Anyone else as frustrated as I am??

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ouroboro

ouroboro

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I highly doubt I'm the only one out there... but is anyone else so incredibly frustrated with the GREs?? Other then a slightly low score on the GREs (1150 total, Q 640 V510) I have a spotless resume. I graduated with high GPAs with a psych undergraduate degree and a psych masters degree... I worked at an Ivy League... I run a research department doing both clinical and research related work... I am both publish and have presented work at international conferences... I have raving recommendations and match research wise every school I apply to... the only blip people can find in my application is a slightly low verbal score. And the more I study the worse I seem to do on that section. I personally feel like the GREs are weighted too heavily during the application process... any suggestions on how to get my score up either then studying words and taking practice test after practice test????

😡😡😡🙁
 
What you can do is find programs with low or no GRE cutoffs. They do exist.

And, yes, you are definitely not alone.
 
cara susanna said:
What you can do is find programs with low or no GRE cutoffs. They do exist.

And, yes, you are definitely not alone.
Click to expand...


But I think that's ridiculous... I don't want to sell myself short on a great education from a school I know I can succeed in because of a couple points difference on a silly standardized test... is that crazy??
 
It's definitely not crazy; it's ridiculous that a 3 hour test can negate 4+ years of hard work.

Well, schools with low or no GRE cutoffs aren't necessarily bad. U of Washington for instance doesn't use cutoffs. You can apply to some that do use cutoffs as well and they may interview you anyway. I had two programs interview me that claimed to cut off at a GRE score higher than the one I had.
 
I literally have the majority of the same stats as you. 4.0 Psych GPA, worked at a highly competitive internship program at Harvard under the department head, was in charge of a particular lab at my undergrad, great recs, publications, and posters.However, I had very similar GRE scores to you. Straight from undergrad I got 2 interviews and 1 acceptance. I remember being so frusterated with the application process. I felt that it was really unfair that my application really wouldn't even be looked at in certain places because of the score I got on this arbitrary test. I spent so much time obsessing about it and being angry and upset. That was time I could have been spending perfecting my SOP or time spent organizing all my materials. Fortunately though, I soon realized that this application process isn't fair, and it doesn't have to be. People aren't entitled to get into programs, it's a privelege. Schools don't HAVE to let anyone in. If I were them, I probably wouldn't have accepted me either, because if I had someone with all our stats plus GRE scores to boot, I'd go with the whole package. Being upset about it just wasted my time, so I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get into BU or Yale. I looked for places that were realistic and that I could see myself being happy attending. I think you'll have a decent shot at a bunch of programs if you are as good as say you are good at assessing match. If you can't raise your GRE scores, let yourself be mad about it for a little while, but then just forget about it. In the end, you'll go where you're supposed to. Worrying about will be wasting your time. If you think you could do better on the GREs, then go ahead and take it again. Perhaps get a private tutor (I did, it raised my score over 200 points). Do mindfulness before the exam, do whatever anyone tells you. However if you still struggle, contact the programs, speak to the potential advisers, visit the campuses and find out if it fits you and find out how they feel about the GREs. I got interviews from programs where my GREs were actually below some of their cut offs. In the meantime, knock their socks off with your SOP. You have been so successful already, I'm sure you're going to be a great applicant with our without the kickass GRE scores.

ouroboro said:
I highly doubt I'm the only one out there... but is anyone else so incredibly frustrated with the GREs?? Other then a slightly low score on the GREs (1150 total, Q 640 V510) I have a spotless resume. I graduated with high GPAs with a psych undergraduate degree and a psych masters degree... I worked at an Ivy League... I run a research department doing both clinical and research related work... I am both publish and have presented work at international conferences... I have raving recommendations and match research wise every school I apply to... the only blip people can find in my application is a slightly low verbal score. And the more I study the worse I seem to do on that section. I personally feel like the GREs are weighted too heavily during the application process... any suggestions on how to get my score up either then studying words and taking practice test after practice test????

😡😡😡🙁
Click to expand...
 
most schools have vague cutoff's like 500 for each. I would not worry, you seem to have an impressive resume.

If anything, email the grad program coordinator before you apply and see if you are going to be rejected solely on the fact you have low GREs - if it is so, don't bother applying there.
 
