GRE dilemma (submit average scores or great verbal, poor quant?)

[Psych Student]

I took the GREs again today.

Last time I took them was last year, when I applied to PhD (Social Psychology) programs the first time around and didn't get it in. My scores then were 157V, 155Q.

I'm reapplying to schools now and I chose to take the GREs again. I did the test today, and the software indicated that my verbal was 165, while my quantitative was 152.

I'm now faced with a dilemma. Which scores should I submit to Social Psych PhD programs?

[DarwinAG]

Depends on what the program emphasizes. There are schools that highly emphasize quant scores, so I may go in sending those. But that's actually a really high verbal score.

I say for most places go with the new scores. It's just higher scores altogether.

[PsychGirl1]

Concur with Darwin, for the most part. Try looking at average GRE scores for each program. Some you will see ridiculously high quant scores (ex. average of 750+ for quant on the old scale) with more moderate verbal scores- in which case, go with the score with the higher quant. Others you will see more average for both, or verbal slightly higher- in which case, maybe go with the higher verbal score. As long as your scores aren't worryingly different from the averages posted for the program, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I still have no idea what the new scores mean. I've looked at conversion charts before but it's all just jibberish to me. Any scale where 152 is significantly different from 155 blows my mind.

[excellrec]

Without analyzing this too critically, I would just say submit the high verbal one. To be brutally honest, from a brief glance the first scores would suggest to me an average to slightly above average candidate, while the second scores would suggest someone reasonably bright that hasn't studied math much. Of course, you haven't mentioned the AW scores......

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

Most of the programs I looked at (maybe Quant psych is different) just took the higher of the scores by section.

[Psych Student]

Without analyzing this too critically, I would just say submit the high verbal one. To be brutally honest, from a brief glance the first scores would suggest to me an average to slightly above average candidate, while the second scores would suggest someone reasonably bright that hasn't studied math much. Of course, you haven't mentioned the AW scores......

Re: AW scores, my last was 4.5 ~ 73%.

To all: Another thought - is ending both superior to sending only one? Or no? If asked to report my scores in an application should I report one from one test and one from the other?

Edited December 4, 2012 by Psych Student

[firstsight]

Underwent a similar dilemma myself; went with sending in both scores. It's a risk for them to see a low score (mine was worse -- 147 equiv from the old scale [it was a 580]), but since several programs said they would take the higher of the two (156 for me), I went for sending both. 680V/580Q (95%/31%) and 160V/156Q (83%/68%). Mine increased in quant substantially; yours increased in verbal substantially. Anything showing a significance increase SHOULD, I would imagine, be a Good Thing.

Best of luck!