Worth It To Retake GRE?

[Determinedandnervous]

Hello all, I've been lurking these forums for a long time, and they certainly have opened up my eyes about the realities of the slim chances of getting into top grad schools and how tough the academic job market is out there, and I thank all of you for the hard lessons. It definitely made me re-evaluate and I decided to go into the process anyway with eyes wide open and feet in other career doors. I am looking to go into the field of political science, with an MPA as a backup plan (applying to a handful of schools for that).

 

I've read about how important a high GRE score is for admissions, not as a clincher but as an easy cutoff. I just took my GRE's tonight, and I have no graded writing yet, obviously, but my unofficial scores are 162 on the verbal and 155 on the quantitative.

 

I'm applying to several top 25 schools (Harvard, U-Mich, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, MIT, NYU, Ohio, Rochester, and Cornell) and I know that the scores I got were in the range of NYU, Ohio, Rochester and Cornell, but the other 5 wanted 165-169 on the verbal and 155-159 on the quantitative.

 

To give a bit of academic background (since this may increase or decrease the importance of the GRE score), I have a 3.94 GPA as a double history/political science major at SUNY Purchase, with a 4.0 in both majors (got a B in Contemporary Art  ) and I'll be graduating one year early. I have had several academic honors and awards, including a James Earl Hoffa Memorial Scholarship (yes, Jimmy Hoffa). I also have done an internship with Canadian Parliament (I'm American) and have direct experience in the field I want to study (comparative politics, specifically comparative elections).

 

With my high GPA and background (I've received conflicting advice on how important anything I did outside my academic career was), is it worth it to retake the GRE? Will they forgive 3 points on the verbal and being on the low end of the average range on the quantitative, or should I retake it just to be safe?

 

Thank you to anyone who has read this mountain of text.

[grad29]

Hello all, I've been lurking these forums for a long time, and they certainly have opened up my eyes about the realities of the slim chances of getting into top grad schools and how tough the academic job market is out there, and I thank all of you for the hard lessons. It definitely made me re-evaluate and I decided to go into the process anyway with eyes wide open and feet in other career doors. I am looking to go into the field of political science, with an MPA as a backup plan (applying to a handful of schools for that).

 

I've read about how important a high GRE score is for admissions, not as a clincher but as an easy cutoff. I just took my GRE's tonight, and I have no graded writing yet, obviously, but my unofficial scores are 162 on the verbal and 155 on the quantitative.

 

I'm applying to several top 25 schools (Harvard, U-Mich, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, MIT, NYU, Ohio, Rochester, and Cornell) and I know that the scores I got were in the range of NYU, Ohio, Rochester and Cornell, but the other 5 wanted 165-169 on the verbal and 155-159 on the quantitative.

 

To give a bit of academic background (since this may increase or decrease the importance of the GRE score), I have a 3.94 GPA as a double history/political science major at SUNY Purchase, with a 4.0 in both majors (got a B in Contemporary Art  ) and I'll be graduating one year early. I have had several academic honors and awards, including a James Earl Hoffa Memorial Scholarship (yes, Jimmy Hoffa). I also have done an internship with Canadian Parliament (I'm American) and have direct experience in the field I want to study (comparative politics, specifically comparative elections).

 

With my high GPA and background (I've received conflicting advice on how important anything I did outside my academic career was), is it worth it to retake the GRE? Will they forgive 3 points on the verbal and being on the low end of the average range on the quantitative, or should I retake it just to be safe?

 

Thank you to anyone who has read this mountain of text.

 

I haven't taken the GRE test yet, but my unofficial scores are around 155V and 158Q. I think improving your quantitative score is way easier than improving your verbal score. After about a week of studying, I went from a 150Q to a 158Q. My verbal score has only risen slightly, despite studying vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc...It seems like the more quantitative questions you do, the higher your score will rise. I think a 155Q is like getting about 25 out of the 40 questions correct, more on the first section than on the later. I think you should be able to bump that up to the 160's if you put in a solid amount of studying. If you're applying for top schools that have hundreds of applicants, every point counts. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by westy3789

[Arm457]

It should be obvious to you to retake it. But thankfully your verbal score is about average it's just your quant score that needs help. I started at 150 for quant and now I'm up to high 150's low 160's and I majored in humanities in college. Just embrace the grind and keep doing practice questions and exams. You'll get there. If ETS says you can only take the gre 5 times a year then you have 4 more to go.

