"Decent GRE" But not a great GRE?

[grimmiae]

So here is my current concern. I have yet to take the GRE however, I have gotten a 154Q and a 156V on the practice test. Maybe I will do better on exam day, or worse. I have a week left to prepare and I am just hoping for the best at this point and taking a practice exam everyday. Granted this is hypothetical, but what if my GRE score is around a 310-315? Is this good enough to get into a PhD program somewhere? I know the application depends on a lot more, but I feel that it is the main part of my application that would be lacking which makes me incredibly self doubting. To me more stellar scores are like (almost/at 160)

I am not looking to get into the top 10 programs I just want to go to a school that shares my research interests and work really hard.

These are somewhat low scores which feels disheartening because once you figure out what you want to do- then you also have to face the possibility that maybe you will not be able to do it?

here is the rest of my stats in case you want to read them

3.7 Cum, psych 3.8

going on 3 years of research experience, 2 independent, 1 group project, 2 years reasearch assistant, 1/2 as lab coordinator, 2 posters at local conference, designed undergrad research journal

Psi Chi

tutored psych, including intro, stats, physiological etc etc

My area is primarily social psychology.

[firstsight]

The more I think about the entire situation, the more I find myself throwing up my hands. I think my background is pretty similar to yours -- I had to retake the GRE, since my "old" scores ported my quant in from around the 50th percentile down to the 31st percentile (!!) -- but otherwise: 3.77 GPA, 4.0 psych, 3.9 last two years, couple years research experience, undergrad thesis, interdisciplinary background. THAT said, I think that so much of the process is subjective and so many things could go wrong... the question of "fit", if one of your letter-writers gives you a lukewarm credential, yadda yadda yadda -- the inverse is also possible. My personal philosophy is spray and pray on this one: I'm only applying to seven schools, which is less than half of some other people on the forums, but in that I've got a big range: a couple of top ten schools, a few mid-ranked, and one school one that's not too well known at all, but it appears to be an awesome fit to what I want to study.

I think that it's going to be hellaciously competitive this year. But having served as a student representative of a university scholarship committee, I can tell you that these decisions are NOT always logical. I know that in that situation, I advocated for a person who didn't have superlatives in testing, GPA or letters of recommendation - but a person who made a really compelling reason in their personal statement. (She ended up getting one of the scholarships, by the way.) So I think that if I can give you ANY advice whatsoever, it would be to hone the crap out of your SOP, to make it absolutely transparent that you know what you're doing, what you want to do, and why you are the best person for the spot.

Best of luck.

[thenerdypengwin]

I think you're good. Just try and aim for 60th percentile at least. My practice test was 163 and 164. I tried to get it up to 167 with a prep course, but it didn't help. I ended up taking it twice getting about 156, improving by 1 point the second time. I'm hoping I'm okay, but my GPA is not good... something that they really look at.

[grimmiae]

I think I have to remind myself that as smart as many of my professors are they are all people full of their biases and preconceived ideas and the application process in general is a "bigger picture". When I think about it I sometimes ask myself "how hard would it be to be on an ad comm committee and choose?" because it seems simple to find applicants with high scores, good match, great SOPs, and a good amount of research experience. But I don't think that is the case, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I am oversimplifying it. I have a great compelling reason as to why I want to go to the two Phd programs that are on my list. The rest are masters, simply because I am late in the game for applications. I haven't had much time to prepare for the GRE this time around (less than a month). So I could retake later if I absolutely wanted to. I think the pressure on testing day will work for me rather than against me. If anyone else has some perspective I would like to hear it...or if you know of any social Phd programs with a focus on stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, any thing related to stigmatized identities PM me.

[kaister]

I have similar stats as you and I'm applying to mostly all PhD programs. I got similar GRE scores the first time around, but I retook it and got a higher quant score (158), it's not stellar like 160's, but hopefully will improve my chances just that little bit.

Honestly, don't get so worked up about it. If you feel like you need to retake it again, just do it, at least that way you won't regret it. Otherwise you have to just wait and see where the cards fall. My area of interest is broadly sort of in the area you're talking about, but I would just recommend you look up professors who do specific research on things you're interested in. My school list happened to have some departments that were heavy on prejudice/stereotype research and others that were not. From the top of my head, some that I remember that had focuses in that area were University of Kansas and U of Arizona.

[grimmiae]

Yes, University of Kansas and Arizona have excellent programs with research regarding those areas. However, I am intimidated to apply to them because they seem like such fantastic programs. Ah...inferiority complex gotta love them.

[kaister]

Don't even let that phase you! I personally, don't know the ranks or prestige of most Universities in their respective fields. And I don't really care to find out, because it might make me feel as you do. I just think to myself...this professor is doing exactly what I want to be working on, so I'm going to apply because I know it would be a great fit! I've already been through this process once, so I have felt the rejections, but I know, it's not personal, competition is crazy, but you have to keep trying!