Advice please on low GRE: Is it worth it to apply?

[turkeyteacher]

I am planning on applying for a Ph.D (and maybe an Ed.D program) in Curriculum and Instruction (with a sub-interest for urban education) for Fall 2012. After spending countless hours researching on the web, I cannot find out whether or not I have a competitive chance of getting in.

I feel like I have to much I can offer the field and it is so depressing that I am capable of delivering research to panels of people, yet I freeze up and bomb the math section of the GRE and now my aspirations are potentially crushed.

Basically, I think I have a pretty strong application overall, but I bombed the GRE. I know that many of you are going to say re-take it, but while I have proven that I am pretty successful academically, I simply freeze up on standardized tests. =(

Below is my application information:

Undergrad GPA: 3.76

Graduate GPA (M.A., English): 3.8

Publications/Research: One publication

Teaching Experience: 8 years . . . 6 years in a challenging urban school, 2 years international/elite private in Istanbul, Turkey +lots of leadership experience and responsibilities at each school

GRE: 1110 V: 580 (82%) Q: 530 (32% . . . ouch, I know) AW: 4.5

Languages: Native English, Intermediate Spanish, Intermediate Turkish

Schools I am applying to: University of Texas Austin, George Washington, Texas A & M, University of Maryland, Boston College, UMass

Any advice or clarity on this issue would be helpful!!!

Edited August 3, 2011 by turkeyteacher

[Kitkat]

UT at Austin has it listed that they would like to see at least 1100 on GRE scores. I would assume that the rest of the schools would be around that level as well, depending how competitive they are. Now, you pass that limit so that is a good sign. But it will be a challenge to overcome on your application.

Now you have a lot of great experience that is related to what you want to go into grad school. Thats a plus.

You have a good GPA not just in undergrad, but also with a masters, also a plus. But they might ask why you are switching from English with your MA to a higher degree in education, but this should not be a huge problem, due to all of your experience. (I am assuming you taught English in school?)

You have at least one publication, another plus.

So my main questions are, one, how is your SoP or what ever form of statement that they are asking for, and how strong do you think your letter of recommendations are. I ask, mainly because if you think that they are strong enough, you might be competitive for these schools.

Now of course, I would still say take the GRE over again, just so that you don't have to worry about have one area on your application that is so much weaker then the rest of it. In so many cases it seems, adcomms seem to not accept people for the smallest things, and not necessarily because that person wouldn't be a good fit for the program, but because they don't have enough resources to take all the students that they would like to.

That said, if you can/ afford it/ have the time, maybe you can take a test prep class or something to help you with the exam. They are good if just because they help you get used to the instructions of the exam, get you used to testing situations and all of that. Also, while it might be nicer to have the higher quant score, it might not hurt you as much as you think. Some programs that are not math involved don't care so much about that part.

[turkeyteacher]

Thank you for your detailed response and for being supportive, yet realistic. Yes, I teach English and I actually started my M.A. before I became a teacher so that is part of the reason for the change. The other reason is that while I am perfectly happy improving my English curriculum in my classroom, I am much more concerned about the path of curriculum and pedagogy as a whole and I would like to do my part to have a voice regarding this issue, particularly when it comes to teacher retention and urban education. I am hoping that it comes of as expanding my horizons in my SoP rather than a mood swing.

I noticed that UTA had a preferred score of 1100, but I am worried because that is for the department (Master's included) and I am assuming that they would like higher for their Ph.D applicants. They don't specify this though, so maybe I am reading into it too much.

Because my applications are not until Nov./Dec. at the earliest, my SoP is in the beginning stages, but I have what I think are many strong and relevant ideas and while I'm not a flashy writer, I'm a solid one. As far as letters of rec are concerned, I don't know. I graduated in 2004 so it's been a few years, but I think I had strong enough relationships with them for them to remember me with some prompting and give me a good to excellent rec. . .

Yeah, financially and time-wise, it's impossible for me to re-take the GRE. Plus, I don't think my score would improve that much because it's my test anxiety that gets me (I scored much higher on several different practice tests in math).

Again, thank you for your advice. It is greatly appreciated.

[wildviolet]

I'm applying to UT Austin as well (for education), and I didn't know about the minimum score. Many schools proclaim to not have a minimum score while others, like Stanford, state that they will not provide average GRE scores of applicants or accepted students.

I guess my philosophy is... you won't know if you don't apply!