Fresh GRE score... I need advice

[Septimius]

Well... I just got back from taking the GRE, and its not pretty. This is the third time I've taken it, twice last fall, and then today. My writing score was a 5.0, then a 5.5 and I feel like this time it might be a 6.0, but it's the verbal score that I'm worried about.

I scored a 610 Quant, and a 590 Verbal.

Obviously I do not know the percentages yet, nor my AW score, but I'd guess a 5.5/6.0 and the verbal probably about 75-80%.

I have a good academic record, a cumm. of a 3.5; 3.89 in my major.

I have a very well received writing sample, great reccs, and a strong SOP... but I think that it's all for nothing due to the verbal score.

I'm going for ancient history, and am currently in the post-bacc program in at UPenn to beef up my Latin and Greek some more. I have had 12 semesters of Latin, 8 of Greek, 1 of French, and intend on taking intensive German over this summer (the equiv. of 2 years) before grad school would begin in the fall of 2010.

I guess what I'm wondering is.... am I wasting my time? Do I stand a chance anywhere with that low score? Also, it is an unfortunate fact that with ancient history there are very, very few PhD programs out there, and unless you're from a top ten program you're simply not marketable.

The one OK thing is that U-Toronto has a great PhD program in ancient history, and since they're non-US, they don't require GRE scores.

This will be round two for me in applying, and am looking for any input or advice. Thanks.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Septimius

[JerryLandis]

I must admit I have never applied to grad school and know nothing about this, but I don't think it's the end of the world. I got almost the exact same score as you, and the friends I went to take it with got more or less the same (lower verbal and higher quantitative). Now, my score is way lower than the average score at the places I'm applying to. However, considering everyone I know seems to have received very similar scores, I'm not panicking. Sure, maybe it will be a slight shadow on your application, but despite not being a marvelous score, it's not terrible either. I would say to take the energy you're spending worrying about this and use it for something more productive - like keeping up your grades and working on your application supplemental materials. It's too late to take it again, so why waste your time worrying? That's my excuse.

[JerryLandis]

PS how's the Penn program?

[JerryLandis]

PPS your language skills sounds really impressive and I'm very jealous!

[Septimius]

Well thank you for the complement on my language training, I've put a great deal of time into it and it's always nice to hear such things. Well, as far as Penn goes I have nothing but great things to say about it. I came from a no-name school with a weak classics dept, and there were few that held a significant interest in studying it. That being said, coming from there to here was a massive shift. The quality of the faculty here, the abilities of every one of my peers, and of the resources are much greater than that of my last school. As far as the post-bac program in classics at Penn in particular, well I have no other post-bac experience to directly compare it to, but I enjoy it. I feel that the professors that run the program are very committed to seeing every student succeed, and I feel that the very high reputation that the program has is well founded.

[TMP]

Let it go. You've taken it three times and that's getting a little obnoxious and they'll see that you're just not a strong test taker when it comes to verbal. You have life, right?

The rest of your application is solid. Your language skills will definitely be very important, just as important as your writing sample, LORs, and SOP.