750 Q Worth retaking?

[myacu]

I'm shooting for HKS MPA-ID Program. I don't know my AW score yet but I scored 800 V and 750 Q. My adviser told me that serious applicants should be getting 790+ for the Quant. I also know that verbal doesn't really count for that much, but at the same time if I were to retake the test and my Verbal score were to dip, I wonder if it is worth the risk?

[prolixity]

I'm shooting for HKS MPA-ID Program. I don't know my AW score yet but I scored 800 V and 750 Q. My adviser told me that serious applicants should be getting 790+ for the Quant. I also know that verbal doesn't really count for that much, but at the same time if I were to retake the test and my Verbal score were to dip, I wonder if it is worth the risk?

You're totally boned.

I mean, my 730Q and 680V were obviously not good enough for the chemical physics program I do there.

If I were you, I'd stop at nothing short of quantitative perfection. If need be, take the exam over and over and over and over again to prove to the school how numbers-oriented you truly are. They'll appreciate this.

[myacu]

Ahh! Thanks for the input. Then again, maybe its just possible that there are different minimum standards for chem then there are for economics. Who knows, considering that this was my first time taking the GRE, I probably wouldn't need to take it "again and again" to achieve quantitative perfection. But like you, I prefer to have a life.

[shiner]

You're totally boned.

I mean, my 730Q and 680V were obviously not good enough for the chemical physics program I do there.

If I were you, I'd stop at nothing short of quantitative perfection. If need be, take the exam over and over and over and over again to prove to the school how numbers-oriented you truly are. They'll appreciate this.

You clearly missed the sarcasm there.

[shiner]

whoops! misquote. Meant myacu missed the sarcasm in prolixity's post

[myacu]

whoops! misquote. Meant myacu missed the sarcasm in prolixity's post

And you missed mine.

But meh, I don't want this thread to get testy. If anyone has any non-sarcastic input, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[jblsmith]

In all seriousness I really don't think you need to worry about retaking the GRE. I too got a 750Q and got a number of funded offers from Ph. D. econ programs (ranked 25-50). Granted, they weren't Harvard, but still they were Ph.D. econ not MPA programs. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the GRE is not the only metric adcomms look at when considering you application. It's well documented that GRE scores are not robust indicators of grad school performance and adcomms know this. My sense is that admissions committees use the GRE as a cut-off but after that the scores don't matter as much. They are more interested in the other parts of your application: Independent research, your SOP, LOR's and transcripts. IMHO you would be better served spending your time editing your SOP and doing research rather than studying for the GRE and stressing out over a couple quant points.

Hope this helps.

[prolixity]

Ahh! Thanks for the input. Then again, maybe its just possible that there are different minimum standards for chem then there are for economics. Who knows, considering that this was my first time taking the GRE, I probably wouldn't need to take it "again and again" to achieve quantitative perfection. But like you, I prefer to have a life.

Oh, my dear friend, you made the worst possible mistake: you confused chemistry with chemical physics. I wanted to illustrate that you don't need to have perfect scores to enter the most quantitatively demanding fields.

You'll be fine. If you are not accepted, it won't be due to your GRE scores.

Edited July 15, 2011 by prolixity

[kp12746]

Scoring an 800 on verbal should offset any 40 odd points you missed on quant. Lots of people in sciences (like biology) will tell you that you need above a 700 quant, but I know a girl who got a 640 quant but a 720 verbal and had no problem going to UPenn for a bio phd...

[myacu]

Yeah, I think I'm going to leave it at that. I do know that the GRE is just one small portion of your overall application. In my case, I am a recent graduate so my work experience is lacking. But at this point, I would have to study for the new GRE and I'm too lazy to be bothered. Thanks for the help guys!

[IRdreams]

Oh, my dear friend, you made the worst possible mistake: you confused chemistry with chemical physics. I wanted to illustrate that you don't need to have perfect scores to enter the most quantitatively demanding fields.

You'll be fine. If you are not accepted, it won't be due to your GRE scores.

Off topic question, but what is the difference between chemical physics and physical chemistry? One of my 'rents does the later and I've never gotten a straight answer.

[prolixity]

Off topic question, but what is the difference between chemical physics and physical chemistry? One of my 'rents does the later and I've never gotten a straight answer.

Typically the approach one takes to solve a problem.. though there is a large bit of overlap. The difference is not as pronounced as say, biochemistry vs. chemical biology.

In general, chemical physics programs are more selective.

[starmaker]

My adviser told me that serious applicants should be getting 790+ for the Quant.

Even in CS and engineering you're generally considered okay with at least a 750, even at top programs (top programs in fields that I'm familiar with tend to emphasize the GRE less than non-top ones anyway). Now, I am not in your field, and your advisor is, so I might be full of crap here, but it seems to me that your 750 should be fine if the rest of your app is solid.

Congrats on the 800 verbal!

[long_time_lurker]

For what it's worth, a prof who runs an Edcuational Stats (so we're not even talking about Physics or something) program flat out told me he an 800 quant was assumed when he was giving out fellowships. Then he would look at the applications to sort from there. The 800 V is absolutely outstanding, but I remember the 800 Q was only the 94th percentile. So if you're going into a quantitative field you may very well want to redo it if you're not sure about the rest of your application.

[jferiante]

800 verbal is ridiculously good-- while the quant might hurt you a little, I would think the verbal score somewhat makes up for it...

I think if the rest of your application is strong you should be able to get into a top 5 program... who knows? Your advisor might be right-- then again you could always check with other advisors....

[habanero]

People who don't know anything about econ grad school quant requirements should seriously refrain from commenting on these posts.