And I don’t know if I should have my scores automatically sent, because I’m not sure that I’m even going to apply to grad school for next year. I thought I was fairly certain on that, then finishing my current degree got me crazy with stress. So I don’t know if I should just send the scores to the couple American schools I’m looking at regardless and just trust it won’t be an issue if the rest of an application doesn’t follow, or if I should just suck it up, take the test, and then when I figure it out, fork out the extra cash to the greedy, greedy ETS to resend them.
And I don’t know if I should send them to the schools outside the US I’m looking for, because I can’t find anything in any prospectuses or websites about them wanting them, and I don’t know for sure if I’m going to apply, and if they do want them they don’t make their GRE codes available, and one of the schools I’m looking at isn’t listed on ETS’s megalist of institution codes.
And I haven’t studied as much as I wanted to and my math scores are going to be awful because I can never calculate percentages right and I’m kind of an idiot at math, and so it’s probably all a moot point anyway because no respectable grad school is going to accept me, and I left this all to the very last minute and I should have taken it a month ago and I don’t even know if I want to go to grad school at all and can you tell I’m a teeny bit stressed about all this?
D’you think that “Well, I’ll (hopefully) have a useless degree when I graduate, and hiding under my bed cowering in fear from the world isn’t going to pay the rent, so I need to get a higher degree in something close to a useful field” is an acceptable statement of purpose?
Have a glass of wine and get some sleep. Thousands of people have taken the test before you, and they got through it and into grad school. You will, too.
Well, I can’t answer your questions, because I haven’t even taken the GRE yet, nor will for at least a year I’m guessing. Can you contact somebody at your college to help you answer them?
All logistical stuff aside, you do sound like you’re freaking out. Have some tea and a glass of wine. I find the two together to be highly relaxing. My PM box is open if you need a fellow college-age youngin’ to talk with.
Well, I can’t help with the actual test part as I am cheerfully and deliberately not taking the GRE, but as someone who’s currently applying to grad schools overseas (or, y’know, procrastinating on finishing applications because I’ve already filled in all the parts that don’t require my brain and am now trying to sort out personal statements…same difference!), I can say that I’ve been told multiple times that as a general rule, they don’t want the scores because they won’t use them. At least, British universities don’t. And if they don’t advertise their GRE codes, well, it’s their own fault if they don’t get any score reports, right?
And it’ll all be okay. Really. (And if I keep saying that, it will come true for me too, because do I ever know the stress.) It will be okay! Breathe!
Don’t stress about the studying. I’m not sure you can really study for the GRE, except to take a practice test or two to get used to the kinds of questions they will ask. My sum total of GRE preparation was to do some practice questions, and check into a hotel room for the night for a good night’s sleep (I didn’t think a Friday night in the dorm would be very restful). You’ll do fine.
You should absolutely send your scores to the US schools you are considering. Not doing so is wasting a good chunk of the money you paid to take the test. (The free reports are only available on test day. After that, it’s $25 per school.) If you don’t end up applying, the schools won’t care at all. It’s just one more folder with an incomplete application. They have tons of them already.
Try to calm down and remember it’s just a test. Despite how you may be feeling about it, it will not determine the rest of your life. Many other factors go into grad school admissions. Focus equally on all of them.
Well, that’s good for you, but you absolutely CAN study for the GRE. I am really shit at math, and I spent a couple months cramming on the type of math questions they have on the GRE, working through problems over and over again until I understood what I needed to do without panicking (my usual reaction at being told to do math). Without that, I am not being hyperbolic at all by saying that it’s entirely possible I would have missed every single math question. Instead, I got a 600, which is not fantastic, it’s average, but hell, I was ecstatic to appear “average” at math instead of “hopelessly stupid”.
But people I know who aren’t shit at math tell me it was quite easy and they did well without studying at all. (Which is how I felt about the verbal section - I feel fortunate that’s the bit I’m good at, because I really have no idea how one would study for it. Either you have a large vocabulary, or you don’t.)
It’s possible that you are me. I have exactly no problem with the verbal sections, but math just kills me when I need to do it quickly. I’ll be quite happy with around a 550 in math. Low, but it’s on-par with the averages for the programs I’m looking at.
I have calmed down. Last night was just a sort of ‘ohgodtomorrowaaaaah’ thing; a nice cup of peppermint tea, a final review of the math strategies in the back of my prep book, and I think I’m good.
It’s a few hours of annoying hell (I think annoying hell is somewhere in the 3.5th ring), and then you’re done, and you can celebrate never having to take that fucking test again unless you screw it up, so don’t.
I’ve run into people who get decent scores on the GRE, but they keep retaking it and retaking it trying to get a perfect score. I cannot understand these people. They are either insane, autistic, or so goddamned smart that they’ve come full circle and turned retarded.
Good luck, Ninja Chick. Just go in there thinking about how much you’re going to enjoy starting the thread about how goddamned well you did!
I have taken the GRE twice as well as bunches of other standardized tests starting in elementary school. They were all about the same when it comes to percentiles. I believe that you can study a little for the math portion (it is easier than the SAT) but forget studying for the Verbal section. That takes talent and a lifetime of learning that you can’t simply overcome in a few weeks. Some people say that they can study for the Verbal section but I think other factors were at play.
You are looking at a computer game that will end up roughly the same way as every other standardized test you have taken since junior high. Just try your best and forget about it. You would be amazed about how low many people’s GRE scores that get into reputable graduate schools. Many are well below average but they have other factors going for them. I know because my undergraduate work-study jobs in undergraduate schools was to pre-screen hundreds of applicants for a fit. GRE scores are far from everything.
What you may consider good news is that, unless the programs you’re applying to are math heavy, they won’t really care too much about your math scores.
This is something that I thought was pretty weird about the test. The math portion is pretty easy for anybody going into a math intensive program, how does it differentiate between anybody?
Yeah - I’m looking at international relations/human rights-type programs. The most math I’d need would be maybe an intro-level econ class, and I’ve taken four years of college level math (in a sort of unconventional way), so I don’t think my ‘meh’ score will be a hindrance.
Now that I think about it, part of why I was so nervous about the GRE was this was the first exam I’ve taken since I had to take a basic algebra test my freshman year.
Wanna bet? I’m in that sort of program right now and we have to take calculus, statistics, and two rather math intensive microecon classes.
Yeah, I’m not really enjoying it that much. Fortunately, my non-quant classes (right now I’ve got Foreign Policy and Public Health in Developing Countries) make up for it.
