MS I/O chances?

[MikeWrights]

Hey everyone. Fall 2014 Applicant here. I've seen other people create these posts before and I was hoping to receive some helpful advice from everyone. Been worried lately on my chances at some of my prospective schools due to the verbal section of my GRE score. I'm taking it again on the 18th, but in case I don't raise the score I was just wondering if I should be worried.

 

GRE:

 

Quantitative: 150 (630)

Verbal: 152 (490)

Total: 302 (1120)

 

Some of my schools say 500-500 minimum for both sections, while others say 1000 minimum in total. Is there any possibility that the schools who want 500-500 on both sections would consider me? The 1000 minimum schools definitely will, but I am just worried that I will get weeded out without them looking at the rest of my application because I missed the cutoff by 1 question

 

Here's the rest of my application: 

 

GPA:

 

Cumulative: 3.41

Psych: 3.87

Junior/Senior: 3.92

 

Research Experience:  

2 semesters at an I/O Lab (Team Workforce and Development Lab)

3 semesters at an I/O Lab (Institute for Simulation and Training - Directing Human Systems Integration Research)

 

TA Experience:

Social Psychology class

2 I/O Psychology Classes

 

Letters of Recommendation:

One letter from the I/O Ph.D Director from my university (UCF)

One letter from a psych teacher (25+ years of teaching)

One letter from a Grad student (It will be from the office of a known member in the field of I/O luckily ) 

 

Also hoping to finish a paper that I will be a co-author on before I send in my final applications. 

 

So...what do you guys think? If I don't manage to get my 490V score up to 500, will I automatically be filtered out from some of my prospective programs? 

 

Thanks in advance for any help. I would really appreciate it!

Edited December 17, 2013 by MikeWrights

[Lisa44201]

I'd be surprised if the 490/152 filters you out; your Quant score makes up for it. The rest of your app makes up for it. I'm not sure about that letter from a grad student, though.

[MikeWrights]

Thank you so much for the reply! I agree about the grad student LOR. I initially believed I was getting the LOR from his supervisor, but apparently they write it themselves. Some of my schools only require 2 LOR's so I will just not use his or possibly send his as an extra influence. 

 

Hopefully I can just get this verbal score up 1 point so I don't have to fret about it anymore haha. Thanks again

[Lisa44201]

No problem I/O isn't personally my thing, but my Master's program also had an I/O cohort, so I get the gist of it. Good luck!

[I/O The Derry-O]

Hi Mike -

 

Your credentials look solid. I would not be overly concerned with a GRE score slightly on the low end as I feel that a fair amount of schools will allow other aspects of the application to compensate for this. However, this will also depend on the caliber of the schools you are applying to. I would imagine that highly competitive master's programs might be more rigid in their interpretation of the GRE score. Also, some professors have their grad students write the LOR and then they edit and sign it so that may be the case with one of your recommenders. I definitely would not advise you to send a LOR with the grad student being the recommender as it will not seem like a creditable source. In any event, you have many other great parts to your application so be confident! Best of luck!

Edited December 24, 2013 by I/O The Derry-O