Just wrote those mother fucking GRE's

[Nathan]

And it pretty much did not go well. I chose not to submit my scores so I have to write them again dammit. I started out expecting the verbal section but, oh no, the logic section smacks me upside the head which totally fazed me. I panicked for about 10 minutes and kept reading the same passage over and over again not having one word of it register in my head. I then got ahold of myself and was all, "Look at me go, I'm totally logical." It was too late though cause I had wasted too much time and was pretty much screwed for that section. I probably got 800 on the analytical cause it's easy and the logic usually is too but not this time cause of my panick attack. The verbal was better than I thought too. Too damn bad I screwed up the beginning. There goes $200 and 4 hours of my time. Ah well. Does any one know what I'm talking about?

[palme]

I have no idea, sorry your back $200 doh.

[TNT]

Originally posted by Nathan
Ah well. Does any one know what I'm talking about?

Afraid I do, but at both of the grad schools I went to, our motto was, "GRE's? We don' need no stinkin' GRE's."

(For the uninitiated, the GRE is the Graduate Record Exam, which is used by some graduate schools for admission. There are both general and focused-subject GRE's, and some undergrad colleges grant credit for the subject exams.)

[Vegas Kid]

Yes I know what you're talking about and you probably did better than you think. It's not a waste of $200 cuz at least you learned from it.

Wait till you get your score and if you can't get in anywhere you want then take it again.

Where are you applying for anyways?

[Nathan]

I'm going for astrophysics. I want to apply to some ivy leagues like Harvard and Stanford cause my marks are high and I have good work experience and have published work but I'm still not sure and even if I get in I don't know if I can afford it. Maybe Berkeley and Columbia. Don't know really. Wouldn't mind living on either the East or West coasts. That was the other thing though, you have to know where you want to go to get them to send your scores there when you take the test but i don't know yet so it was probably for the better.

[cube]

hey nathan, its been 3 years since i took the gre and i was just wondering if it had changed since you talk about the logic, verbal and analytical sections. what happened to the math (quant) section? anyways, don't sweat the gre. there's nothing wrong with taking it again. since your doing astrophysics there's no need to study the verbal section - if you're doing a math related subject the entrance committee's don't pay much attention to it. go ask some engineering grad students how they did on the verbal i had trouble studying for the logic (analytical) section too. i just did hundreds of sample problems till i got the hang of it. there are a lot of test strategy books out there and they helped me a lot with the analytical section. maybe you could give one of them a go. good luck with the retake.

[Nathan]

I actually do very well in the verbal and analytic (math). It's rpetty easy and straight forward. It's just the verbal which I figured wasn't too important. i just freaked out a bit is all.

[sp9]

Hey guys, I just finsihed my undergrad yesterday at the University of Maryland - Business and Computer Science. I start an MBA on the 5th of September. For old people like me the GRE isn't usually required, just a decent GPA. Most adult type schools think that the GRE is a poor measure of potential performance for working adults (what I have heard about us old folks).

Anyway I am not going to a big school, just something geared towards working professionals. maybe you have heard of it, they get into the NCAA basketball tournament every once in a while as a 16 seed. Located near Camp David - Mount Saint Mary's College.

Go Nathan! Get into the best school you can and go, go ,go.

[Nathan]

That's awesome Scott. Sounds liek you have quite the future.
Thanks guys. I'm sure I'll do better. I have anxiety problems and they got me this time even though it isn't the general GRE's that matter so much it's the subject specific GRE's that count more. Hope I get through them.

[jeffylyte]

GRE is not the most important thing for grad school anyway. Recommendations are. Just get good recs and your set. by good I mean people who are known personally by the departments your trying to get into. Thats how I got to the #1 department in my field for PhD and now Ivy league for postdoc.

Piece of advice. Dont just go to the best. Go where you feel comfortable and get along with the people and you like the work. In Astrophys your doing PhD work for a long time (Ive known people in grad school 10years). If you like it at MIT or Stanford, go. but dont just assume that the name means its peaches.

Just my experience