How Important are the GRE's

Started by PsychBoxe
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
PsychBoxe

PsychBoxe

Postdoctoral Fellow
10+ Year Member
After visiting several schools, I have gathered that the GRE (General) is an extremely important facet to the application process. I am applying to the Psy D. program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and I was wondering how heavily they will consider a less than commendable score. I have a 3.65 GPA and have met with the Admissions Director many times, but I am still weary of my test score ( I am taking the GRE this week). If worst comes to worst should I enroll in a masters program and hope to transfer to the Psy D program? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I don't know about MSPP specifically, but most professional schools aren't nearly as competitive, especially for a Psy.D. (I've seen schools with acceptance rates as high as 40-60%!) That being said, do your best on the GRE (you'll probably do better than you expect if you've been working hard to prepare yourself) and, as long as you're around the mean/median for MSPP, I'd suggest applying for the Psy.D. program.
 
Worry about your score after you receive it. It's too early to panic, and you may just psych yourself out.
 
PsychBoxe said:
After visiting several schools, I have gathered that the GRE (General) is an extremely important facet to the application process. I am applying to the Psy D. program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and I was wondering how heavily they will consider a less than commendable score. I have a 3.65 GPA and have met with the Admissions Director many times, but I am still weary of my test score ( I am taking the GRE this week). If worst comes to worst should I enroll in a masters program and hope to transfer to the Psy D program? Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Go take your GRE, then panic, you should prepare for it and try to do well... you might be pleasantly surprised.

Any score should be enough, but why would you want to apply to this school????

Past 7 Years
APPIC Internship
0 0 1 (1%) 0 1 (1%) 0 1 (1%)
APA Accredited Internship
4 (4%) 12 (10%) 7 (6%) 3 (3%) 4 (4%) 4 (6%) 4 (6%)


That's GRIM!!! Find somewhere else to go!!! Out of classes of 70 or more not being able to get placed in an APPIC internship is a BIG RED FLAG!

Mark
 
In all honesty, I didn't do that well on my GRE's. I am realistic as to where I am going to be applying. Granted, the schools have decent reputations and people do get internships, but I didn't apply to any of the top notch schools.

Just be realistic about your situation, but remember, "shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." Les Brown
 
Last edited:
I was more terrified of the GRE than I'd ever been about any other test in my life. It's way easy to psych yourself out over. I ended up doing very well, despite being worried that the computer wouldn't know how to give me my single digit score report.

Bottom line is that it is, while still a very important part of your application, not that big of a deal to actually take it. It's way more scary beforehand. Moral of the story? Relax and you'll do much better than you think. Says personal experience and everyone else I've talked to about it.

Hey, it tests Jr. High math... Can't be that bad, right?
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I figured that there would be some negative backlash about a professional school, but I have talked to graduates and they have very distinguished careers as clinicians due to what MSPP has offered. I appreciate all of the advice, thank you all very much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.