[ginagirl]

*Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with admissions in your particular field.

 

I doubt these scores will get your application thrown out. I'm not sure where exactly you obtained those schools' ranges of scores and if they are cut-offs or simply a summary of recent admits' scores. I doubt they're harsh cut-offs.

If money isn't a limiting factor and if you could use the peace of mind, I would say just do your best to improve on areas you might have been weak in and retake it. You would likely want to just focus on the verbal section since it seems that the quantitative is overall less heavily weighted by the schools (ie you just need to perform around the same on quant as you did the first time). Otherwise I think the rest of your application package sounds strong enough that it might not be an issue, although you don't mention LORs which are also a very important part of the package. 

Generally, I think the decision is up to you whether you would feel better retaking it or not. Only you know what you are capable of regarding how well you can perform on standardized tests.

[Determinedandnervous]

Thank you everyone for your input! I have decided to retake the exam. I don't like having to shell out another $200, but it's a small price to pay if it can get me where I dream of going.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi determinedandnervous,

 

Before rushing back in to retest, it's important to define how you previously studied so that you can make the necessary adjustments/improvements to your approach and score higher. 

 

How long did you study?

What resources did you use?

When are your application deadlines?

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[Determinedandnervous]

Hi determinedandnervous,

 

Before rushing back in to retest, it's important to define how you previously studied so that you can make the necessary adjustments/improvements to your approach and score higher. 

 

How long did you study?

What resources did you use?

When are your application deadlines?

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

 

I studied for about a month, truthfully not with much regularity. I used the Magoosh videos and took some practice tests from ETS powerprep. My application deadlines are all December 15, with the exception of the MPA program, which is somewhere in February 2016.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Determinedandnervous

[history_geek]

I finished up my GREs about a week ago and scored fairly decent, 71st percentile (my testing area gave us the percentile not grade ). Anyways, my best advice for increasing your Quantitative would be Khan Academy. I had a problem with some pre-calc and calculus problems and the resources online and in my book were not enough. I popped onto Khan Academy and quickly understood the problems and began to master them fairly quickly. Every math idea or theory is on their and it is easy to pick and choose the ones you want to look at. Pick whichever ones are bugging you and go through the videos and practice problems several times. Wait 16 hours then do it again. Repeat until you master the section.

[PizzaCat93]

I finished up my GREs about a week ago and scored fairly decent, 71st percentile (my testing area gave us the percentile not grade ). Anyways, my best advice for increasing your Quantitative would be Khan Academy. I had a problem with some pre-calc and calculus problems and the resources online and in my book were not enough. I popped onto Khan Academy and quickly understood the problems and began to master them fairly quickly. Every math idea or theory is on their and it is easy to pick and choose the ones you want to look at. Pick whichever ones are bugging you and go through the videos and practice problems several times. Wait 16 hours then do it again. Repeat until you master the section.

I agree that Khan Academy is helpful, but the GRE does not have pre-calc, and definitely doesn't have calculus. That would only be needed if you were taking the mathematics subject test, and since your program is history, you would not be taking that, so...

[history_geek]

Pizza, I actually had 2 log and 2 sin vs cos vs tan problems. I'm not sure if they are handing out more of those problems, but they were clearly those type of problems.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi determinedandnervous,

 

Given your application deadlines, you have plenty of time to study (properly this time!), hit your score goals and complete your applications. The time that you spend invested in your studies now can lead to some BIG payoffs down the line, so you should look at this as a great opportunity - for your career and your overall future.

 

As to how you should proceed... Most GRE Companies offer some type of free resources (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.), so that you can 'test out' a product before you purchase it. We have a variety of free resources at our site (www.empowergre.com). You should plan to take advantage of all of the freebies, then choose the product(s) that best match your personality, timeline and budget.

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[Determinedandnervous]

Hi determinedandnervous,

 

Given your application deadlines, you have plenty of time to study (properly this time!), hit your score goals and complete your applications. The time that you spend invested in your studies now can lead to some BIG payoffs down the line, so you should look at this as a great opportunity - for your career and your overall future.

 

As to how you should proceed... Most GRE Companies offer some type of free resources (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.), so that you can 'test out' a product before you purchase it. We have a variety of free resources at our site (www.empowergre.com). You should plan to take advantage of all of the freebies, then choose the product(s) that best match your personality, timeline and budget.

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

Thank you. I am glad that I took these tests somewhat early. It would've been awful to learn that I needed to prepare in October.