Low GREs and Statement of Purpose (SOP) / Letter of Intent dilemma..

[Daisy123]

Hello Everyone, I am new to this forum , but i see a sea of knowledge here that i would love to benefit from
I am going to apply to a couple of schools for archaeology, but i am a bit stuck. 
I cant find any info. on how long  my sop should be...2-3 pages but double spaced single spaced? Word count? Can anyone who has applied tell me how long their letter was? I would really appreciate this. 

Also, my GRE is low....my V was 158 but Q 148....i did one before and the results were reversed. ...I dont know if it is even worth applying . Do i even stand a chance or just wait until next year? thank you so much. I do have previous experience and my MA's GPA is 3.58. THank you!

[pears]

I had a "dummy" SoP letter, which was just over 2 pages long, set at a fixed spacing a bit larger than single spacing. I don't believe I had any programs that requested a word count, even ones that had online applications, so length may be the better measurement to use. I get the impression that 2-3 pages is the normal rage; whenever I had an application requesting a specific length, I could simply trim down or expand upon the "dummy" letter; I had read over it so many times that I practically had the thing memorized, so it was easy to know where to add or remove content without weakening my statement.

 

A GRE isn't problematic if you can make up for it with a strong GPA, recommendations, SoP, and so on. I had a very weak undergrad GPA (just above the 3.0 threshold, thanks to having a little too much fun at the start..), but I managed to demonstrate that I had an interesting but challenging courseload with an upward trend at the end (can be a boon), and strong writing abilties through my SoP and sample essay. I also had strong LoRs from professional and academic references, and a good deal of field and lab experience.

 

Honestly, I think my SoP was what carried me through the bad number the most. I've spent my whole life wanting to be an archaeologist, so it's easy to convey an outpouring of passion for my particular interests that trumps a lackluster GPA. In your case, unless any of your programs have a score requirement or cutoff, put some extra TLC into your writing sample and SoP, and the limelight will redirect itself to what you may feel are the strongest parts of your app.