Ph.D. in French History

crcussen
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:45:19 +0000

Greetings,

I am applying to a number of strong research institutions for Ph.D. in French history (Brown, NYU, Duke, etc) and a few “safety schools.” My undergrad gpa is 3.83 (major gpa is 4.0) and my M.A. gpa at another institution is 4.0 and I have written a M.A. thesis (not quite finished). I have numerous awards and fellowships, including international study in Paris (I am near fluent in French, and read both German and Spanish). My one hang-up is GRE, which falls well below what most prgrams are looking for. My verbal is particularly weak falling in the mid 400s (I know, its bad…), but my writing was decent. I’ve taken the test numerous times, and for w/e reason I haven’t done well. My LOR’s are from strong people in my field who are quite established, and I have contacts in most of the departments I am applying. Are my low GRE’s a deal breaker for getting accepted? Many thanks.