shedding light on the general subject test...

[Elisabeth]

I'm taking the GRE on Friday afternoon and although I've taken the prep class and have studied, I loathe standardized tests and am to the point where I'm still going to study, but I don't care and just want the damn thing to be over. So I put forth the question to those who've been through this all before, just how important is a good GRE score, and what range should I shoot for. I'm going for low to mid 600s in verbal--we shall see...and I know that every school places varying amounts of emphasis on the GRE, I'm just asking in general. :-s

Of course, I plan on drinking heavily on Friday night regardless of my score...yes, a healthy way to deal with stress...:b:

 

[Seabishop]

I don't remember my score, but it wasn't that great, and my school didn't care.

 

[Repo Man]

I did good on all but the math part...I ran out of time and guessed on about 10 questions. I guess I would recommend reading each question two or three times and look for tricks or key phrases that may help you out. If you don't know the answer, you can usually easily eliminate a few choices to make guessing more accurate.

I think that a lot of schools just want you to take it and don't put a huge emphasis on the score (unless you really blow it). My alma mater actually admited students on probation who hadn't taken it. You just had to take it within 1 year. Since I don't think that planning school admissions are going through the roof, I would assmume the scores won't carry a great deal of weight.

 

[Planderella]

I don't think they are all that important in the grand scheme of things. Since I attended the same university for undergrad, my admission into the graduate school wasn't soley based on my GRE score. The university gives returning students at least 3 semesters to take the GRE. Needless to say, I waited until the 3rd semester to take it.

 

[Cardinal]

I never studied or practiced for it. I simply showed up the day of the test and took it. I probably should have studied some, as I missed one of the questions in the verbal part of the test. Overall score, 2170.

 

[OhioPlanner]

Your grades and quality of undergraduate degree are much more important than GRE scores.

GRE's are just an indicator. I teach at a university and we only pay attention if they are really low or really high. They are helpful in evaluating students who may be marginal in terms of GPA.

The GRE's are definately nothing to get too stressed out over.

 

[JNA]

probably not too important,
can not remember,
If I took it, or what my score was,
any way that was 15 yrs ago.

 

[Dharmster]

This is especially true if you are applying for a urban planning program at the masters level.

I remember doing some research back when I was looking into schools about a decade ago. Back then, the Guide to Graduate Programs in Urban & Regional Planning used to list the number of applicants in addition to the number admitted (and those that enrolled). Looking through the Guide it was clear that only a handful of programs could be considered competetive, and the vast majority of urban planning programs admit the majority of their applicants. At the Ph.D. level, however, things are quite a bit more selective even in planning.

Generally speaking, you only really have to worry about GREs if you are applying to a competetive field. The more competetive fields do use standardized tests to weed out applicants. I had a friend who, for example applied to Ph.D. programs in applied economics/business administration and she took two weeks off from work to study for it because if you didn't do well you simply wasn't going to get into any of the competetive schools she applied to.

The GRE's are definately nothing to get too stressed out over.

 

[H]

Good luck to you.

As far as what to shoot for, most schools post their minimum (if there is one) on their web site and/or catalog.

:b: