The weight of a low GRE?

[southofeverywhere]

I took the GRE a month ago and did very poorly (under 1000/ 5 AW) despite my preparation. I am scheduled to take the revised test in a few weeks and I am very anxious. Despite my low score, I have a very solid undergraduate record (3.85 GPA, 3.9 major) as I enter my senior year. How much will a low score hinder me when applying to graduate programs in English language and literature? Will my strong recommendations and writing sample be enough to counteract the damage? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edited August 3, 2011 by secarey

[turkeyteacher]

I can't really answer all of your question, but hopefully others will continue to reply and give you advice where I cannot. I too got a low score . . . especially on the math section. I have thought about retaking the new GRE, but I know that the chances are that I will not get a better score. More importantly, I simply cannot afford to re-take the exam AND be able to pay application fees.

Good job on the GPA and for having the guts to re-take the test. I think it is a wise decision.

Anyways, the reason I am responding to your post is because you should feel much more confident about re-taking the test. First of all, the process will be familiar which should lower your stress. You will know the testing center and how to get there and you might find out how similar the user-interface is for the new test. I thought that is was completely user un-friendly and a pain. In addition, you know your weaknesses. Analyze what you could have done to calm yourself down or get through the test better and make the necessary changes for the new exam. I think that no matter how hard you study, confidence plays a large factor in your score.

Overall, it's a shame that graduate applicants in math/science are not held accountable for lower Verbal scores while the Arts and Humanities graduate applicants are held back by a low math score. I think that your GPA and strong recommendations will help, but, as someone told me, they may WANT to take you, but a low score might prevent them from being able to. They might just have 30 spots and 60 highly qualified applicants like you.

[Bonkers]

Good luck on your next exam!

Wish I could say otherwise, but even if all else is relatively solid, a GRE score below 1000 will hurt. I did not do well the first time on my GREs either, but after months and months of studying, I did eventually improve. At this point, keep up your awesome GPA in this last school year, secure LORs from professor who you are certain will say outstanding things about your work, think about which writing sample you want to use and edit it, and write a kick-ass mission statement.

One of my professors had offered to write in my defense, saying my GREs are not reflective of my academic work. While I did not take her up on her offer, that is an option--to discuss with your adviser(s) your concerns about the GRE.

Again, the best of luck to you!

[orst11]

secarey,

First off you did do well on the AW section. I would first point that out. How was your verbal score in comparison to your quantitative scores? Given that you are applying for English lang. and lit. programs, you should also note that programs may not even concentrate on a lower quant. scores. I would mimic turkeyteacher's comments in saying that the situation will be familiar so the likely hood of getting doing better overall will be good.

Secondly, I wanted to note that typically GRE's are a factor when it comes to fellowships and such.

Thirdly, I read on the forum awhile back where a lot of top programs will use a certain score as cut offs, this is typically lower than there average GRE scores, so I wouldn't worry as much. If you impress in other areas you have as good of a chance than anyone else.

Finally, I want to note that I was frightened of taking the GRE, and I think that is why I chose to simply take the revised test over the old one. I hate standardized tests. Truthfully, some aspects of the revised GRE are a lot easier. My personal strategy of test taking is always go in confident and thinking you can getting spectacular scores. The odds of doing poorly or letting other things be a factor will be less if you do this.

[southofeverywhere]

Thank you all for your advice and bits of information! I take the exam again on the 20th, so I'm working on tackling both my weaknesses and strengths.