Lopsided GRE score and grad school apps: great verbal, terrible quant!

February 9, 2016 4:29 PM

I'm currently applying for master's degrees in public policy or disability studies, and two of three schools I'm applying to required the GRE. None of them stated a minimum score, but I'm stressing out about it right now after receiving my scores this morning. They turned out to be incredibly lopsided; my verbal score was 163 (92nd percentile), my analytical writing score was 5.5 (98th pecentile)...and my quant score was 142 (12th percentile). How should I offset this?

I have a few disabilities (most of which are related to autism, like issues with working memory and auditory processing), and it's really hard for me to do timed math tests with the exception of applied math classes. Generic algebra and geometry are actually HARDER for me than classes like statistics. Case in point: my math grades were all all over the alphabet in high school (though they probably averaged out to the 'C+' range), but I made an A in one of my undergrad stats classes and a B- in the other. (I would have done better in the second class had I had testing accommodations, didn't have to memorise formulae, and was in a classroom with better acoustics.) I took the GRE without accommodations--I didn't think I had the time or ability to provide the information that ETS required to grant me accommodations. This was fine for the verbal side, where I don't have any kind of disability, but it was disastrous for the math section. I am seriously convinced that I have dyscalculia, though I don't have a diagnosis for it.

I feel my chances may be otherwise good: I have a 3.52 GPA from a top-30 undergrad school (though my cumulative GPA is higher because I transferred from a community college where I had a 3.8), a lot of related work experience, an academic conference presentation, and strong letters of recommendation. I also know several people (either students, faculty or alumni) connected to every single school I'm applying to. But I just can't get past this terrible math GRE! Should I explain it away in the 'additional information' section on the application, or just hope my grades offset it?

I'd consider retaking, but my application deadline is in a few weeks and I don't have the time to retake the test in time, and I don't think I have another $200 lying around to take the test yet again.

posted by Elephanzee to Education (21 answers total)

I'm in a very similar boat to you - lopsided scores and application recently submitted anyways - so I don't have any proven advice to give, but the admissions person I spoke to at my proposed school advised me that it takes a LOT of studying to improve your GRE scores, and cramming again to take them a month or two from now won't do much good. Assuming you weren't ill/overly sleep-deprived, retaking the test (in the short term) doesn't seem worth it.

Otherwise, from what you describe, your application sounds solid :)

Oh and I'm in a STEM field, so I was super bummed about lower quant scores
posted by Drosera at 4:45 PM on February 9, 2016

How were your SAT or ACT math scores? If they were similarly grim, you could make a case on your additional information section that your performance on math standardized tests isn't indicative of your ability to handle quantitative information, as indicated by your performance in stats classes. I probably wouldn't explain why you only got a B- in your second stats class. A B- in an intermediate or upper-level stats class isn't particularly bad.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:04 PM on February 9, 2016

Address this in your essay, directly: 'although calculus classes were difficult, I excelled in two statistics classes. My gre math score is on the low end, but I believe my demonstrated strengths will serve me well in a public health program'
posted by Dashy at 6:05 PM on February 9, 2016

Neither of those programs are super math-intensive, and you have the grades to prove that you can work to achieve in math classes, anyways.

I really don't think that one section of a test that is a pretty small component of your application is going to make a big difference. Besides, magoosh estimates that 25% of Harvard's public administration admits score a 152 or less, so I'd relax and count on the strength of the rest of your application.

Are you mentioning your disability anywhere in your application for the disability studies programs? If that's the case, you could drop something in about struggling with math tests.
posted by R a c h e l at 6:07 PM on February 9, 2016

If you have a documented learning disability, then you should provide that documentation as part of your application and address your quantitative strengths in the application itself.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:14 PM on February 9, 2016

Response by poster: @ArbitraryAndCapricious - I can't remember what my SAT math score was; I haven't taken the SAT in twelve years. I did take the ACT more recently, though; I think I earned a 25 on the math, and a 30-something on the verbal.

@Dashy - I never took calc! It wasn't ever required of me. I took Intermediate Algebra and the two statistics classes that I mentioned. Those grades were a B, an A and a B-, respectively.

@r a c h e l, Public Policy degrees do contain a few economics and stats classes, but I did an admissions webinar for one of the schools I'm looking at (in fact, my top choice), and a student said that they're really accessible for people with non-math backgrounds. (And again, statistics is not my issue, especially since both stats classes I took were directly relevant to my field of study--I took Stats for Behavioural Sciences and Quantitative Research Methods. The latter is basically statistics by another name. :P) The kind of math I have problems with tends to be, well, the kind of contrived word problems you find in high-school math textbooks (or the GRE, SAT and ACT). I am mentioning my disability on all the applications, because I specifically want to go into disability policy, and my top-choice school has an institute that is specifically focused on disability policy. The other one has a disability studies track within a more interdisciplinary master's, and the last one is a fellowship that is entirely disability-centric.
posted by Elephanzee at 6:19 PM on February 9, 2016

If you look at this table, your quant score is closer to the 32nd percentile for Public Administration applicants, and similar for most fields in the Education category (is that how you'd classify disability studies?). The averages are really skewed by more quantitative fields.

