Low GRE - Postpone application, or submit low

[toilaa]

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Hey all.

I know there’s dozen’s of threads talking about a low GRE score, but here’s another one. I’m looking for your feedback on what you suggest/ would do. I had been planning to apply this upcoming cycle and wanted to submit them early because, well, my stats aren’t the greatest and I had been hoping to get ahead of the line. I had just got back from taking the GRE this morning and had really been anticipating doing decent, but I didn’t.. again. First attempt was last month where I received 144Q 144 V 4.5W. Today, I didn’t really do much better and recieved a 146 Q and 144V. Sigh. It’s a shame because I know these scores do not accurately represent my learning capabilities. Just haven’t had the time to really sit down, buckle up, and devote time to study with my crazy schedule

The past two years I have been working 50+ hours weeks, volunteering, and taking the pre recs being that my B.S. is in business Administration.

Cumulative GPA:
I submitted my official transcripts to PTCAS waiting for verification, so i do not know my cumulative gpa yet. But to be honest, that isn’t going to be great either. I had suffered in school with personal issues late in my teen years and was consistently failing classes/being immature and not taking school seriously. This was at community college, where I completed my associates, then transferred to a university where I finished my bachelors. I had a short life collapse and finally reorganized myself here. Since the GPA resets with the transfer, my cumulative gpa (or final 60 credits) showed a 3.55. But because PTCAS will combine my poor grades from community college, which was about a 2.7 (before program pre recs & with failed classes retaken and not calculated), I am anticipating my cumulative gpa to not be of minimum standard.

The timeline looks like this
2010 - 2013 School 1 = Associates= 2.7 GPA with failed classes repeated and not calculated in
2013 - 2015 School 2 = BS. = 3.55 GPA without School 1 calculated in
2016 - 2018 School 1 = Pre recs taken = 3.5-3.7 without School 1 or 2 GPAS calculated in

TL;DR

Undergrad: Business Admin/Marketing
CGPA: (guesstimate with both schools, failed classes, and pre recs included) ~ 3.1
PGPA: 3.5-3.7
GRE: 146Q 144V ??W/ 144Q 144V 4.5 W
Experience: ~600 volunteer outpatient hrs = two different clinics; ~1500 paid hrs after being hired by volunteer clinic
LOR: 4 Strong letters of Rec. 3 PTs: 1 is my boss, 1 is a DPT I regularly work beneath, 1 is from of the volunteer clinics, 1 Physics Professor
Extra Curricular: None really being that I work two jobs +50 hrs and had zero time to offer to find success in pre recs

I’m undecided if I should jump the gun and put an application in early to beat the line in hopes for them to be “less critical because its early”, Delay the application till near deadlines to try and study another month and repeat the GRE for the third time, or completely get rid of the idea of applying this cycle and try to work on PGPA/GRE/Variety of volunteer settings over the next year. I REALLY do not want to postpone applying another cycle, but If you all think my application is that weak, I may have to do so.

Was hoping to apply to: Rutgers Newark, Kean, LIU, NYU, Stronybrook, Cal State Long Branch, USF, UMiami, Nova Southeastern, UCF, Florida Gulf Coast

Thanks for the help, all!

 

[PAPERCLIP_DPT]

Hey all.

I know there’s dozen’s of threads talking about a low GRE score, but here’s another one. I’m looking for your feedback on what you suggest/ would do. I had been planning to apply this upcoming cycle and wanted to submit them early because, well, my stats aren’t the greatest and I had been hoping to get ahead of the line. I had just got back from taking the GRE this morning and had really been anticipating doing decent, but I didn’t.. again. First attempt was last month where I received 144Q 144 V 4.5W. Today, I didn’t really do much better and recieved a 146 Q and 144V. Sigh. It’s a shame because I know these scores do not accurately represent my learning capabilities. Just haven’t had the time to really sit down, buckle up, and devote time to study with my crazy schedule

The past two years I have been working 50+ hours weeks, volunteering, and taking the pre recs being that my B.S. is in business Administration.

