Fall 2020 Social/Personality Psychology PhD

[SocPsyPhDWannabe]

Feeling pretty deflated. Rejected from my top schools because of my GRE score. I used the same score that I used to get my Master's and figured that by having a Master's I wouldn't need to prove I was capable of graduate-level work with a standardized test. I was wrong. Holding out hope for a couple of programs but have received 0 interviews. Not looking forward to asking my recommenders, yet again, to write me LORs

 

[PianoPsych]

On 2/20/2020 at 1:45 PM, spider-man said:

Has anyone heard anything from University of Minnesota or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign?

UMN decisions have been made I believe- welcome weekend was this past weekend.

On 2/22/2020 at 3:19 AM, SocPsyPhDWannabe said:

Feeling pretty deflated. Rejected from my top schools because of my GRE score. I used the same score that I used to get my Master's and figured that by having a Master's I wouldn't need to prove I was capable of graduate-level work with a standardized test. I was wrong. Holding out hope for a couple of programs but have received 0 interviews. Not looking forward to asking my recommenders, yet again, to write me LORs

 

I'm sorry to hear that, I can see the utility of standardized tests but yours sounds like a case where they should have taken your Master's into consideration. The tests and applications are so expensive too  

[SocPsyPhDWannabe]

16 hours ago, PianoPsych said:

I'm sorry to hear that, I can see the utility of standardized tests but yours sounds like a case where they should have taken your Master's into consideration. The tests and applications are so expensive too  

I really appreciate that! Yeah, not looking forward to the hundreds of dollars towards another GRE and the hundreds of dollars towards another round of applications. I don't know why schools don't waive the GRE score for people with grad degrees. Seems like an antiquated system.

[sparrow123]

3 minutes ago, SocPsyPhDWannabe said:

I really appreciate that! Yeah, not looking forward to the hundreds of dollars towards another GRE and the hundreds of dollars towards another round of applications. I don't know why schools don't waive the GRE score for people with grad degrees. Seems like an antiquated system.

Not to mention that it disadvantages people who don't have the money or time to study for the GRE more than once. Even doing it once, and applying for one cycle, is a huge strain on financial resources. If psychology is serious about valuing diversity in their grad programs and beyond, they need to address this system.

I'm sorry it's not working out this cycle  I also have a Master's degree in experimental psych and my quant GRE score was terrible. I'm 1000000% sure it impacted my interview offers this cycle. I just didn't have the time to study for it all over again.  Not to mention I aced the three grad-level stats courses I was in, which you'd think would be more important.

I'm not bitter. Not at all. ?

[PianoPsych]

3 hours ago, sparrow123 said:

Not to mention that it disadvantages people who don't have the money or time to study for the GRE more than once. Even doing it once, and applying for one cycle, is a huge strain on financial resources. If psychology is serious about valuing diversity in their grad programs and beyond, they need to address this system.

I'm sorry it's not working out this cycle  I also have a Master's degree in experimental psych and my quant GRE score was terrible. I'm 1000000% sure it impacted my interview offers this cycle. I just didn't have the time to study for it all over again.  Not to mention I aced the three grad-level stats courses I was in, which you'd think would be more important.

I'm not bitter. Not at all. ?

There is a lot of talk about GRExit these days, I think the issue is complex because the grad school application process, and grad school itself, is inequitable at every level (LoR writers, school, grades etc) and not just the GRE. A partial solution would be to adjust costs for the tests and applications by income, but I don't know how else to go about it. There are so many applications that schools use the GRE as an easy screening tool- disregarding your Master's degrees and more relevant credentials like stats papers that take more time to find and don't fit into a neat percentile for comparison. Although schools do ask for explanations for low GRE scores, it's still extra work. 

What I found most helpful in this forum was the support and the people who actively work to help address inequities (you know who you are  ). Because they are the ones to make real changes before the system makes its slow changes years later.

[SocPsyPhDWannabe]

On 2/24/2020 at 2:25 PM, sparrow123 said:

Not to mention that it disadvantages people who don't have the money or time to study for the GRE more than once. Even doing it once, and applying for one cycle, is a huge strain on financial resources. If psychology is serious about valuing diversity in their grad programs and beyond, they need to address this system.

I'm sorry it's not working out this cycle  I also have a Master's degree in experimental psych and my quant GRE score was terrible. I'm 1000000% sure it impacted my interview offers this cycle. I just didn't have the time to study for it all over again.  Not to mention I aced the three grad-level stats courses I was in, which you'd think would be more important.

I'm not bitter. Not at all. ?

I share the same feelings. Luckily my wife is successful and can support me while I limp along lol. GRE scores should be moot if you hold a Master's degree. It is a shame that it is being used as the sole deciding factor for many schools. I spent a lot of money for them to review my application, and for it to get tossed out before they even read my LORs is insane. What am I paying for?! Why am I wasting my recommenders time? 

Back to the drawing board (or testing center...)