Thursday, September 21, 2006

Short lived victory.

The GRE, also known as the Graduate Record Examination, also known as the Exam That Strips You of Your Humanity, is one of the most feared moments in a student's life. That and meeting your dorm roommates for the first time. Since I haven't had the luxury of dorm life, I had to settle with the torture, I mean, GRE.

I know that many people don't like talking about it...the GRE is The Dark Mark that no student even wants to think about, but I feel that I need to exorcise this frustration out of my system. Once and for all. Well, probably not once and for all, but, at least, get rid of a little.

I took the GRE on January of 2005. It didn't help that it was being held in some offices in an industrial section of the metro area. When I walked in to the test section, I felt like I had entered some top-secret branch of the military. All students sat at individual cubicles, cameras mounted on the edges, proctors would walk around to see if students were up to anything suspicious. I'm a hyperactive person, I can't sit still, much less when I'm taking a standardized exam, so I was told several times to stop making random movements. Nice.

After about 2-3 hours of sweaty palms and math problems left unanswered, I finished the exam. I left the building feeling like a fraud. I cried most of the way home, thinking that I was stupid and that my academic career was over.

When the results arrived, math was as low as expected, writing sample was good, and the verbal was above average. My final score was 840. :/ Which was actually pretty good. I had decimated my academic perception of myself all because I freaked out. Meh.

Now, a year later, I'm looking into PhD options. The school I'd like to go to requires the GRE results and I figured that I'd be okay with my scores. But then, I checked and the scores have to be less than two years old. x.x I'd be applying for entry for Fall '08. Does this mean I have to take the GRE again? I have to apply during fall '07 to get accepted though. Is there some sort of loophole I can take advantage of?

Shit. x.x

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should contact the school you're applying to, to make sure. My guess is that if you're applying in '07, then you're ok because your exam was taken within two years at the time of the application.

I took the GMAT (which is basically the same hell). If you need any tips on applying to a PhD program feel free to contact me. I made MANY mistakes and wouldn't want any one else repeating them.

Stella said...

Will do. I hope it does get accepted, I don't want to have to take any other standardized tests. Standardized tests = pain.

I'll definitely contact you for advice...I'm applying next year, but I'm starting to get info and such now because I want to be prepared for any curveballs ahead of time...

Viv said...

I would suggest that you contact the department and ask them too. What univ. and what program are you looking to apply to?

Stella said...

For now, I'm looking into Carnegie Mellon, Culture Studies. :)