3: GRE Exam and Scores

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Today I'm going to talk about GRE scores. The GRE, the General Record Exam, this is a test that nobody enjoys. In fact, most people probably hate it. But it's one of those things that I see as a hurdle you probably should study, and you need to take the test because if you don't take the test, odds are you likely won't be able to apply to graduate school, because many schools still require for you to take the GRE and report your scores to them. On the bright side, it seems like more and more universities, more and more programs are starting to either not accept the GRE or they are not taking into account the scores, they won't, they'll overlook the scores. But that's not true for every school. That's not true for every discipline.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So here's my take on the GRE. If you can try to enroll in a GRE prep course, the GRE is a standardized exam, the GRE is a highly classist exam. The GRE is all about strategy is not so much about knowledge, per se, but it's about learning how to take the test, and learning the strategies behind how to answer the questions, learning about timing and how to get to answer as many questions as possible. The learning how to structure the essay and the way that they want you to structure it. And so you're not going to get that information unless you do some studying unless you take a course unless you buy a book and do study on your own. So no matter what, yes, study as much as you can.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But oftentimes I get this question of like, oh, event, how important is it for, for me to do well on the GRE, and what is a good GRE score, or they'll say, Dr. Yvette, Dr. Martinez-Vu, I did horribly on the GRE. Now, I'm never going to get into graduate school. And this is coming from students who have a wide range from being in the two percentile to being in the 90th percentile in their scores. And so my take on it is, you're most likely not going to get the score that you want. But you do need to try your best.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And you need to figure out how important the GRE is within your discipline. So for instance, does your discipline have a minimum score that you need to aim for? Or does your discipline only really care about the verbal aspect or the quantitative aspect of it, so that's something you want to keep in mind, because then that's something that you want to focus on. The other thing is, there are still schools that look at your GRE score, and will provide funding opportunities, fellowships, etc. For folks who do score well on the GRE. So you do have an incentive to do well, you shouldn't just completely bomb it, and not worry about it. But at the same time, disciplines like anthropology, most likely will not take too much into account your GRE score, because they're going to care more about everything else as part of your application package, especially your statements, especially your research experience. Have you done field work etc. Versus there are other fields like physics, that will many schools will flat out say you need to have at least a 160 be in the 160s within your verbal and quantitative. So that way that they'll consider you there's some ivy League's that will say the average score for our applicants is a minimum of x, whether that's 158, 163, 167. So you want to just keep that in mind. But again, I see it as a hurdle. I'm not a fan of the GRE. I do think it's something that you should focus on, study the best you can take at once.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And the other question I get is when should I retake the test? How should I know if it's even worthwhile for me to retake the test? So in the years that I've been factoring mentoring students, and helping them get into graduate school, I've noticed that with the GRE, oftentimes, they'll see the biggest jump in their score from their Diagnostics Test from the test that they took before they even did their GRE prep. And then to taking it the first time, I often see a 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 point jump, and then from the first time they take a test to the second time that they retake it. So let's say they studied really hard the first time but didn't get the score they want them they studied again, possibly changed their study strategy. If one is not one thing, it's rare for them to get a higher score. If they do get a higher score, it tends to be only within a few points 1, 2, 3 point change unless someone, this is rare, unless someone completely bombed the GRE, like had a horrible day had a panic attack, something happened. Most of the time students only make, you know, a point or two jump when they retake it. And so I tell students, okay, if you tried to reach a certain bar, like if you're, if you're trying to get into the 150s, or if you're trying to get into the 160s, and when you took the test, the first time you were, you were 148, 149, you were 158, 159, then yes, go ahead, and we take it, you have a good chance of breaking into the next set of scores. But otherwise, I don't know if it's the best use of your time, because by the time folks are retaking the GRE, it's often the end of summer or the beginning of the fall quarter when they're applying to graduate programs. And at that point, you really should be focusing on strengthening the other components of your application, you got to strengthen your personal statement, your statement of purpose your writing sample, you're going to get those letters of rec, there's so much for you to do just to keep track of your applications. That then studying for the GRE will be a distraction from your grad school apps, and then your grad school apps will be a distraction from you fully studying for the GRE.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I guess, long story short, what I want to say about the GRE is that nobody enjoys this test. Most of us that work in higher education are not a fan of the GRE. If it were, if it weren't my choice, I would ban the GRE it would not be a thing. Because why should you have to spend all that money studying for exam, an exam that studies have shown has no relevance, it shows no indication of how successful you'll be in graduate school. But at the end of the day, it does exist, you do have to take it. Do your best, but then whatever score you get, unless you're trying to break into a certain range, you're most likely going to be okay. I've seen, I've seen all kinds of things happen. I've seen folks with very low GRE scores get into top 10 schools, I've seen folks with very high GRE scores only get into one or two schools and maybe not their top schools. So you never really know what matters most is making sure the entire application package is strong and not just one thing. So if you try to get a perfect GRE score, but you don't really focus on your essays, I'm sorry, but odds are you're probably not gonna get into every single school you apply to. So take the test, study as much as you can do your best. But after that, you can let it go and move on to the other components of your application. I hope that this was useful for you and I wish you the best of luck as you study and take this test.