Acknowledge very weak quant background in SOP?

[The Mark]

I'm looking for opinions here. I have a weak quantitative background. I took virtually no math in undergrad. One of my main goals in graduate school is to correct this problem—to develop hard skills. SAIS is really my target. I have both econ principles courses that SAIS requires for matriculation, and a course in international econ too. Problem is, I bombed the quant section of the GRE—badly. So that doesn't exactly help me make my case either. Would it be unwise to point to this weakness in my SOP and explain that I would like to attend SAIS exactly BECAUSE my quant background is lacking, and I want to improve upon it? I know you're supposed to emphasize strengths in a SOP, but I thought I'd see what people think.

Edited December 23, 2012 by The Mark

[Revolution]

I'm looking for opinions here. I have a weak quantitative background. I took virtually no math in undergrad. One of my main goals in graduate school is to correct this problem—to develop hard skills. SAIS is really my target. I have both econ principles courses that SAIS requires for matriculation, and a course in international econ too. Problem is, I bombed the quant section of the GRE—badly. So that doesn't exactly help me make my case either. Would it be unwise to point to this weakness in my SOP and explain that I would like to attend SAIS exactly BECAUSE my quant background is lacking, and I want to improve upon it? I know you're supposed to emphasize strengths in a SOP, but I'd thought I'd see what people think.

 

It would be a bad idea to discuss this in your SOP; that is not what it's used for.  Such weaknesses are usually addressed in an optional essay, but SAIS doesn't offer one, so you should let it go and hope the other parts of the application will make up for it. 

 

I'm doing SAIS and HKS, along with mba programs, and in my case i used the optional to address a VERY bad last semester in college.  I have neither econ courses but have years of finance experience in trading and did well on the GMAT and GRE.

[ridofme]

I think you need to be careful with wording. I definitely would NOT mention a poor GRE score in your statement of purpose, or even explicitly refer to your background as weak or lacking. But if you word it well, explaining that you want to attend SAIS specifically to bone up on your quant skills could work well, I think.