There are "hard" cutoffs and "soft" cutoffs. The lowest I've seen from the kind of schools I looked at was about 1100, and I've seen as high as 1350. Once you pass the cutoff, I think GRE scores are rarely given any consideration whatsoever. Even when you don't, many schools still flip through applications that didn't make the cutoffs and pull out those with otherwise good credentials who only missed 1 criteria. That's how mine works.

Its not a perfect process and it sucks, but that's life. My GRE score was definitely the weak part of my application to, and I know for a fact (i.e. was told by my POI) that for several schools, its why I wasn't interviewed.

There's enough competition that schools can ask for it all and reasonably expect to get it. The unfairness doesn't end here, it continues with publications, grants, job search, etc. Someone told me the key to success in academia is learning to beat your head against a wall and pretend it doesn't hurt. The point being that persistence pays off, so just keep at it and don't take no for an answer.
 
Hi everyone,

Thank you for the quick and thoughtful feed back. I'm still extremely frustrated and disheartened by everything. Hopefully persistence will pay off since this is my fourth time applying... any other advice either then pick schools that focus less on GREs, higher a tutor (sorry not in my budget), or just keep trying? I'm halfway done my school list and have already identified professors I'd love to work with. I'm planning on contacting them by the end of next week... is there anything else I can do to make my application stand out?

I understand this is a privilege but I'm somewhat sick and tired of seeing people who have wanted this for far less time and have dedicated less time to this pursuit get into programs because of who they know or because of short cuts they take that I'm either not willing to take or things I can't taking advantage of.

Sorry for the ranting...


__________________
My path to success or another failure:
http://ouroborospsyche.blogspot.com/
 
I understand how frustrating it is to be up against people with a 1400 GRE, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve to be there.
 
I agree, cara. I don't mean to be harsh but I don't think you're going to find the answer you want or any sympathy for what you just said.

People can understand and sympathize with what you're going through, but I think you might be assuming too much when you say some people who have been accepted to the programs you want haven't wanted it as long as you have or don't have as much experience as you do. You really can't know their credentials or feelings well enough to make that type of assessment.

Also, remember, a lot of people answering your posts are people who are into graduate school and might be the people you are referring to. Everyone works hard to get into these programs. You really have to to be able to be competitive. I'm sorry that this is the 4th time that you have applied,but you have to stop focusing on who is getting in and why they don't deserve it, and focus your attention more on yourself. Only you can figure out how to improve your credentials because only you know what you've learned and what you haven't. I wish you all the luck in the world, and I'm sure that this time will be the charm. You have the creds, just find the right programs.
cara susanna said:
I under
stand how frustrating it is to be up against people with a 1400 GRE, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve to be there.
Click to expand...
 
I've met a very small number of people who decided on a whim to go do a PhD program (specifically one person). I'm definitely 100% not referring to probably anyone on this forum. I am not trying to insult anyone that I'm looking for advice forum.
 
Wow, I can't imagine anyone who just decided at the last minute get in since it's so competitive, unless they already had the research experience.
 
seriously, i've been working towards this since I was 19. Unless you're really driven with grades anyway and just happened to get research experience because it was a requirement of some sort (or because it's an interest without knowing much about it--- which I haven't heard very often), how does that even HAPPEN? haha.
cara susanna said:
Wow, I can't imagine anyone who just decided at the last minute get in since it's so competitive, unless they already had the research experience.
Click to expand...
 
cara susanna said:
Wow, I can't imagine anyone who just decided at the last minute get in since it's so competitive, unless they already had the research experience.
Click to expand...


Less then one year research experience... two people actually... one got a special call from a boss that got her into school... the other did work really hard and get amazing test scores but had failed out of another grad program only months before and decided to try their hand in psych


I started this thread to vent and discuss how ridiculous the GREs are... not to insult or anger anyone or take anyone's hard work and success away from them.
 
I may have sounded more offended than I really was (which I'm really not at all). I'm half paying attention to what I type and half paying attention to the top chef masters finale haha. I was just saying that it doesn't help you to worry about what's going on with other people. It does suck, but you'll get more out of this forum if you just stick to one type of thing- venting or asking for advice. If you mention one that is more "controversial," people will tend to forget to answer what you really want answered. Good luck!!

ouroboro said:
Less then one year research experience... two people actually... one got a special call from a boss that got her into school... the other did work really hard and get amazing test scores but had failed out of another grad program only months before and decided to try their hand in psych


I started this thread to vent and discuss how ridiculous the GREs are... not to insult or anger anyone or take anyone's hard work and success away from them.
Click to expand...
 
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