GRE Advice/General Grad School Woes

[upandup]

Hello!

 

I'm a rising senior in a Communication Sciences and Disorders program in Georgia, and I have some questions about what steps I should take to make myself as strong of an applicant as possible.

 

Some background: My overall GPA is 3.73, Last 60 is 3.85 (so far, taking physics this summer  ). My resume will have my independent study with an Aphasia population, I'm NSSLHA officer, the VP the Sign Language Club, and an officer for CommunicAID Nation (new organization). I'm also a member of an Autism Advocacy group, and I have volunteered with a special needs camp a few times. I work two jobs (completely unrelated to SLP, but I have to pay the bills and most clinics don't offer night shifts  ), one in which I have a leadership position. Also, I will graduate having taken all the ASL courses my school offers. (I-IV)

 

Since I'm always busy between school and work, I was only able to allot 3 weeks to cram for GRE. My expectations were low, but I really wanted to get close to a 320. Mainly because of funding, but I also have one reach school on my list-- Vanderbilt-- and I know they like extremely high scores. I ended up with a 152 Q and a 157 V, which was honestly better than I was expecting to do. 

 

My question to you lovely people is: Should I take it again? I can't say that I can dedicate my life to the GRE- I'm taking summer classes and I work a lot. However, I did feel like there were several quantitative questions that I blanked on, but I'm unsure of how to better prepare myself the second time around with my constant lack of free time. I also felt like my heart was in my throat during the whole test. I get so anxious with standardized tests.

 

I'm not concerned about spending the extra $185 to do better (it'd be an awesome investment if it got me funding), I'm just fearful that I will waste my money and not change my scores at all. I'm also not entirely clear on the significance of GRE scores in terms of determining GA positions. I would really like to be eligible for one, and I don't know if a 309 is enough to cut it.

 

Sorry this post is so long, but just in case anyone has specialized knowledge, these are the specific programs I have been looking at. In order of preference. Also, if anyone knows the likelihood of any of these programs offering in-state tuition to out-of-state residents, please let me know!

 

Vanderbilt

USC

FSU

Gallaudet

James Madison

GA State

UGA

East Carolina

Armstrong Atlantic 

 

Thank you so much!

[DeepSaklani]

First of all. You do have an ok bio. however as you mentioned it is not related much. Your score is also ok. However, you need to improve these scores a bit. But, if you can't find time to study then their is no point giving the exam again. What I can suggest you is to try alternate way to study. basically it is difficult for you to sit in front of system and prepare for GRE. Since you have mentioned that most of the time you are working and you are not getting enough time to study.

 

I dont know how comfortable you would be studying through Mobile App. You can prepare for GRE whenever you find free time. There many app available in the market like Gradestack GRE mobile App, Magoosh Mobile app and many more . These app have good vocab flashcard collection, lot of test questions to practice, study notes. You can study on the go. However, its totally on you, how much time you are able to dedicate, however I would suggest you to improve your GRE score a bit and bring it to 320 Level +

[upandup]

I would be able to find some time to study, but all of the plans I have looked into are extremely intensive (two to three hours a day). Do you know of any weekly-based GRE study guides? I haven't found a lot of good resources on my own.

[GandalfTheGrey]

Many people in other threads have reported finding Magoosh really helpful for test prep.

 

If you think you can raise your score, take it again. If you are concerned about not having enough time to really study, consider investing in a tutor. Many college/grad students who tutor only charge $20-$40 per hour, which might be a worthwhile investment if it means a better score and scholarship $$ down the line. 6 hours with a tutor will probably be more effective than 6 hours by yourself with a book.

[hopefulspeechie16]

Are there really scholarships for high GRE scores?

[SoCalSLPGrad]

What did you receive as a writing score? I know a lot of programs care more about the writing and verbal scores (since grad students in the program are expected to be good writers and my program cared about it) so that might be food for thought.

[sayjo]

Are there really scholarships for high GRE scores?

 

I think what the previous posters meant was that IF a school gives funding, they often start by offering funding to admitted students with the highest stats.  In that case, a high GRE would be helpful BUT it would probably not be the only factor.

 

I've never heard of a scholarship for a high GRE alone.

[GandalfTheGrey]

I think what the previous posters meant was that IF a school gives funding, they often start by offering funding to admitted students with the highest stats.  In that case, a high GRE would be helpful BUT it would probably not be the only factor.

 

I've never heard of a scholarship for a high GRE alone.

Thanks, sayjo, for clarifying what I meant. That's exactly what I meant to say.

 

I've also heard that some schools care more about the quantitative section, so I'd suggest asking specific schools which sections of the GRE they value most.