Should I retake gre or get more experience or none?

[slp2be99]

Hi, I'm a senior now and I am in the process of applying to grad schools for fall 2020. I recently took the gre and scored fairly bad (V:145, Q:143, writing: 4.5). I know SLP schools generally look for 150 for each section, but I am not sure if I could improve because I did study the whole summer and that's what I got. Should I try harder or try to beef up my applications some other way? I do not have research experience because it is extremely competitive at my school to get in one. I do have experience with volunteering over the summer with children who had speech sound disorders and I worked with children for a summer camp (not SLP related). Other than that I just tutor people in a linguistics course. I really want to get into grad school, just didn't leave myself much opportunity to stand out that much. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 

[Avschilling]

As much as it sucks to say this, I would retake the GRE. I know for a fact at the University of Alabama, they will not take a GRE score under 300 but they will take a student with a low GPA with a gre score of 300 or higher

[slptobe!]

I would agree with the above that you should probably try to retake the gre to get a few more points, try magoosh! If you have a opportunity to gain more experience that you could write about in your personal statement, that would be great too, but I think you might just want to go for trying to retake the gre as a priority. Let me know if you have any questions! 

[slp2be99]

2 hours ago, slptobe! said:

I would agree with the above that you should probably try to retake the gre to get a few more points, try magoosh! If you have a opportunity to gain more experience that you could write about in your personal statement, that would be great too, but I think you might just want to go for trying to retake the gre as a priority. Let me know if you have any questions! 

I bought magoosh, but I have not been finding a lot of time or motivation to do it because when I was watching the videos and doing practice problems I was not learning the concepts at all despite watching the videos. I know it takes awhile, but I did study the whole summer too. I just freak out during those long tests. Do you not think that working as an ABA therapist would subside my current gre scores?

[slp2be99]

4 hours ago, Avschilling said:

As much as it sucks to say this, I would retake the GRE. I know for a fact at the University of Alabama, they will not take a GRE score under 300 but they will take a student with a low GPA with a gre score of 300 or higher

I don't believe that any of those schools I am applying to have a hard cutoff score. I also heard that it looks bad to have gre scores that close for some reason which I believe would happen to me

[slptobe!]

5 hours ago, slp2be99 said:

I bought magoosh, but I have not been finding a lot of time or motivation to do it because when I was watching the videos and doing practice problems I was not learning the concepts at all despite watching the videos. I know it takes awhile, but I did study the whole summer too. I just freak out during those long tests. Do you not think that working as an ABA therapist would subside my current gre scores?

I know, it was one of the toughest parts of the whole process of me too. For me, I did it like a class. Doing it everyday for a certain amount of time, lots of practice problems, quizzes, and practice tests. It's also very important to go back and check to see what you got wrong and see why you picked that answer versus the right one. Also, the night before the test, don't study at all. Just try to relax and get a good nights rest. 

I didn't know you were doing ABA, that's an awesome thing to write about! However, I don't think one aspect of an application offsets another. Usually they look at your application as a whole, but depending on the program, they might have standards to meet for gpa/gre that effect your chances of progressing to the next round. 

That being said, just do your best. You have to believe that if you don't get in somewhere, it wasn't the right program for you and everything happens for a reason. I didn't have super high stats, but I did get into places when I didn't think I had a chance, so you never know! 

Edited September 25, 2019 by slptobe!

[KEIM]

I would probably retake because it seems like most schools at least want you to score 150 on the verbal portion. Also, magoosh isn't helpful for me either when it comes to the quantitative portion. I plan on bombing that section. The videos just aren't helping me. So, I can totally relate to your experience with Magoosh. 

[Avschilling]

You might be right, but many schools have a hard cut off with the GRE or GPA. One has to significantly outweigh the other if that makes sense! 

On 9/24/2019 at 6:34 PM, slp2be99 said:

I don't believe that any of those schools I am applying to have a hard cutoff score. I also heard that it looks bad to have gre scores that close for some reason which I believe would happen to me

 

[SLP☀️]

Utilize as many resources as you can to vamp up that application! 
 

I was in the same boat with the GRE...I continued to use magoosh (the shortest module I could find for studying) and try to set a date to take the test. It took me three application cycles to get in and each year I made my application stronger by attending conferences, volunteering, working in related fields...and knowing ASHA like the back of your hand really sticks out to schools! 
 

Don’t get discouraged because you can do it! Motivation is key and the more you apply the higher your chances! 
 

Look for schools that don’t have the GRE high on their list for credentials. Some schools care more about what you have to offer our field rather than how well you did on the GRE. 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Mel.d