I did terrible on the GRE. I don't think I can do better. How should I adjust my choice of schools?

[TenuousAtBest]

A while back, I made about my chances for PhD admissions. All of that information is the same, but I got my GRE score today. I got 166V and 158Q. My quant is abysmally low, but I really don't think I can get it up. I spent months preparing and I didn't improve at all. I don't know how much I can improve in a few weeks.

 

With my new GRE score, I'm out of the running for top 10 programs, right? Top 30 is dicey too? What can I do to overcome my low score?

[bsharpe269]

You have such a great application.... I really would work on getting that score up. If you can do well in all of your math classes then you can score >165 on teh GRE (or even 160-165 would be fine). Yeah, that score would hurt your application and its not worth hurting your application over a GRE that can be retaken. Really, you have a few months, not a few weeks.

[StatsG0d]

Test anxiety. Trust me I took it twice. First time studied for 3 weeks and got a 163. Then studied for about 5 months and got a 164 (lol).

The rest of your application looks solid. If you really don't want to take it again, you could try taking the math subject test. If you do really well (>= 85th percentile) then you probably have a decent shot of cracking the top 15 even with the low general test score.

[cyberwulf]

Echo the retake sentiment. Unless your definition of 'large respected state school' is wildly different than mine, it seems impossible that someone who got A's in Real Analysis and Abstract Algebra (and scored 166V!) would consistently score below 165Q.

[wine in coffee cups]

I think learning how to ace the quantitative GRE section will help you in the long run for statistics programs. One thing I was surprised by in my program is how exam-focused the core coursework is. Lots of memorization, doing integrals very quickly, taking many exams that count for a large % of your grade in a short period. All of this is to prepare you to take do-or-die master's and PhD qualifying exams, which are a required component of many statistics and biostatistics programs. For an anxious test taker, preparing to pass these exams is going to involve doing a lot of timed practice questions, identifying the types of things you are stumbling on, learning how to triage tests to get the parts you can nail out of the way quickly and save the other stuff for last -- all skills you will get better at by trying to do the same for the GRE.

 

You can do this.