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 I'm graduated last spring with a BA in Psychology and Cognitive Science and I'm just about ready to take the GRE. I'll be applying to PHD programs in both Psych and Cog Sci. I'm wondering how important the essay section of the GREs is? In all of my research, I never come across a graduate program that even mentions that section. Where as some schools list various GRE statistics for the verbal and math sections, no one ever says anything about the essay. I would be quite happy to find out that it is reletively unimportant. Thank you very much for your help.
Answer You're right. It is pretty unimportant to most schools. They usually expect that you get at least an average score on it and if your score is very low, they may have some questions about your English ability.
It is possible to learn what the essay is looking for. I discuss it in my program.
