Advice on GRE scores for Clinical PhD Programs

[Idealist64]

Hi all,

I am planning on applying to Clinical PhD programs this fall and am wondering if I should re-take the GREs. I took it back in 2008 (while I was in undergrad) and received a 710 on the Verbal, 660 on the Quantitative, and 5.0 AW. I know my verbal and quant are reversed, in that they would like to see the quant be higher than verbal for this type of program!

Is it actually worth it to go back and study for and take the new GREs? Other factors: My undergrad is from a mid-tier liberal arts school with a 3.98 GPA (4.0 in Psychology) and I am currently in the final year of my M.A. in an unrelated field (current GPA 3.82). I've taken 3 statistics courses in the course of my studies and received As in them.

So if I'm applying to a range of schools, with a few top-tier Clinical programs thrown in there as reach schools, would this low Quant GRE keep me from being competitive? Just how big a deal are the quant scores?

Thanks so much for any and all advice!

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[KillerDiller]

I had similar scores to you back when I applied for grad school. I too wondered about re-taking. Long story short, though, I don't think it's worth it. Those are good scores and shouldn't keep you out of anywhere but maybe the most selective programs. At this point, I'd say you're better off spending your energy on other areas of your application, like the personal statement.

 

[Neuropsych2be]

Hi all,

I am planning on applying to Clinical PhD programs this fall and am wondering if I should re-take the GREs. I took it back in 2008 (while I was in undergrad) and received a 710 on the Verbal, 660 on the Quantitative, and 5.0 AW. I know my verbal and quant are reversed, in that they would like to see the quant be higher than verbal for this type of program!

Is it actually worth it to go back and study for and take the new GREs? Other factors: My undergrad is from a mid-tier liberal arts school with a 3.98 GPA (4.0 in Psychology) and I am currently in the final year of my M.A. in an unrelated field (current GPA 3.82). I've taken 3 statistics courses in the course of my studies and received As in them.

So if I'm applying to a range of schools, with a few top-tier Clinical programs thrown in there as reach schools, would this low Quant GRE keep me from being competitive? Just how big a deal are the quant scores?

Thanks so much for any and all advice!

A 1370 combined Verbal and Quantitative is good. Those scores are perfectly fine. Don't sweat the quant scores. Your GPA is fine. The fact you are doing an MA in another field is a plus also. The thing to focus on is research experience and your personal statement. Don't worry about your degree being from a "mid-tier" school. No one on the admissions committee will care about that. Only the most pretentious of academic snobs use the idiot ranking system created by US News and World Report ... the irony of a doctoral level academic using terminology and a ranking system from the popular press notwithstanding.

 

[G Costanza]

Some schools might require that you have recent GRE score. 2008 is probably fine though.

 

[IHrtHealthPsych]

would this low Quant GRE keep me from being competitive?

Are you joking?! In what world is that a low score?????

 

[deleted176373]

Are you joking?! In what world is that a low score?????

Engineering and Physics.

 

[spafticus]

You have to look at percentile rankings. A 700 Verbal score is much different than a 700 Quantitative.

 

[Idealist64]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm very happy to hear most people think the 660 will be okay, because studying for the GREs again does not exactly sound like a good time....

IHrtHealthPsych, I have "The Insiders Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psych" which lists the mean GRE scores broken down by Q/V/AW. It seems like most schools (PhD, Clinical, research-focused) have a mean Quant score of 680-720 for incoming students, so that's what made me nervous. I think a 660 is only in the 50th percentile actually for Quant.

 

[oceansize]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm very happy to hear most people think the 660 will be okay, because studying for the GREs again does not exactly sound like a good time....

IHrtHealthPsych, I have "The Insiders Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psych" which lists the mean GRE scores broken down by Q/V/AW. It seems like most schools (PhD, Clinical, research-focused) have a mean Quant score of 680-720 for incoming students, so that's what made me nervous. I think a 660 is only in the 50th percentile actually for Quant.

Agreed with others, your scores are fine. I'm a clinical PhD grad student in a big R1 program, and profs here don't generally put THAT much weight on the exact number of someone's GRE scores, as long as the combined is over a certain threshold (and you're definitely above that). FWIW, your quant would be slightly below the mean here, but so what? I know people here with lower quant scores than you and they're doing fine. You're rocking those stats courses. "mid tier" liberal arts school is not a problem (I went to one, too, as did several in my cohort). The fact that your GPA is great, the rest of your GRE is great, and you are completing a masters are all helpful. As was said before, the real thing to focus on is research experience and personal statement. Consider meeting with professors, if possible, or connecting with them by email/phone. And/or, working in a lab near you where the professor or post-doc in the lab can write a letter of rec that mentions your research and interpersonal skills. Remember, the professors have to live with you, and you with them, for 5+ years.

Good luck.

-J

 

[Ollie123]

Generally speaking, if your GRE is > 1300 it is unlikely to hold you back even at the most competitive schools. Once you make the initial cut (which you will with room to spare basically everywhere), pretty much every professor I've spoken to has said the GRE really ceases to mean anything. At research programs, research experience and the interview will trump everything...GRE and GPA are really only used to weed out the bottom chunk.