Michigan GRE

[HolmesiswheretheHartis]

On their admissions website, Michigan says that you may optionally send your GRE scores. How optional is it? Is fellowship funding tied to the score somehow because they are a public university?

[Tigla]

Your funding should not be attached to any GRE score. Funding at UM comes from two main sources, either Rackham Graduate School through the Rackham Merit Fellowship or through the department and its fellowship. From my experience, the initial funding package is not competitive at UM. There is a standard package that is based on Rackham's figures and the department's ability to pay. If you want to apply for extra funding (year 2 onwards) then funding becomes competitive, but it is based on different requirements (recommendation letters, prospectus, interview, etc.). 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Tigla

[platonetsocrate]

Relatedly, does anyone have a good sense of what sort of score or percentile is good enough to merit sending when it's optional to do so, more generally? 

[Duns Eith]

6 hours ago, Tigla said:

Your funding should not be attached to any GRE score. Funding at UM comes from two main sources, either Rackham Graduate School through the Rackham Merit Fellowship or through the department and its fellowship. From my experience, the initial funding package is not competitive at UM. There is a standard package that is based on Rackham's figures and the department's ability to pay. If you want to apply for extra funding (year 2 onwards) then funding becomes competitive, but it is based on different requirements (recommendation letters, prospectus, interview, etc.). 

Is that true for Philosophy at U of M?

[Tigla]

17 hours ago, Duns Eith said:

Is that true for Philosophy at U of M?

I cannot be 100% sure since I'm in a different department, but Philosophy is under the LSA College and Rackham Graduate School. This means that the department needs to adhere to the basic funding structure set up by both administrative institutions. There will be differences between the departments. For example, I receive an award and slightly larger stipend than my friends in the German department. However, these differences are going to be extremely small and dependent on the department since the rules set by LSA College and Rackham Graduate School are collectively bargained for every 3 years by a graduate student union.

[Artifex_Archer]

On 11/30/2019 at 12:36 PM, Tigla said:

Your funding should not be attached to any GRE score. Funding at UM comes from two main sources, either Rackham Graduate School through the Rackham Merit Fellowship or through the department and its fellowship. From my experience, the initial funding package is not competitive at UM. There is a standard package that is based on Rackham's figures and the department's ability to pay. If you want to apply for extra funding (year 2 onwards) then funding becomes competitive, but it is based on different requirements (recommendation letters, prospectus, interview, etc.). 

^ I don't have any reason to dispute this, and my advice is worth exactly what you're paying for it, but unless your GRE score is just abysmal, I'd probably report it. Especially if, as Tigla writes, the GRE threshold for funding is nonexistent and therefore unlikely to be particularly high for admission in general.

I would also DEFINITELY confirm that the philosophy department itself doesn't require a GRE score before you decide not to report one. Again, the people who come up with department-specific requirements are not the same as those who come up with [or likely post] division-wide requirements. I always suggest prioritizing department requirements, which are more 'close to the source' [i.e., the people reading your application] over division requirements.

This is the part where I don't draw an analogy between state and local governments.

But seriously. For most humanities applicants, it's difficult for a GRE score to actually hurt you. It can help, it can be neutral, and it can sometimes be used in the final stages of admissions decisions—when people are essentially throwing darts at a board of arbitrary distinctions because they have five AWESOME applicants and only one spot left—but other than that, I don't see much of a downside to reporting it.

[Olórin]

50 minutes ago, Artifex_Archer said:

But seriously. For most humanities applicants, it's difficult for a GRE score to actually hurt you. It can help, it can be neutral, and it can sometimes be used in the final stages of admissions decisions—when people are essentially throwing darts at a board of arbitrary distinctions because they have five AWESOME applicants and only one spot left—but other than that, I don't see much of a downside to reporting it.

So, uh, I have to counter this advice directly. The reality of the GRE is that it can only hurt you. Either you are fine, or your scores raise an eyebrow, or an initial cut is made based on GRE scores to make reading apps more manageable. If Michigan has extra fellowship money available based on initial scores, the department website would tell you or the grad school website would tell you.

By the time a committee has narrowed down the pool to the "top" applicants, they are trying to put together a balanced cohort, decide the best fit with respect to other cohorts, make sure faculty members generally have enough students on track to work with them, make sure you're a nice person. The GRE is just not going to come into play at the very final stages of a decision. (Disclaimer: there's always the chance it will. But like, it won't.)

Edited December 1, 2019 by Olórin
typo

[Artifex_Archer]

4 hours ago, Olórin said:

So, uh, I have to counter this advice directly. The reality of the GRE is that it can only hurt you. Either you are fine, or your scores raise an eyebrow, or an initial cut is made based on GRE scores to make reading apps more manageable. If Michigan has extra fellowship money available based on initial scores, the department website would tell you or the grad school website would tell you.

By the time a committee has narrowed down the pool to the "top" applicants, they are trying to put together a balanced cohort, decide the best fit with respect to other cohorts, make sure faculty members generally have enough students on track to work with them, make sure you're a nice person. The GRE is just not going to come into play at the very final stages of a decision. (Disclaimer: there's always the chance it will. But like, it won't.)

That’s fair. I disagree that that’s always the case [per your disclaimer], and I have heard professors say that they consider it in an applicant’s favor if they show dramatic improvement between two GRE scores. But I think the lesson here is [as usual with grad school apps] that your mileage may vary. So your point is well-taken.