So I bombed the Quant section of the GRE...

[CawingKro]

First and foremost: 159 Verbal/144 Quantitative *wince* --yeah, I know it's bad. 

 

I just took the test today, so I don't have my written score yet, though I'm fairly confident about that one. Is this the death knell for me?

 

Why it might not be: I'm currently an undergraduate, and am pretty well-rounded everywhere else: I have research experience, teaching experience, knowledge of two languages other than English (Tagalog and American Sign Language), an absurdly high GPA (3.9), and three linguistics professors I have a great relationship with, who I know will write me good LOR's.

 

I know -exactly- what I want to study--Native American language revitalization, with a focus on community-based language-development programs (I've even completed an internship in that area). I know which programs are a good fit for me, where the faculty in my area of interest are, and how to write a good SOP to reflect that.  

 

My question is: is it enough?

 

The school year is about to start, and I'm crazily bogged down with extracurriculars, my research assistantship, my independent research project, and I don't know how on earth I would scrape together the time and the money to re-test. I

 

I studied all summer, but I'm not sure that shows.

 

In short....help?

 

Also, not sure if it'll help, here's the list of schools I'm applying to:

 

University of Hawai'i at Manoa (MA)

University of Montana (MA)

University of Oregon (MA)***

University of Oklahoma (MA in Applied Linguistic Anthropology) 

Eastern Michigan University (MA)***

Northeastern Illinois University (MA--though this school is sort of scraping the bottom of the barrel)***

University of California Santa Barbara (PhD)

University of Arizona (PhD)

University of Wisconsin Madison (PhD)

 

***Programs marked either do not require the GRE for entry (EMU and NEIU) or have directly expressed that they place more importance on the verbal and writing section than so the math (U Oregon)

Edited August 24, 2013 by CawingKro

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

It's not a good score but I would imagine some linguistics programs won't care so much about math. It's also much easier to get into an MA in case the PhD route fails. Plus, your other stuff may outweigh your low GRE score. All that being said, you should try to retake it. Most deadlines aren't for at least three months. Try to remember where you messed up on the test. Did you run out of time? There are many free timed practice tests online. Did you forget formulas? Look up and memorize the formulas. Did the comparison part mess you up? There are many books for cheap with strategies.

[CawingKro]

I studied for three months with Kaplan's GRE test prep book, and took two or three timed practice tests, which also came with the writing prompt. I am just excruciatingly horrible at standardized tests. -Everything- on the math section was a challenge to me; I had to relearn everything I've forgotten since high school, and I hadn't been around math in a very, very long time. The sad, sad thing about this? I actually tested HIGHER on the real test than I did on the practice tests (I jumped up from the 13th percentile to the 18th in math). I actually reviewed geometric and algebraic formulas AGAIN the week before the test (wrote each of them out 20 times to memorize them). As far as pacing goes, I paced myself fairly well (I had time at the end of the session to go back and review my answers). I'm just not good at doing math under pressure, especially because none of my current academic disciplines involve it (English major, double-minor in linguistics and anthropology).

 

All of which means I would have to study, study, study...on top of the semester starting. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't working, doing a research assistantship, being a Teaching Assistant for Sign Language classes, doing an online internship transcribing Ventureno Chumash, conducting my own independent research project, and acting as an officer in three organizations on-campus...all at the same time.

 

In short, I was really banking on all that studying paying off. I guess I sort of screwed myself there. 

Edited August 24, 2013 by CawingKro

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I don't think you screwed yourself. It's understandable if your field is completely math-free. The complicated thing about linguistics is it's such a variable field. For English majors, the math portion of the GRE is completely useless. It doesn't matter which English department you're applying to. But for linguistics majors, it totally varies. Some schools have a very math-heavy program. Some don't. Considering what you're doing, I doubt your math score will matter. You could always email the program head and ask him/her if it would hurt you that you bombed the math section. Just be honest and upfront. But you should be fine. Everything else about your package is too impressive to overlook. 

Edited August 24, 2013 by JoeyBoy718

[Arezoo]

I have seen in many different rankings that the quant score is taken into account for ranking different universities against each other, and i doubt it has no effect on adcoms. take a look at this website: http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/linguistics/program/ranking/umass/5586