Cumulative GPA:
I submitted my official transcripts to PTCAS waiting for verification, so i do not know my cumulative gpa yet. But to be honest, that isn’t going to be great either. I had suffered in school with personal issues late in my teen years and was consistently failing classes/being immature and not taking school seriously. This was at community college, where I completed my associates, then transferred to a university where I finished my bachelors. I had a short life collapse and finally reorganized myself here. Since the GPA resets with the transfer, my cumulative gpa (or final 60 credits) showed a 3.55. But because PTCAS will combine my poor grades from community college, which was about a 2.7 (before program pre recs & with failed classes retaken and not calculated), I am anticipating my cumulative gpa to not be of minimum standard.

The timeline looks like this
2010 - 2013 School 1 = Associates= 2.7 GPA with failed classes repeated and not calculated in
2013 - 2015 School 2 = BS. = 3.55 GPA without School 1 calculated in
2016 - 2018 School 1 = Pre recs taken = 3.5-3.7 without School 1 or 2 GPAS calculated in

TL;DR

Undergrad: Business Admin/Marketing
CGPA: (guesstimate with both schools, failed classes, and pre recs included) ~ 3.1
PGPA: 3.5-3.7
GRE: 146Q 144V ??W/ 144Q 144V 4.5 W
Experience: ~400 outpatient = two different clinics; ~1500 hrs after being hired by volunteer clinic
LOR: 4 Strong letters of Rec. 3 PTs: 1 is my boss, 1 is a reg DPT I work beneath, 1 is from of the volunteer clinics, 1 Physics Professor
Extra Curricular: None really being that I work two jobs +50 hrs and had zero time to offer to find success in pre recs

I’m undecided if I should jump the gun and put an application in early to beat the line, Delay the application till near cut off to try and study more and repeat the GRE for the third, or completely get rid of the idea of applying this cycle and try to work on PGPA/GRE/Variety of volunteer settings over the next year. I REALLY do not want to postpone applying another cycle, but If you all think my application is that weak, I may have to do so.

Thanks for the help, all!

Your overall application is solid. You have a strong pGPA, and even with your poor academic performance the first few years, you have an upward trend so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would look at schools that may be less competitive, but aim for a couple out of reach schools to apply to as well. Experience-wise, I know some schools do require inpatient hours (but those can always be entered a "planned" during your application cycle, which gives you time to apply and complete them simultaneously without delaying another year). But there are plenty of schools that don't have the inpatient observation hour requirement.

Unless the schools you are applying to have rolling admissions, then I wouldn't worry about cutting it close to the deadline for the GRE (but make sure everything else has been received - letters of recommendation, verified hours, transcripts, etc). I would retake the GRE again (you can do so every 21 days). I believe the first round of deadlines are October 1st, so you'll have more than plenty of time. If you apply in with your current GRE scores, I fear that your application may not be considered due to both verbal and quantitative being below the 150 minimum for most schools. If you had a high ~3.8-4.0 GPA, it might have offset your low scores. But with your circumstances, I would try to make every aspect of your application strong.

I think you already know what to do. I wouldn't blindly take the GRE test again without preparation. If you can't work out time out of your busy schedule to devote to at least a week or two of quality studying then I would just apply next year.

 

[deleted797640]

Apply early will only help you if the schools you apply to are participating in rolling admissions. Also, do not turn down the opportunity to apply through ED to a school if you would really like a shot at going to that school. Most schools have a 300 combined GRE requirement so double check that for the schools you're applying to on PTCAS. To handle your GPA you can apply to schools which only look at pGPA and last 60 units versus cGPA. There are also schools that do not require the GRE. Overall you will still be competitive depending on the schools you apply to, but it is still never a mistake to apply. Even if you do not get in this application cycle next year when you apply to the same schools you will be able to answer "have you applied here before and how have you strengthened your application" which will give you better chances of acceptance. So even if you do not get in you are still setting yourself up for acceptance next year.

 

[toilaa]

Appreciate the suggestions. Never a fun realization the moment you just finish a 5 hour test to know you have to do it again... and soon haha. I do guess the best idea really is to just get the GRE score up in the next month or so. Thanks!