Crummy math scores on the GRE -- what to do?

[ribaldry]

Hello, everyone. This is my first post on the gradcafe forums; I'm glad to meet you all. Here's my story, for anyone who wishes to offer some advice:

I am a 31-year-old non-trad grad student who has just finished an M.A. in French with honors and a 3.98 GPA at a big state school. I've presented research papers at a couple of conferences (a big foreign language conference and the NYU grad conference), won some awards and scholarships, have been published as a journalist a few times in a local newspaper, and am fortunate to enjoy the enthusiastic support of advisers and a mentor, all of whom have offered to write me strong letters of support. I'm fluent in 4 languages and am a huge nerd for social sciences. My profile looks good in many ways, and I have already got a dissertation proposal brewing in my head.

The proverbial chink in my armor? Predictably, as per my topic heading, it's my GRE math score. There's a reason I finished high school at 16 but didn't start going to college full-time until I was 22 -- I have bipolar disorder and really bad panic disorder, and needed a lot of treatment and therapy to learn how to keep my act together and be ready to go to school sans freakouts. I got it together, and salvaged my undergrad career (and aced all of my math courses) with a 3.7 at the end, but when it was time to take my GRE, I had a complete monsoon of a panic attack due to my long-standing math and test anxiety. I only finished 2/3 of my math portion because I could no longer read the characters on the screen due to my panic symptoms -- my quant score ended up being a 510. This also didn't help my verbal performance -- I got a 690 and was hoping for a better score, and got a 6 on the writing. So, I ended up going to a pretty good program at a state school nearby, and did well during my M.A. I decided to retake my GRE and ask for accommodation on the math portion of the exam. Despite documentation and a letter from my shrink about my panic disorder and other psych symptoms and treatment, AND the fact that I'd gotten similar math accommodations on my ACT in high school, ETS denied my request. There wasn't enough time for the appeal to finish going through before I absolutely had to take the exams in November (in order for grad program applications to receive the scores in time for last year's fall/winter deadlines). So, I retook the exam and experienced a similar math anxiety meltdown: 530 Q, 710 V, 6 AWA. Ugh.

Some grad program directors at some great programs have said that they think my verbal scores are totally where they need to be, but that my math scores are "at least not a total disaster" (egad). Nevertheless, I keep reading about how a "competitive" composite score is about 1300, and I'm still a few points shy of that. After hearing from my adviser that French studies programs shouldn't care about my quant scores anyway, I am a bit relieved, but hey, remember the part where I said I have panic disorder? Well, I'm a bit panicked about that whole "competitive" score factor, as I am applying to some competitive programs.

After reading about my profile, including my score, what do you think? Do I have enough going for me that nobody will care that I ate it on the math section, even at bigger-name schools and more competitive programs? Is there a way to address my math score in my application materials that wouldn't make me sound like I'm making excuses for not doing an adequate job, or seeking pity for my disability? Or should I even bother to address it, since I'm in the humanities anyway and will likely never need to do much with complex math in my professional future? I am curious to hear from any of you who found yourselves (or perhaps someone you know) in a similar situation, and what you ended up doing, as well as how your approach ultimately worked out for you (where did you end up? are you happy with your outcome? etc.).

Thanks in advance for any experience that you may have to share!

[ktel]

I've heard people make this suggestion multiple times on this forum, and it's a great one in my opinion: ask one of your LoR writers to address the issue. That way you don't have to talk about it at all, and someone else can say "ribaldry has achieved great success in her grad program despite her panic disorder" or something like that.

That's my 2 cents. I know nothing about grad school in the humanities otherwise.

[orst11]

Since you are in the humanities, most of us here would probably say the score is okay given you do have a pretty good verbal score. You need to realize while yes a 1300 may be more competitive it doesn't necessarily mean your application will be thrown out. One thing, I think admission committees will like about your application is that your record shows almost constant improvement. You can easily show competence in these subjects both in writing and in grades on your transcript, so I wouldn't worry too much. If you still are worrying about the score on the quant. portion maybe you can apply to one or two less competitive programs as well.

[Safferz]

530Q, 710V, 6AW and you're in the humanities? Don't waste another minute thinking about the GRE. It's only a hurdle meant to help adcomms weed out applicants (and even then, a low GRE score is unlikely to be the end of the road for a student with a solid GPA and otherwise strong application), and your scores are FINE. Your quant score as a humanities student will not be the reason you're accepted or rejected by a program.

[ribaldry]

Thank you, everyone. I like the idea of asking one of my recommendation writers to address my performance despite my panic disorder. That way its effect on my quant score will seem rather unimportant in the light of the fact that I've done well in my field, and my accomplishments despite my disability will shine through a bit more. It's true that a verbal score in the 98th percentile is what I should be calling attention to as a student in the humanities, even if my composite score isn't mind-blowing. Even if I suspect that I could have done better in quant AND verbal, it is good to know that none of you think I should re-take the exam (eek, the mere thought of it makes me a bit nauseous). I will try to stop worrying about these GRE scores, and I appreciate you reminding me that they are often not the most important part of the application. And yes, I'll be applying to less competitive programs as well, but I'm still going to try for some more rigorous ones. I know 2 people who've gotten into Yale with a 710 verbal, both in the humanities... this tells me that it's a decent verbal score! However, you are right; it's smart to diversify my applications in that way. A less competitive program can still be an outstanding scholarly experience, provided that you find good people to work with. Thanks again for your advice and kind words. I wish you all the best in your future (and, on one of your cases, current) studies!