GRE Quant disaster!

[yelly]

Hi,

as it turned out, I have a Q score of 440! Since there is definitely not enough time to retake the test before the deadline (Jan 15 - Fletcher), I don't know if I should even bother with submitting the application... (Verbal: 570).

The rest of my application is quite strong: 5,5 years of very relevant full-time experience, plenty of international experience (summer schools abroad + non-US citizen -> Eastern Europe, fluent in German), volunteer experience: worked with Bosnian refugees during and after the 1990's war.

I am worried that the adcom will dismiss the application right away because of the low quant score. Is my fear justified?

I would appreciate to get some comments from people who are already attending MALD.

Thank you!

[JustChill]

Of course you should still submit the application. If you don't send it in, then you'll definitely not go there, but if you at least try, then there is some chance.

[fancypants09]

Of course you should still submit the application. If you don't send it in, then you'll definitely not go there, but if you at least try, then there is some chance.

Agreed with rockchalk--don't deny yourself of the opportunity. Let the school decide!

[jndaven]

Its not too late to take the GRE if you didn't take it in January (you can only take it once per calendar month) and you register as soon as possible this month. Immediately email your unofficial scores to the school and alert them a second official score report is coming. Harvard KSG adcoms have admitted they can accept scores from early January, though it is pushing it, and Harvard's deadline is earlier than Flether.

[Bawirsaq]

yelly,

I wonder when you took the GRE and were able to learn about your score. I had mine on December 23 but my score isn't still showing up in my online account. It's been two weeks already. I contacted the ETS twice and they kept promising the score would be showing up soon.

Edited January 8, 2010 by Bawirsaq

[fancypants09]

yelly,

I wonder when you took the GRE and were able to learn about your score. I had mine on December 23 but my score isn't still showing up in my online account. It's been two weeks already. I contacted the ETS twice and they kept promising the score would be showing up soon.

Not yelly here, but thought I'd jump in the convo to see if I could help.

Bawirsaq, did you take the computer version or the written version of the test? If you took the computer version, you receive your unofficial scores at the end of the testing session. Also, I took mine on December 18th and received my copy of the official score report on Monday. Hope this helps in assessing your timing!

Edited January 8, 2010 by fancypants09

[thombo]

I would absolutely still apply AND take the test again. From what I read in the application Jan 15 is the deadline for Fletcher if you want consideration for financial aid, but Feb 15th is the absolute deadline. Apply before Jan 15th, try to at least get that GRE score in by Feb 15th, and study quant like a maniac. Quant more than verbal can be improved via study. Work on the verbal too while you're at it (not that it's bad necessarily, but as you know, Fletcher is highly competitive, so this is an opp to bump up both scores).

Hi,

as it turned out, I have a Q score of 440! Since there is definitely not enough time to retake the test before the deadline (Jan 15 - Fletcher), I don't know if I should even bother with submitting the application... (Verbal: 570).

The rest of my application is quite strong: 5,5 years of very relevant full-time experience, plenty of international experience (summer schools abroad + non-US citizen -> Eastern Europe, fluent in German), volunteer experience: worked with Bosnian refugees during and after the 1990's war.

I am worried that the adcom will dismiss the application right away because of the low quant score. Is my fear justified?

I would appreciate to get some comments from people who are already attending MALD.

Thank you!

[mppapplicant]

@ Bawirsaq

I also took the GRE on the 23rd and my score doesn't appear on my gre account; however, I called and I learned the scores over the phone, just to make sure that what I saw at the end of the session was correct, and learn the AW.

[Douracell]

I think you should apply and retake the test. Make sure you inform them that you are retaking the test as well.

[yelly]

Thank you all for the replies. I took the test yesterday, Jan 7, so I can't take it again before February which is definitely too late.

Another, more serious problem is that this was my second attempt... And I got a very similar score to the previous one. The thing is, I have a BA in humanities (English lit) and have been out of school for a few years. I took undergrad micro and statistics last year just to prepare for grad school. I didn't have any difficulties with these courses even though they are very quantitative. But since numbers are not exactly my primary field of expertise, solving numerical problems takes me a lot of time; I check everything twice. That's exactly what happened yesterday and in December during the first test. I knew how to solve everything but ran out of time half way through the test!

I think it would take an enormous amount of extra time and money (prep courses and materials) to 'speed up' my quantitative skills. That's why I'll have to stick to this score and just hope that maybe other parts of my app will make up for the quant catastrophe.

[riz1]

yelly -- email the Fletcher admissions office. If there's one thing I learned from my admissions experience, it is that Fletcher as a school is very personable. Go to this site ... you might find your answer there.

http://news.fletcher.tufts.edu/admissions

Good luck!

[yelly]

yelly -- email the Fletcher admissions office. If there's one thing I learned from my admissions experience, it is that Fletcher as a school is very personable. Go to this site ... you might find your answer there.

http://news.fletcher....edu/admissions

Good luck!

Thank you, riz1! I'll definitely add an explanation in the additional information section. And hope that my strengths will overshadow the test score.

[riz1]

No problem. Fingers crossed!

[spottedtoad]

No problem. Fingers crossed!

It's easy to overestimate the level of the math tested by the GRE, and actually undercut yourself by doing so. It's really a test of 8th-9th grade level math, and some general "math intuition" that's really about number sense and arithmetic more than anything else.

College statistics might actually hurt you, as you discovered.

[carpecc]

I think it would take an enormous amount of extra time and money (prep courses and materials) to 'speed up' my quantitative skills. That's why I'll have to stick to this score and just hope that maybe other parts of my app will make up for the quant catastrophe.

Yelly, just curious, what type of Quant prep did you do? Did you take any practice tests?

If you don't get into the programs you want this time around and decide to take the test again, there's quite a bit of cheap quant prep you can take. I didn't take any courses, just did some self study, and improved by quant score by 180 pts from my first practice test.