GRE scores for Clinical/Community Psychology Ph.D.

[caitlinalobdell]

Hello,

I am concerned about my GRE scores. I received a 156 V, 154 Q, & 4.5 AWA. My undergrad GPA is a 3.5 with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology from the University of Washington. I have extensive research experience at Seattle Children's Hospital (3 years) with 3 poster publications at ATA (American Telemedicine Association) and AACAP (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - 1 presentation) conferences and I am working on a paper to be published. I have a project coordinator/clinical research associate job where I gained experience consenting/assenting & interviewing.

I also volunteer at a 24-hour crisis telephone line once a week where I implement a crisis intervention to callers. I had past experience tutoring young refugee children.

I am looking into child clinical/community psychology ph.d. programs (University of Southern California, University of Virginia, University of Missouri, University of Washington, University of Connecticut, New York University.

Would it be worth it to re-take the GRE?

Thank you,

Caitlin

[psychgurl]

I would retake it if you can. The scores (mostly just the quant) seem a bit low to me. The rest of your application looks really strong. However, what if some profs don't even look at the rest of the app if the GRE scores don't meet a certain threshold? I think if you shot for 75th percentile-80th percentile quant you'd be all good. Just my hunch of course. I'm not sure how each program goes about evaluating applicants.

Good luck

[caitlinalobdell]

I would retake it if you can. The scores (mostly just the quant) seem a bit low to me. The rest of your application looks really strong. However, what if some profs don't even look at the rest of the app if the GRE scores don't meet a certain threshold? I think if you shot for 75th percentile-80th percentile quant you'd be all good. Just my hunch of course. I'm not sure how each program goes about evaluating applicants.

Good luck

Thank you for your honest opinion! I knew the scores weren't very good, but I just needed to hear it from an objective party! I just registered to re-take the test.

[UndecidedMan]

So using the conversion chart posted by ets, your verbal score is a 550 and quant score is a 690. I certainly think that obviously the better the score, the better the chances, but to me these score seem on par with what an applicant would need. However, since psychgurl has actually gone through the application process, i would hold her word higher.

What made you look into clinical/community programs instead of just clinical? And how did you narrow down to those programs?

[caitlinalobdell]

So using the conversion chart posted by ets, your verbal score is a 550 and quant score is a 690. I certainly think that obviously the better the score, the better the chances, but to me these score seem on par with what an applicant would need. However, since psychgurl has actually gone through the application process, i would hold her word higher.

What made you look into clinical/community programs instead of just clinical? And how did you narrow down to those programs?

Right - that's why I wasn't 100% sure I should re-take. However, I re-took it, and due to a perfect storm of a week-long conference where I presented 2 posters, starting a new research Project Coordinator position on a new research study, and working on a manuscript outside of work (40hrs) hours, I wasn't able to study much and didn't improve! It's so frustrating because I know that I could do much better if I was a typical student applying to grad school who has ample free time. Rant over.

I am primarily interested in research oriented clinical psychology programs due to my interest in developmental psychopathology and prevention/intervention program creation for at-risk youth. The community programs I'm interested in are highly research based and have faculty with my interests, but their work focuses more on the public health aspect of psychology in which I am also interested.

Honestly, my first criteria was that I had to be near the ocean (I'm from Seattle and I don't think I could take the Midwest even though it is probably lovely, but when I'm not happy, all other life domains suffer), then I looked for schools that offered the program type(s) I was interested in and narrowed those down by looking at the work being done by the faculty. This left me with primarily schools that are VERY competitive.

Due to my low GRE scores, this year is going to be a "trial run" for applying so I am only applying to 4 programs (UC-Berkeley, USC, NYU, and UConn) out of my 10 schools. I was sort of apprehensive to apply this year anyways given a new position (promotion!) at work that will give me a lot more hands clinical experience and further research experience that I wasn't sure I want to give up. So, after everything I decided to apply and if I get it, great! If not, I'll have time to study for the GRE.....again, and I have a great opportunity where I am.

Long answer for a short question!

Caitlin