AboutJay Cutts Expertise Preparation for LSAT, GRE, MCAT, GMAT. Personal statements, letters of recommendation, graduate application process, practice tests.
No Questions about Undergrad Admissions Please (unless you are planning to go to law, business, medical or grad school eventually).
Note that I change private questions to public so they are available to others. If you have something that is truly private, let me know.
Experience Over 18 years full time graduate entrance exam prep with over 1500 students nationally and internationally.
Education/Credentials BA, Linguistics with Honors and Distinction, University of Michigan
MA, Special Education with an Emphasis in Learning Disabilities and Giftedness, with Honors, University of New Mexico
Question Hello, I'm in the process of applying to graduate school. My overall GPA in undergrad is 3.57, however, I scored very low on the GRE. I would like to know if the admission's committees look at the other materials, such as statement of purpose and GPA over my poor GRE score? Also, I should state that I have already taken it two times, could one more time help? Or should start to create a back up plan just in case I am not accepted into any graduate school programs?
Thank you for your help.
Vanesa
Answer Hi, Vanessa.
You didn't say what your graduate field is, which can make some difference. You also didn't say what your GRE scores actually were.
In general the committees do look at the personal statement. However, the GPA and GRE score are usually the first barriers. If those are too low, they will not look further.
The balance of those factors varies from program to program. If you let me know what field and what your scores were, I can be a bit more specific.
It is possible to improve significantly on the GRE. I have been helping students do that for 18 years. If you have already worked on it on your own, you probably need some expert instruction to learn new strategies and new insights into the test.
Most commercial GRE prep programs are not terribly effective because the instructors usually have only a season or so of very part time experience teaching it, if that much. Although they did well on the test, they don't understand many of the underlying patterns of it, the specific strategies that a person who is not doing well needs to learn, or the tools for helping someone learn those strategies.
For more info on improving on the GRE, please see my site:
I have to add that it can take a good bit of time to make significant improvement on the test. It doesn't happen overnight. I've had some students make improvement in a month. Some have made very significant improvement in two months. Many people need longer than that.
Feel free to contact me directly about your plans and I'll see if I can make some suggestions for you.
