<p>I just took the GRE and BOMBED It.
I don’t know what happened, I completely blanked and got 680/520 Q/V. AWA scores not out yet. I was consistently scoring 790-800 Q on all practice tests and would finish with more than 5 minutes left.</p>
<p>IF I can get a spot to re-take the test by Dec 1st or 2nd, most schools will be able to see the new scores before the deadline. But for some reason, the spots for taking tests are all full up until Jan. at the two test centers that are within my geographical range, although some people cancel and spots open - but this is not guaranteed. Why they can’t just add more computers at these test centers if the demand is so high?
Assuming that I don’t get a spot in time, have I just completely ****** myself over? Is there a cut-off mark where they just don’t consider you regardless of well the rest of your application is?</p>
<p>Why didn’t I take it earlier? Well I’m in Canada and didn’t even think of going to the states to do my masters until earlier this year, and we don’t need GREs here. I haven’t had time to prepare for it. Yeah, extremely poor planning on my part.</p>
<p>I have good GPA - 3.8/3.9 projected, very good references, very good related-extracurriculars, and I’m going to make damn sure my SOP is top notch.</p>
<p>I’m applying to Masters of ME at:
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
Michigan State
GATech
USC
Berkeley
Carnegie Melon</p>
<p>Any encouraging thoughts? Please share even they are discouraging. Thank you!</p>
<p>That’s really strange. Opposite situation happened with me. Was typically scoring around 600s in Q and 500s in verbal on practice tests. On the real thing, I ended up blanking out a lot (too much alcohol, not enough sleep). I completely guessed on over half of the questions on each of verbal and quantitative. But ended up scoring 100 points higher in each section (high 700s in Q, 600s in verbal). I’ve heard that the computer-based test is more lenient than the usual practice tests, and that’s why my scores were higher despite my shoddy effort on the real deal. I’m surprised that didn’t occur for you. Anyway, you didn’t really “bomb” it. Depending on your field, the GRE may not count very much as long as you come at least somewhat near the <em>preferred</em> minimum (some schools have strict minimums, but most just have preferred). In fact, you can get into top schools with bad GRE scores (e.g. average or worse) as long as the rest of the package is outstanding. If it’s not a field that would expect ultra-high verbal/quantitative/writing scores, then don’t sweat it. So I guess a relevant question to ask is, what’s your intended field?</p>
<p>Some schools will only consider your higher scores, so if you can retake and get a sufficiently high score, you’ll be fine. If you can guarantee such a score, the main problem then, is finding a test center. If there are no test centers you can safely travel to within a reasonable amount of time, then I guess the most sound thing to do would be to apply with these scores, see what happens, and if worse comes to worse, you can just try reapplying again next time with new scores, or else forget going down this path altogether. The choice is yours, young Padawan.</p>
<p>ALRIGHT GOOD NEWS!!
Incase anyone’s in the same boat as me, I just called stanford and MIT,and they told me there is leniency for GRE score submission past the regular submission deadline. I just booked a test for the 6th at the closest center to my house! </p>
<p>Now I just have to not blank out again on the exam. Anyone got any tips for generally not blanking on exams?</p>