Should I retake the GRE?

[dsi411]

Sorry if this question is stupid. I don't know much about applying to grad school and I've never posted here.

Anyways, I took the GRE yesterday. I got 164Q/165V. A couple months ago, I took a practice GRE completely blind (I'd never seen a GRE before and didn't know what would be on it) and got 166Q/168V. So I was hoping to get that or better on the actual GRE. I admit I did very little studying though. Yesterday many things contributed to me not doing as well. I had a headache and I ran out of one of the psychotropic medications I usually take every day. So my brain wasn't in the best shape.

I'm currently an undergrad at MIT and my GPA is mediocre. Like 4.3 (which is equivalent to a 3.3 at other colleges). I do have an upward trend though. I've done a few terms of research. Nothing super substantial though. No publications. I'm a very quiet person so my professors don't know me well and my LORs will probably be pretty meh. So I was hoping a good GRE score would make me stand out. But I think the score I got is just average for the schools I'm interested in? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to apply to places like MIT and Harvard and BU and Northeastern and Tufts and UC Berkeley and Brown and JHU. Some clinical psychology programs, some regular psychology, and some neuroscience. Depends on the school.

Hypothetically, if I were to take it again and get a perfect score (this probably won't happen though), would that help? I feel like that must at least help a little. Thanks.

[PsychApplicant2]

34 minutes ago, dsi411 said:

Sorry if this question is stupid. I don't know much about applying to grad school and I've never posted here.

Anyways, I took the GRE yesterday. I got 164Q/165V. A couple months ago, I took a practice GRE completely blind (I'd never seen a GRE before and didn't know what would be on it) and got 166Q/168V. So I was hoping to get that or better on the actual GRE. I admit I did very little studying though. Yesterday many things contributed to me not doing as well. I had a headache and I ran out of one of the psychotropic medications I usually take every day. So my brain wasn't in the best shape.

I'm currently an undergrad at MIT and my GPA is mediocre. Like 4.3 (which is equivalent to a 3.3 at other colleges). I do have an upward trend though. I've done a few terms of research. Nothing super substantial though. No publications. I'm a very quiet person so my professors don't know me well and my LORs will probably be pretty meh. So I was hoping a good GRE score would make me stand out. But I think the score I got is just average for the schools I'm interested in? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to apply to places like MIT and Harvard and BU and Northeastern and Tufts and UC Berkeley and Brown and JHU. Some clinical psychology programs, some regular psychology, and some neuroscience. Depends on the school.

Hypothetically, if I were to take it again and get a perfect score (this probably won't happen though), would that help? I feel like that must at least help a little. Thanks.

No... your scores are fine... unless you completely bomb the AWA, I wouldn’t retake it. 

[Rerun]

The GRE score is 170 max, so your score is great. Now you can focus on trying to get good LORs (you can be specific to the professor and say other qualities about you-your grade, and other things and attach your cv), and you should also focus to research your match/ FIT with each schools/ professor research. Good luck on preparing other parts of the application.

[Biopsychosocialyzing]

To be honest this score is pretty great. at least for me.. my scores are WAY WAY worse. I wouldn't even bother to take it again. Many schools, including Harvard and BU are waiving the GRE this year anyways because of COVID, so I would look into all of the schools you are applying and find out if it's even required, some don't want you to submit it at all, some give the option. Yale is probably waiving it indefinitely. I sure hope they all do. This test is so biased and does not really say much about someone's ability to succeed as a grad student. I would try to focus on your letters of recommendation now and invest some time in either getting closer to some professors so they write you a good letter or find someone who you think will write a great letter even without knowing you well. You could share your personal statement and CV with them so they can start to get to know you more. Professors want to have a doc student who they look forward to working with for a couple of years, ideally longer, while grades sure matter I think LOR will also matter a lot. At the end its a bit of a crapshoot, though, I believe. Try to focus on finding a professor that is a good research match obviously and then focus on the letters. I wouldn't do the test again if I were you. I am applying with way worse grades but also only submitting it to one school, since the rest have all waived it.

[SocDevMum]

Yeah, taking the GRE again would be a waste of time, money and energy. Your real concern is going to be lack of substantive research and mediocre LOR - especially since you are applying to all top tier, highly competitive programs. Add in the EXTRA competitiveness of clinical psych, and I would tell you to strongly reconsider applying this year until you can get more research experience under your belt.