Wondering about PHD admissions

Applying to College
1

<p>Here is the situation: I have 2 MA’s one in history and one in political science. I am working on a third in Public/digital history. I have decided to apply to a grad school of some repute in Massachusetts. I have the following. 1. great recommendations, 2. a GPA of about 3.8 or higher. I have 7 years of college teaching behind me and I am dribbling into my 40s. I know that this is a major commitment. I have already been through a PHD program but was unable to finish due to life’s circumstances. The problem is that I have to take the GRE and it has been 10 years since I took the last one. I don’t think there will be any change in that score which was not stellar.</p>

<p>I would like to see what the general opinion is about getting into a graduate program given the above situation and no so stellar GRE scores.</p>

2

<p>You should ask this question in the Grad School Forum. Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen, and then scroll down to find it.</p>

<p>The GRE is an eminently prep-able exam. If you have the time and money, you could enroll in a class at Kaplan, Princeton Review, or any local tutoring company. If you don’t want to do that, read up on the Xiggi Method <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html&lt;/a&gt; and then do your prep on your own at home.</p>

3

<p>Different programs use the GRE scores differently. In general, an English or history program will not care what your math score is, and a math dept. is unlikely to worry about a low verbal score (unless those scores are REALLY low.) Humanities and soft social sciences depts. tend to be skeptical of the GRE because it cannot test what makes for high-level success in those disciplines. Math-y departments take the GRE with a grain of salt because it doesn’t really go much beyond high school geometry, which is obviously not what you need for those fields. OTOH, though the GRE is not as important as the SAT, a high score will certainly do you no harm and may qualify you for some fellowships. It’s worth preparing for the exam.</p>