GRE Scores for MA

[napoleon87]

Hi All,

 

I know this is a terribly redundant topic to revive, but can we revisit the importance of GRE scores for a moment?

 

I did fairly well on the Verbal, not so great on the Quant and not as well as expected on the AWA.  In terms of the AWA and Verbal, what would you say the cutoffs are?  Are they different for MA rather than PhD applications? 

 

I'm still incredibly bogged down with the writing sample and my SOP's while working full time and commuting, so the idea of taking the GRE again before January is overwhelming.  I'm considering that my applications may have to wait until next year.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks!

[qwer7890]

GRE is pretty much a formality -- seriously, don't sweat it. Maybe (and just maybe) for very large MA programs they matter a bit more -- but for the smaller MA programs (Williams, Tufts, etc.) and PhD programs, they're looking at your application to assess whether or not you'll thrive in graduate school.

 

Work instead on your personal statement and writing sample.... make yourself comprehensible to them as a scholar with a set of driving interests, methodological investments, etc. 

[napoleon87]

Thanks for your response qwer7890.  It's good to hear that the smaller MA programs don't put as much emphasis on the GRE as the other materials.  Even so, I think that if I want to be competitive for a variety of PhD programs in the future, I will need to retake it eventually (dreading already!).   For now, I'll go back to focusing on the writing portions of the application.  Thanks again!

[ChurchLover]

I'm currently an MA student at Tufts and I believe I did rather poorly on the GREs (153/4 verbal). I don't think they're worth fretting about. qwer's response hits all the main points.

[twombly-fied]

I'm kind of in the same boat - I actually just retook the GRE to try and do better than I did last year and I ended up in nearly the same exact range as last year (still waiting on AWA). I was panicking that scores in the 150s wouldn't get me in anywhere I'm looking but this is reassuring. Time to knock out that SoP I guess...

[PGT Beauregard]

Hmm.. let's be blunt, here. If your GRE scores were higher, you probably wouldn't be entering an MA program in art history (or, very likely, entering this field at all). Sad, but borne out by the stats. Definitely not a field for the best and brightest. 

[kokoschka]

^ lol.

[brown_eyed_girl]

Hmm.. let's be blunt, here. If your GRE scores were higher, you probably wouldn't be entering an MA program in art history (or, very likely, entering this field at all). Sad, but borne out by the stats. Definitely not a field for the best and brightest. 

 

Umm... really? I did quite well on the GRE (other than quant), thank you very much. 

[angela_]

i wouldn't worry about gre scores, if you're still interested. someone just posted a columbia phd acceptance on the board who had not that great scores, below what columbia says on its site.

 

good luck!

[happy little pill]

Hmm.. let's be blunt, here. If your GRE scores were higher, you probably wouldn't be entering an MA program in art history (or, very likely, entering this field at all). Sad, but borne out by the stats. Definitely not a field for the best and brightest. 

 

*rolls eyes*