GRE General Quantitative

[orinincandenza]

Can someone please (re)assure me that the Quant portion of the GRE does not matter one bit for English applicants?

I got a 720V/5.5AW, and a math score that's too embarrassingly low to even reveal on an anonymous web forum. Will it hurt me?

[commoner]

Most likely, no. But, then each school wants something different. So, it depends.

A couple of my apps said specifically that Q scores meant nothing to them. Others say that they look at the whole application and that one low score won't kill the app. From what I hear, SOP and writing sample are the two big items in an application.

So, buck up, camper. Here's to a good March!

c.

[rising_star]

A low quantitative score on the GRE hurts your total score, which could hurt in graduate school-wide fellowship competitions.

[lotf629]

Where are you planning to apply?

[orinincandenza]

Loft, here's my list:

Brown

Chicago

UIC

Loyola

Northwestern

Minnesota

Vanderbilt

BU

WUSTL

UPenn

[lotf629]

At some schools, it kinda sorta gets taken in to account, but it's at the very bottom of things considered, and doesn't mean much of anything except to contribute slightly to the big picture. If your other materials are good I am sure it would be overlooked. I think that other schools literally don't even bother to make a note of it. If you have a chance to retake, you might want to, just for the sake of fellowships. But I seriously doubt that it will have much of an impact on your chances.

[The Bitch of Armenia]

That question has been haunting me as well. I was extremely happy with my verbal, but the quantitative was embarrassingly low. I'll share it for the sake of some comic relief at this vexing moment: I'm talking 8th percentile low. The experimental section was quantitative, so I had to do twice the math and I'm certain the one that counted was the one I ran out of time and energy on. I made a brief apologetic reference to it in my personal statement, so I'm hoping that admissions folks understand that someone who hasn't done math without a calculator since the mid 90s isn't going to perform well under such conditions.

[kfed2020]

My adviser explained it to me this way:

"Grad school is the place where you specialize. Professors aren't looking to train people to be 'well-rounded.' They're looking to train experts in a particular field. No matter where you apply, that field will -- for you -- never be math. So who cares if you can count?"

I took it to heart.

Though, for what it's worth, my quant score was somehow higher than my verbal. And I really CAN'T count. I use my fingers, I swear.

[hadunc]

I've heard different things from different people. Some have told me it doesn't matter one bit, others have said it matters but very little. Chances are, if you have a decent application then it will not matter much. However, if you're in a position where they are comparing you against another candidate with a very similar application, it may end up counting against you. But hey, at least you're not like me and didn't get a verbal score lower than your quantitative score!! I scored 640 V and 720 Q! I don't even know what they are going to think of that!