I hope you all have a great weekend. I'm off camping for the weekend with 8 other friends at Silver Lake (near Hell, MI.) and plan to have a blast (if my hay fever doesn't kill me).
What are you all doing?
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
We were thinking about Salt Lake, but Jeff's grandma is busy all weekend, so that's out. We also considered Santa Barbara or Flagstaff, but, um, forgot to talk to my relatives who live those places, so we're not going there either.
So tomorrow we're going to a movie and leaving the girls with my mom (w00t!) and then Monday we're probably going to the Picnic at Descanso (which is special because food is usually not allowed inside the Gardens except at the cafeteria and the Japanese Tea House.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I wish my weekend was all fun. I've got the GRE tomorrow afternoon though. After that though, it's party time (at least until Monday when it might be homework-time again).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by pfresh85: I wish my weekend was all fun. I've got the GRE tomorrow afternoon though. After that though, it's party time (at least until Monday when it might be homework-time again).
posted
I'm going to New Orleans tomorrow to see my boyfriend. We're long-distance right now while I'm in school and even though I saw him only two weeks ago, I won't see him again til late October so I'm grabbing this opportunity.
Its his roommate's birthday and they're throwing him a party which will also be part home-warming. Its their first chance to show off their swanky new apartment to everyone not from the area.
Then Sunday its just the two of us. Monday I drive home to spend some time with parents and hear my dad's stories from the wedding (one of my cousins got married.) Then Tuesday its back up to school in time for my Dostoevsky class at 5pm.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm currently taking a break from schoolwork, which I will be working on for all (well, hopefully not all) day, because I'm going to DragonCon Sunday and Monday.
Posts: 1547 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
We were so busy last night we had to call in one of our superpeople at 0430, and now I have to come in tonight even though they were supposed to let me stay home. I should have gone to college.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
What really matters are the percentile and the intended discipline. If you want to go into a good school of something mathematically oriented, an 800 or near it is necessary on the quantitative, but that can drop off significantly as the field gets less mathematically oriented. I don't know what good English programs require, but I imagine its in the area of 650 on up (my 800 on the quantitative was only 92nd percentile; my recent 770 on the verbal was 99th percentile -- 650 is probably around 92nd percentile is my guess). There are fewer programs that could be called 'English-oriented', so its rare to need a really high verbal score for admittance.
I think schools care a bit less about scoring at the top of analytical, but would like them to score not near the bottom. Of course you won't know what you received, yet, but anything above 60th percentile or so should be fine (people also tend to score well on that, though, so my recent six was a 96th percentile, and a 60th percentile is likely a 4 or 4.5).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well I have my scores for verbal and quantitative but not analytical. Since the GRE's done on computers now, it gives your scores on the parts it can after you're done. Compared to my SAT score, my quantitative went up a bit and my verbal went down a bit. I'm just wondering if graduate history programs are going to be confused that I did really well in the quantitative but not as high in verbal.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Karl- I had no idea you were selling your house.
Hmm- tomorrow is my b-day. I'll take the kids to church/work while hubby makes cheesecake, come home for cheesecake and his terrific chili verde. Monday we are having a Star Trek/b-day party. There will be much alcohol involved ( 'ritas, Romulan Ale, beer...)and grilling of dead critters. Also much watching of Star Trek as I happen to know I am getting the entire TNG on DVD for my present. Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
You probably did better on the verbal than you did on the quantitative. The scores are not directly comparable. My scores are from this summer, so your percentile scale should be about the same. If you share the scores (or the range of the scores) I can likely comment a little on them, I did a fair bit of research when I took the GRE.
However, just that you're interested in history grad school tells me plenty: your scores matter very little, except not doing too badly. At least a 5 on the analytical would be nice, but not essential. History's a field that's not heavily correlated with any of the scoring areas, so a generally decent performance is plenty to keep you under consideration.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm not going to share exact numbers as I'm always afraid of people judging me based on some number off some test. I will talk about it other terms though (although I'm going to use math since I'm tired of typing quantitative). On my SAT, I did really well on both the math and verbal sections (my verbal was 20 points higher than my math, but both were fairly high). On the GRE (compared to my SAT), my math went up a bit, and my verbal went down a bit (down more than the math went up). My math score on the GRE is really good, while my verbal is just so-so. Most people would think a history major would be the other way around, but then I'm not a typical history major. Math and science have been the stuff that I've always been really good at (and which comes naturally). I do well (anywhere from a bit above average to a lot above average) on everything else, but it's nowhere near my math and science skills.
