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Are you thinking of applying to grad school this Fall? Do you have concerns about the GRE? Today's unhiding-of-the- #HiddenCurriculum thread is about how to put together a strong graduate school application even with these concerns.
( #AcademicTwitter) https://twitter.com/rwidome/status/1272923501708656644
( #AcademicTwitter) https://twitter.com/rwidome/status/1272923501708656644
When I say "concerns about the GRE" I'm including: 1) You feel like your prior scores aren't good enough and you don't feel you can get them any higher, 2) You feel like the GRE is too costly in time/money and can't afford it, 3) You just have a lot of anxiety about taking it.
First, know that there is a growing number of programs that are backing away from using GRE. For instance, at UMN's SPH, we made GRE optional last year. This year we are having our school's number is being removed from ETS so there will be no way to officially submit GRE scores.
Look into where GRE is no longer required or even accepted this Fall as you might not even need to take it. Don't rely on last year's materials, it may have changed! When in doubt, e-mail the program's academic coordinator with questions about this.
But whether or not a program wants to see a GRE, if you aren't going to submit one, can't submit one, or are submitting one that is lower than ideal, I encourage you to consider what a good GRE could have done for your application & then do your best to fill in that gap.
So what is a GRE supposed* to do? It is supposed to give the admissions committee an easy-to-interpret standardized appraisal of your quantitative and verbal abilities.
*I'm in no way arguing that it actually does this. (See #GRExit threads for debate on the GRE's value.)
*I'm in no way arguing that it actually does this. (See #GRExit threads for debate on the GRE's value.)
You have to understand that a problem from the admissions committee standpoint is that transcripts can be hard to interpret (i.e. What does a B mean from College A v. College B? Which course was harder? What was actually covered?).
Depending on what type of program you are applying for, seeing that an applicant has an ability to do work in a certain area will be key. For instance, in our program (epidemiology MPH), among other things, we care about quantitative ability and need to see it in the application.
If you can't show an epidemiology MPH admissions committee quantitative ability with a great score in the GRE quant section, what can you do? What else can you use?
Did you get really good grades in a bunch of quantitative classes in undergrad? That works!
Did you get really good grades in a bunch of quantitative classes in undergrad? That works!
Ack, but what if undergrad was a long time ago and you were an English major that only took one quantitative class and it was during your freshman year which was sort of bumpy and you got a B- in it? So no GREs, no compelling undergrad record with quant courses, what can you do??
Again, the answer is to figure out another way to show us (the admissions committee) that you can do quantitative work. Some ideas:
1) Take a math or stat class at a community college this summer and get an A in it.
1) Take a math or stat class at a community college this summer and get an A in it.
For icing on the cake, ask that course's instructor to write you a letter of rec and ask them to emphasize that you were a great student that can tackle quantitative and methodological challenges! For tips: on getting letters of recommendation, see: https://twitter.com/rwidome/status/1272923514174087171
2) Do you have work experience that would highlight your quantitative abilities and track record? Tell us about that in your essay. Again, you can ask a recommender who can comment on that to highlight it. It helps to have this corroborated in a few places in your application.
3) Perhaps you've done some quantitative work that has resulted in some products like a report or an article in a peer-reviewed journal? Great! Include that as an attachment in your application and talk specifically about how you did the analysis in your personal statement.
In summary, yes you can gain admissions to our program (a masters-level program in a quant area at a top 10 school) and others like it without stunning GREs. But if you can't show the admissions committee good GREs, you should plan *now* how to display your skills in another way.
A couple postscripts...
1) In a few weeks I plan to do a thread on applying to our epi MPH program. So stay tuned!
2) I used quantitative skills as an example here. In our epi MPH program we also need to see good verbal/writing skills. So same applies, you'll need to show us!
1) In a few weeks I plan to do a thread on applying to our epi MPH program. So stay tuned!
2) I used quantitative skills as an example here. In our epi MPH program we also need to see good verbal/writing skills. So same applies, you'll need to show us!
Also, thanks @kathrynS_E for suggesting this thread topic!
