To retake or not to retake

[filmfanatic09]

I’m going to be applying to MA/PhD programs in the Humanities at schools of varying levels of prestige: mostly state schools whose programs are ranked in the top 30, along with a few schools like Northwestern and Berkeley that carry a little more cachet.  That being said, my GRE scores are woefully less than stellar: 500 quantitative, 580 verbal

Comments

[aonde]

You seem like a strong candidate. First of all, be thankful that your GRE score at least reflects your ease with writing.

But I think you're missing the mark with this post. The question about retaking (at least to me) is more about "how much can I improve?" and not "can my other strengths cover my less than stellar scores?". Did you study a lot for the GREs the first time you took them? Was there something you could easily improve upon by spending a few well applied hours? If you think you can raise your score by a significant margin and you have the time/money to do so, I would say go for it. (Side note: it may be easier to think of significant margin as "will the hike in the score be enough to justify why I had to take the GRE a second time if I'm asked by a program")

Finally, and forgive me if you've read this in other comments but I like to say it to give people hope, I got into an ivy league phd program in the social sciences with 580v, 740q, and 5.5w (and my percentiles for v and q were almost the same, both around 75%).

If you choose to retake, good luck! If not, I think you're still a very strong candidate.

[filmfanatic09]

You’re absolutely right; to address the blind spot in my original post: I did a very minimal amount of study the first time around (essentially only some practice tests, on which I did better than on the actual one). I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way, but there was a large part of me that didn’t want to buy in (literally) to the whole GRE “game” and devote time/money to preparation materials, classes, etc. I still have one semester left of undergrad and am in the throes of a major research project (a second honor’s thesis) and hated the thought of time being taken away from that to study math (which is essentially irrelevant to my future interests) and English in the form of multiple choice questions.

That aside, I think this attitude (although I still don’t disavow its rationale) came back and bit me when I walked away with lesser scores than I was anticipating. Maybe I just need to overcome my obstinacy but, despite this, I’m still resistant to handing over more money to retake the GRE unless it’s going to be an inevitable stumbling block down the road. Sorry again if this comes off as arrogant; it’s just unbelievably frustrating (as I’m sure many of you know) to have 28 multiple choice questions tell you that you’re mediocre at something you’ve gotten straight As in for the past four years.

[shaydlip]

I barely studied the first time I took the exam and got an 1180. I studied a little bit more (some vocab, but mostly a couple weeks beforehand I got a book and studied the trikcs) and my score jumped to a 1350.

Are the tests still computer adaptive? Don't forget that if the questions seem really hard and you aren't doing well, that's actually a good thing because you are getting them right. The first time I took the GRE I thought I did really well, and the second time I was considering not even keeping my scores. I got to that screen, sat there for a minute or two, said **** it in my head, and I got the high score. It always freaks me out a little to remember back to that day and I wasn't going to keep those scores...

[greekdaph]

Given what you say here, I'd add my voice to the chorus of those advising you to retake. I know exactly what you mean about not buying into the rationale of the GRE--ETS is an awful monopoly that tricks you out of your money at every turn, and it's far more intellectually fulfilling to focus on projects that actually mean something to you. But (and I've said this before on this forum, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record) the that test is one of the few elements of your application that you can at least somewhat control. You don't know for sure how your SOP, your writing sample, and your LORs will be perceived, but you do know that with some flashcards and vocab drills, you have a good chance of improving your score. In the midst of application season--and especially in the midst of waiting-anxiously-to-hear-back-from-programs season, you'll be grateful that you've done all you can to improve your application: it'll save you all that time you might have otherwise spent asking, "What if...?"

I'd advise you to focus more on the verbal than the math. Aim for a high verbal score (like girlmostlikely says below, around 650), and don't worry too much about the writing. (I got into English PhD programs with a 5 and know others who report similar results; it seems that schools care far more about the verbal and quant scores and use your writing sample and SOP to judge your writing skills).

Keep in mind, too, that some schools use GRE scores in determining university fellowships. While departments are typically far more interested in the disciplinary-specific elements of your application, some graduate schools use more "objective" (ha!) criteria in apportioning financial awards.