GRE Scores - PHD in Education

[crazynanc]

I just took the GRE's and scored a 158v and 151q. The quant is around what I expected but the verbal much lower than I had been getting on practice exams (162 - 163 range).

I'm planning on applying for PHD in higher education. I have 6 years experience in higher ed and a masters with thesis already. School's I'm looking at include Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, University of Virginia, Washington University, and my reach school, Harvard.

What are my chances with these scores? Should I retake them? A lot of schools have Dec. 1st as the deadline and I won't be able to retake it until mid Nov.

[vaporeon]

You can search here to see past applicants' acceptances (and rejections) and sometimes they post their scores, gpas and other relevant info. 

[vaporeon]

I do think it's too late (or very, very close) to retake. The website should tell you how long it takes to get scores back.

[crazynanc]

Thank you! The list was very helpful.

[hopefulPhD2017]

I also got a 151 quant and was disappointed, but not surprised, since the last math class I took was my freshman year in college (and that was a longgg time ago). I also took the GRE in early November when it was just too late to retake it, and I'm not sure I would've anyhow. It was a huge investment of both my resources and time.

I looked at the averages published for most schools in the top 20, and noticed that the very "top" schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Penn have very high averages, but most others seem within your/my reach. Although, many don't tease out PhD from MA/MEd applicants. Still, that was my take. I'm hoping that at least one school accepts me besides my poor GRE performance, as I think the other parts of the GRE and my application are competitive. If it makes you feel better, I took the GRE before and did worse, so with study I did improve by 9 percentile points. So, if you decide to reapply, a few months of study (I studied pretty hard, using Magoosh online and the full set of Manhattan Prep books) could pay off.

Keep us posted on your results!

[kristinat08]

I had slightly worse GRE scores than you. I applied to 6 schools and got into 2. I'd say to keep up hope. That being said though, all other aspects of my application were very good, such as GPA, research experience, honors, etc.

Edited December 15, 2016 by kristinat08