Percentiles?

[NOWAYNOHOW]

It was recently brought to my attention that the percentiles (in quant) have changed a great deal since the new scoring was adopted across the board.  Generally this wouldn't be a problem, but I took my test back during the transition and now I'm in a bind.

 

I have a low q score that initially put me in the 40th percentile, but now puts me in the 29th.  That is a huge change!  I was told by my advisers that I shouldn't retake (I have a high v and aw score and I am looking at programs that don't emphasize math), but I wonder now if the 29th percentile thing is just unacceptable and will really hurt my application. 

 

Has anyone experienced an issue like this?  Are you retaking or just moving forward and focusing on other parts of your application package? 

Retaking for me is going to be a huge risk.  I don't have the free time to review like I did before my first test and fear my scores could go down and not up....

[sys88]

You can now choose which date's score to send (but they must all be sent from that date, no choosing sections!), instead of all of the ones you have taken. You could re-take the test and if you don't like your new scores you can just send the old ones.

[NOWAYNOHOW]

You can now choose which date's score to send (but they must all be sent from that date, no choosing sections!), instead of all of the ones you have taken. You could re-take the test and if you don't like your new scores you can just send the old ones.

 

I think it's more of a time management thing -- I can choose to either study and retake, or devote that time to revising a manuscript in hopes of getting it published, etc.

[Yetanotherdegree]

I have been told (by the director of the doctoral program I'm applying to) that yes, a very low GRE score in quant will be used to rule out candidates, even in a program that has no math whatsoever.

Given your score, yes, I would retake. For most applicants, I don't think it's a big deal, but a score in the 20s might result in your application being automatically rejected.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Yetanotherdegree

[NOWAYNOHOW]

I guess I will just update: after talking to several profs who sit on adcoms, a grad administrator and one veteran ets insider, i've been told not to bother retaking.  Percentiles are traditionally not included in the dossiers adcoms see, and that a lot of faculty straight up refuse to consider scores anyway and prefer to judge on the basis of sop, refs and writing sample etc. I know it is risky to walk into the season with a low quant score as part of an otherwise competitve package, but I'm going to trust advice provided by seasoned faculty, administrators and peers...

[Arcanen]

Given the schools in your sig that you're applying to, you're taking a rather large risk. It's true, the importance of the GRE varies drastically from department to department, school to school, and discipline to discipline. Some schools don't even bother looking at it (which is the best approach IMO, the GRE is rubbish), but some schools unfortunately will use it as a cutoff. This is more likely the more applicants a program gets (e.g. 5 people on a committee will not read through 500 full applications; they'll use GPA and GRE to cut down the pile to a more manageable size). Given that most of the schools you're applying to seem to be Ivies or other top schools that would attract tons of applicants, you run a significant risk of being rejected from many of your schools before your full application is read.

 

However, it's not going to be the difference between 40th and 29th percentiles in the Q that'll make the difference. The common wisdom is that high GREs won't get you into a program, but low GREs will keep you out. Unfortunately, both 40th and 29th percentiles aren't strong scores. A better way to look at this is that if a 40th percentile score wouldn't get you rejected, neither would a 29th percentile, because it indicates they aren't taking the GRE into consideration.

 

So there's no real reason to worry about the score percentiles changing, it won't affect you as such.

 

That said, you should take the GRE again if possible. I'd normally completely agree that the GRE is easily the least important part of an application and that you should focus on other aspects. The issue is that your current score will absolutely get you wiped out from a decent proportion of the schools by you're applying to by administrative staff (e.g. not the actual admissions committees) before your application reaches the full consideration stage. If you don't want to take it again, I wish you the best of luck and hope some of the schools don't consider the GRE at all.