The analytical is hard to tell as far as score. I won't know my score on it until they mail it to me. I would expect to get a 6 mostly likely on the second essay, but as for the first I'm really not sure. Both topic options for the first were not very good, and while I know I'm a good writer, it was hard to make a really airtight argument for either topic. I did my best though, and so I'd assume to do fairly well on it.
I tried looking into what sort of scores are average for people going to graduate school in history. Unfortunately I can't really find many statistics. My GPA is really good at the moment, so maybe they will take that into account when going over my application. I guess it's a wait and see type thing. I had my GRE scores sent to four schools (Rice University, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Oklahoma). Those are the four I'm applying to and the ones I hope to get into. I guess we'll see though.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
You might try to check the history department websites of the schools you're interested in - some programs compile scores to show the average/median score of people applying and of those accepted to the program.
As fugu said, you can't directly compare the SAT & GRE scores, just the percentiles. A 600 on the verbal section of the SAT is much worse than a 600 on the verbal section of the GRE, since far more people can score a 600 on the SAT than on the GRE Math is *roughly* the same, I think, in that about 5-10% of the people taking the test are maxing out at 800.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've checked the history department websites at the schools I'm interested in. Either they don't say anything (other than you need to send them your GRE scores) or they say "we look for competitive GRE scores." Neither is very informative.
As for percentiles, I probably won't know the exact ones until I get my scores. I'd estimate that my math one though was probably in the 90th percentile. Verbal I'm really not sure; I could be in the 80's or the 90's. It just depends on how everyone else did comparatively. I guess we'll see though.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm studying. And maybe painting my foyer. But that's only if I really feel like it.
Oh, and shopping for new dining room chairs. I inherited a nice, not-quite-antique table and sideboard and china cabinet a few years ago but the chairs were not original, they had been lost or ruined or something. I bought replacement chairs that were cheap and they've fallen apart. I now want to replace the replacements with some sturdy, well built ladder-back chairs that I can slipcover in a washable fabric to keep them looking nice.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
pfresh: your verbal score on the GRE is better than your quantitative. Based on your description, I can pretty much guarantee that. My recent 800 quantitative was only a 92nd percentile, while my 770 verbal was a 99th percentile, so unless your verbal score is over 150 points lower than your quantitative, its probably at least as high a percentile (and likely higher).
Unless you got a 780 or above, you're not in the 90th percentile quantitative (and I bet even a 790 is 88th percentile or something). Don't sweat it, a history program isn't going to care except that you did at least okay (550 or above on the quantitative should satisfy them).
On the verbal, a 650 on up would be a pretty good score (and quite possibly 90th percentile). You can be pretty competitive for admission with a score as low as 500.
Your GPA matters a lot more than your GRE. What courses you took matters a lot more than your GPA. What your recommendation letters say matters a lot more than what courses you took. Are you interested in a PhD or a masters?
edit: of course, a lot of these matter a lot if they're very negative, but so long as they're within acceptable ranges the ordering generally applies.
posted
This advice isn't true for all fields though, fugu, so be careful about drawing generalizations. In econ, GRE Quant is a *huge* deal. If you don't get a 770 or above, you can pretty much kiss goodbye any chance of getting into a top school.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Percentile-wise, you're probably right fugu. As for what I'm interested in, I'm more interested in a Ph.D. program than a master's one. In fact, Rice and SMU don't really have a master's program for history; it's just straight Ph.D.
My GPA is pretty good (or at least I'd assume a 3.9 would be pretty good). Course-wise, I've taken a wide variety of upper level history courses, so I think that would be a positive. I need to start digging for recommendation letters though. I know one professor who will write me a really good one for sure, but I need to find at least two others (since most of these programs ask for three letters). So I guess that's my next step in this process.
To be honest, I'm not really sure I want to go to graduate school. I'm pretty positive that I just want to go straight into teaching. Since I'm not 100% sure though, I'm trying to keep as many options open as I can.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Even there I would say the advice is generally true, just the notion of 'very negative' changes to include anything below 770, but yes, in some fields GRE scores (rarely more than one of the three) matter a lot more than others.
I wouldn't worry, your GRE scores sound perfectly fine for history programs.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Let us all celebrat this day as a giant step towards the success of the international workers movement.
IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[The Wave]](graemlins/thewave.gif)