Do any of the departments or universities that you're applying to list minimum GRE scores? If you're below that threshold, then you have to explain somewhere. Otherwise, I would probably not worry about it, unless it does come up naturally in your letter.
posted by ecsh at 6:20 PM on February 9, 2016

Response by poster: @DarlingBri, I don't have documentation for a specific LD (just autism), but I may be able to contact my undergraduate institution's accommodations office to see if they still have my old paperwork. A former psychiatrist of mine wrote a letter explaining to them what my specific difficulties were. As an adult, neuropsych testing for an LD would be expensive, though I've had accommodations for math for a long time. I'm just thinking of the best way to explain it when I've got good grades on the transcript next to this laughable GRE quant score.
posted by Elephanzee at 6:23 PM on February 9, 2016

Response by poster: ecsh - Thanks, that's really helpful! I do agree that it is probably skewed more by all the people planning to study engineering, physics, pure math, economics and other quant-heavy subjects. My score still falls below most (or all) the means for each subject listed, but my verbal score and writing scores are well *above* the mean, creating that lopsided effect I referred to in the title. It does, however, look less dramatic than it did on the GRE website once you take out all the STEM people. I don't realistically expect myself to score as well on the test as an engineer or economist who lives and breathes math.

None of them lists a minimum GRE score. One doesn't even REQUIRE it if an applicant's undergraduate GPA is above a certain threshold (which mine definitely is; the cutoff was 3.2 or something). The two that do require a GRE don't specify a minimum score.
posted by Elephanzee at 6:44 PM on February 9, 2016

See pm.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 6:44 PM on February 9, 2016

You're trying to draw conclusions on the basis of incomplete information.

You can ask

Should I explain it away in the 'additional information' section on the application, or just hope my grades offset it?

but shouldn't try to answer without having more information about:

1) what role(s) math plays in disability studies and/or public policy

and

2) what role GRE scores play in graduate admissions.

To answer #1: go to an academic library and spend an afternoon flipping through journals. People that "do" public policy and disability--do they use a lot of math when they write about what they do?

To answer #2: call the programs you're interested in. Speak to someone in admissions. Say to him or her what you say here. Listen, query, get feedback...

...and get more complete information
posted by BadgerDoctor at 6:58 PM on February 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Generally, public policy deals with some econ and some stats, and apparently a lot of it is done using software anyway. It's definitely not like GRE math with 'find the perimeter of a 30-60-90 triangle' or 'calculate the volume of a random shape' or solving for f(x) by solving a system of quadratic equations.
posted by Elephanzee at 7:18 PM on February 9, 2016

I'd look into getting a diagnosis so you can get accommodation either for the GRE or for your new grad program. You have an issue, and you deserve some reasonable accommodation for it. I did cram for the math GRE and it did improve my score.
posted by Kalmya at 7:23 PM on February 9, 2016

I was able to improve my math score from the 60th percentile to the 94th percentile with (fairly heavy) study over the course of 2 months. It's always an option.
posted by zug at 7:43 PM on February 9, 2016

You'll absolutely need to explain this to a top program, they will have one quant person on the admission committee. Or someone who thinks they are a quant and is all "but what about teh p value". There is always one.

I would explain your disability, attach any documentation you can at all and say you plan to retake the GRE with accommodation. Even if its past the deadline, they can give you a contingent spot. Then do whatever it takes to retake the GRE asap and show significant improvement. You don't probably need to get over the 50th percentile for your program, even 30-40th would likely be fine with your documented disability and proven ability to do well in the classes plus the total irrelevance of GRE math to graduate studies. But you probably need to do better than 12th to get into a top program, realistically.

I'm the opposite, I ace stats classes then struggle to apply it to real world problems. I'd rather be you to be honest.
posted by fshgrl at 8:21 PM on February 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would not address it at all; you have a decent overall score and it sounds like a great admissions package (work experience, conference presentation, good GPA, and good rec letters? You're a professional program's dream). GRE is one small part of an overall admissions package, especially in programs that do not have published minimums.

Admissions committees don't want to hear "you see, what had happened was" (which is not what you're doing, but it's going to sound like that to someone, no matter what you do); they want to hear that you're a good fit for the program and about what you're going to bring to the program. So don't even mention it; focus on your work experience, research, etc. and what you will add to the program and how the program will help advance your goals so you can contribute to the field. Focus on the positives and the strength of your overall package.

(Source: college professor, college advisor, (though not your advisor or professor), got into a masters program - with funding - with a much more blemished record than you! :) And I've watched plenty of folks go through the grad school application wringer in the last several years... including a friend who got funded in a phd in the social sciences with your math score.)
posted by joycehealy at 8:24 PM on February 9, 2016 [4 favorites]

I think it's going to depend on what grad schools you're applying to. For instance, you're coming from a top-30 undergrad; if you're also applying to top-30 grad schools, the unusually low GRE math score probably won't sink you, especially given your circumstances. But if you're aiming for top-5 grad schools, fshgrl is describing the more realistic situation.
posted by serelliya at 12:04 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

My GRE scores were similarly lopsided. Didn't hurt a thing for my MBA program, which also included econ and stats.

How competitive is your program? Sometimes as long as the cumulative score hits the minimum, you're good.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:01 AM on February 10, 2016

My scores weren't as lopsided as yours, but still pretty lopsided (98th percentile verbal, 55th quant). My advisor at the time suggested that this could actually be a positive. Most men have higher quant than verbal, so your lack of balance suggests that your mind works in a different way than most of your peers. In grad admissions, where a lot of applicants are highly qualified, that could be something that stands out for you. It didn't work for me, but the rest of my credentials weren't as good as yours, either.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:36 AM on February 10, 2016

As someone else said, it depends on the program. I am all verbal and terrible quant, and I ended up applying to MPA programs instead of public policy because a lot of the policy programs require decent quant scores.
posted by anotheraccount at 9:26 AM on February 10, 2016

Response by poster: I got in! (And I should have updated this about a month ago, ahahahah.)
posted by Elephanzee at 8:53 PM on April 16, 2016 [2 favorites]