a retake.

[loffire]

20 hours ago, ResilientDreams said:

In the future, it's better to start a separate thread so that the original thread can be focused on the OP's question.  I think your score is fine though. In my opinion, two high scores make up for one low score, especially if the rest of the application is strong. In OP's case however, they had two low scores so I would suggest a retake.

roger that ?

[mswcandidate18]

On 8/31/2018 at 7:10 AM, Hk328 said:

It's a tough call. You can look at the admissions data on the program websites. The rest of your application is really strong, so some schools may overlook it. Others may still use your GRE as an informal cutoff. 

I did and I just got my AW score and it’s a 5. All the schools that I’m applying to for clinical have a average verbal score higher than mine, but an average quantitative score the same as mine or lower than my actual quant score, and my AW is higher than the average. What should I do? 

[mswcandidate18]

On 8/31/2018 at 7:14 AM, ResilientDreams said:

Are there clinical psychology programs that are GRE optional? I don't know much about clinical. If not, I would really advise taking the GRE again. 

One of the programs that I’m applying to does not require the GRE. 

I did and I just got my AW score and it’s a 5. All the schools that I’m applying to for clinical have a average verbal score higher than mine, but an average quantitative score the same as mine or lower than my actual quant score, and my AW is higher than the average. So in sum, to correct you, now I got two high scores (and I’m talking about higher than average) in quant and AW. What should I do? 

[mswcandidate18]

On 8/31/2018 at 9:22 AM, Clinapp2017 said:

The GRE scores are not good as is. To be the most competitive for clinical programs, you want to at least surpass the 310 cutoff for the combined score. My undergrad mentor (who was heavily involved in admissions across the department) said he even thought going above 320 combined makes students the most competitive. 

 

It sucks, but gre and pubs are the only things that carry the same weight across applicants. A high gpa is good, but a 4.0 means different things across programs with different rigor. 

 

 

What about for programs other than clinical? 

I did and I just got my AW score and it’s a 5. All the schools that I’m applying to for clinical have a average verbal score higher than mine, but an average quantitative score the same as mine or lower than my actual quant score, and my AW is higher than the average listed for schools. What should I do? 

[ResilientDreams]

2 hours ago, FuturePhDCandidate said:

What about for programs other than clinical? 

I did and I just got my AW score and it’s a 5. All the schools that I’m applying to for clinical have a average verbal score higher than mine, but an average quantitative score the same as mine or lower than my actual quant score, and my AW is higher than the average listed for schools. What should I do? 

You should still retake it because what I meant by a "low" score is a score above 150. It doesn't look good to have a score in the 140s. 

[mswcandidate18]

20 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

You should still retake it because what I meant by a "low" score is a score above 150. It doesn't look good to have a score in the 140s. 

As I mentioned, I don’t have time to retake it. So what is the next best thing to do besides retake it?

[mswcandidate18]

22 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

You should still retake it because what I meant by a "low" score is a score above 150. It doesn't look good to have a score in the 140s. 

Also, I’m really bad at verbal so let’s say I retake it and I get another bad score what do I do then?

[PsyDuck90]

If you don't have time to retake it, then there isn't really much of a conversation to have. The score is what it is. The rest of your application is strong, so all there really is to do is make sure every other part of your application is as good as it can be and cross your fingers. I had a pretty terrible Quant score, but the rest of my application was solid and I got into a program I wanted to for Clinical. Some schools weigh the GRE less than others, but they don't really advertise it. 

You could address the low score in your SOP. That's what I did. I had a poor Quant score, but I highlighted the advanced stats courses I did well on in my MA, and the 1st author publication I have in which I did all the data analysis. Your SOP can sometimes be a place where you can address any shortcomings in your application head-on. Also, let's be real, the scores reported by universities are means, which means there is a SD in either direction. Your score is about 3 points below average. It isn't like you scored a 127 or something like that. Even R1s look at programs more holistically nowadays. 

[mswcandidate18]

3 minutes ago, Hk328 said:

If you don't have time to retake it, then there isn't really much of a conversation to have. The score is what it is. The rest of your application is strong, so all there really is to do is make sure every other part of your application is as good as it can be and cross your fingers. I had a pretty terrible Quant score, but the rest of my application was solid and I got into a program I wanted to for Clinical. Some schools weigh the GRE less than others, but they don't really advertise it. 

You could address the low score in your SOP. That's what I did. I had a poor Quant score, but I highlighted the advanced stats courses I did well on in my MA, and the 1st author publication I have in which I did all the data analysis. Your SOP can sometimes be a place where you can address any shortcomings in your application head-on. Also, let's be real, the scores reported by universities are means, which means there is a SD in either direction. Your score is about 3 points below average. It isn't like you scored a 127 or something like that. Even R1s look at programs more holistically nowadays. 

This was the answer I was looking for. So for my Verbal score, would I address that I wrote abstracts for posters and most of the parts on a manuscript? Or what classes can I address for verbal?

[PsyDuck90]

I would make sure your writing sample is as perfect as it can be, and address your scientific writing experience in the SOP. For verbal, I think that matter more than specific courses.