<p>I don’t want to seem too ignorant in this post. I am currently doing my undergrad app process (Ivy/T20), but my boyfriend, a current 2nd semester soph at a great undergrad school, is interested in Divinity School. I want to help him find more info on graduate school as a whole, now that that is in the picture, but I don’t really know where to begin.</p>
<p>I figured since I was super prepped for my SAT/ACT, I would look into testing for grad school admissions…so what exactly is the GRE, what is a good score, and how much prep goes into taking it? Anything else we need to know?</p>
<p>As always, thank you so much for your help.</p>
<p>you could sort of describe the GRE as the SAT on steroids… it’s a computer-adaptive test, so you can’t skip questions and the questions change difficulty level depending upon how you’re doing.
A good score really depends upon the field, but suffice it to say that below a 1000 (which is right around the 50th percentile) and very few grad schools will even consider you regardless of field. In the most competitive fields, a 1200-1300 (roughly around the 80th percentile) would be necessary to get your application through the door.
The GRE is made up of a verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing sections, and while it matters for grad school, a good score won’t get you in, although a bad score can definitely keep you out.</p>
<p>I hear that Vanderbilt is topnotch for divinity programs. At any rate, the GRE is not as big of a deal in graduate admissions as the SAT was during undergrad admissions. Many programs do not require GRE scores while others will put vanishingly small emphasis on them if they do require them. Furthermore, some programs require more specialized tests such as subject GREs which address a more specific body of knowledge. </p>
<p>I don’t think that you are wrong for trying to get information for your boyfriend about this, but he might have better luck if he tries speaking to current graduate students in a divinity program directly. They will have recently been through the process and can give him more relevant information than strangers on an online forum board could. This is the kind of thing that department administrators are great for- just have him explain the situation and see if he can get the email addresses of current students in their divinity program.</p>