No school accepts me...???

[averageaverage]

Hi, this is the OP.
Again, thanks a lot for ideas you guys gave me. You guys are definitely so helpful!
Thanks a LOT!

So, My GRE turned out 390/770 , and I am wondering if I should take GRE again or not...
Even for international students, 390 V is pretty horrible, but I really don't want to retake it because I am afraid that my score could go down...
I haven't gotten analytical writing score, but I am pretty sure that I have done pretty well (if they don't take grammatical errors seriously)...

I am looking for 50-ish ranked PhD programs in the U.S., namely University of Washington would be one which I'll be so happy to go.

With near 4.0 GPA in Econ and Math, and two graduate level econ courses, is it realistic to get into any PhD program ranked 50th or so with funding?

I heard a lot of stories that students from Japan with sub-400 in V got into top departments. But they are from top Japanese Master's programs (like University of Tokyo), and I am getting just a Bachelor's and it's from a mediocre state university in the U.S.

Plus, my higher education is entirely done in the U.S., so I am afraid that adcoms look for higher scores... Most schools don't require TOEFL, so adcoms need to look for GRE score for my English...

I will be so grad if you guys could suggest me of how much possibility I have...

Thanks a lot!!!

[YoungEconomist]

Originally Posted by averageaverage

Even for international students, 390 V is pretty horrible, but I really don't want to retake it because I am afraid that my score could go down...
I haven't gotten analytical writing score, but I am pretty sure that I have done pretty well (if they don't take grammatical errors seriously)...

I am looking for 50-ish ranked PhD programs in the U.S., namely University of Washington would be one which I'll be so happy to go.

With near 4.0 GPA in Econ and Math, and two graduate level econ courses, is it realistic to get into any PhD program ranked 50th or so with funding?

My personal opinion is that your VGRE will not hurt you that much. I understand that 390 is not that great, but it also seems that econ departments place pretty low weight on that score. Furthermore, you said you want to go to a 50-ish ranked program, which means that it should matter even less. My advice would likely be different if you were aiming for only top 20 schools, as it seems that most schools of that caliber allow very little room for error on one's profile. Schools closer to 50 however, seem to usually allow a few "slip-ups." If the rest of your profile is solid, I don't think adcoms will sweat the 390 VGRE score that much.

Originally Posted by averageaverage

Plus, my higher education is entirely done in the U.S., so I am afraid that adcoms look for higher scores... Most schools don't require TOEFL, so adcoms need to look for GRE score for my English...

In my opinion this actually works to your advantage. If you were able to sit through college lectures in tough courses and still excel, then you must be able to understand english enough to sit through Econ PhD courses. I think the adcoms will see that your grasp of the english language is solid enough to enter their program.

If I was you, I'd even mention this in my SOP. Tell them something along the lines of, you didn't study much for the VGRE, you don't do well on standardized verbal tests, etc. Then say that you think your ability to succeed in english speaking college courses demonstrates/signals your ability to understand english well enough to excel in an Econ PhD program.

I mean, lets be honest, many domestic students in Econ PhD programs scored somewhere in the 400s. And these are people who have spoke and understood english their entire lives, and have generally excelled in all classes (including english classes, writing classes, etc).

[averageaverage]

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

My personal opinion is that your VGRE will not hurt you that much.

Yeah, I hope so... One of my professors in my school's adcom said that the verbal score is actually important when it comes to chose one candidate out of two who are on the border. Which might mean that they don't look at V score unless one is competing with some other equally qualified applicants for one seat. Anyways, at this point, I think that it is not a good idea to retake the GRE...

I emailed one of 1st year graduate students at 50ished ranked school, and was told they anyway don't know what set them apart from the other. And nobody knows how GRE affects admission so I should focus on something else (i.e. two grad level courses i will take this fall).

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

If I was you, I'd even mention this in my SOP. Tell them something along the lines of, you didn't study much for the VGRE, you don't do well on standardized verbal tests, etc. Then say that you think your ability to succeed in english speaking college courses demonstrates/signals your ability to understand english well enough to excel in an Econ PhD program.

Yeah, I never do well on standardized tests. I am usually the one who goes through questions really fast and go back to "refine" answers, especially in math. Or else, I can't really use time wisely...

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

I mean, lets be honest, many domestic students in Econ PhD programs scored somewhere in the 400s. And these are people who have spoke and understood english their entire lives, and have generally excelled in all classes (including english classes, writing classes, etc).

Yeah, we are basically one of top students at our own institution, and we never do below average in college. And I got a score which is well below average... It was pretty disappointing

But I think I should keep going and forget about the bad memory of this GRE test...

Thanks a lot!