I Would Be Well-Pleased

...if my performance on Friday's real GRE matched this morning's practice exam (computer-adaptive) using the Kaplan CD:

790 Q (95th percentile)
680 V (93rd percentile)

I also thought my response to the "Argument Essay" about the effects of building a small hotel on a little piece of the Youngtown Wildlife Preserve was a lot better than their top-scoring example response. (I know a thing or two or five hundred about this topic.) My "Issue Essay" on whether increasing violence in the media has led to increasing violence in society was solid enough. I would expect to get a 5 or 5.5 (out of 6) average for the writing section. I hope that the real essay topics are this friendly.

On Sunday, I did my first CAT and got 780 Q and 620 V. The verbal was low because I screwed up the first reading comprehension (partly from working way too quickly) and never got to see hard enough problems to bring the score up.

We'll see.

My two CAT average is 785 Q and 650 V for a combined 1435. This is a high enough score that even at the pyschology PhD admissions level, a higher score would not substantially improve my candidacy (as I understand how these things work). (It might, however, help with securing fellowship funding.) The average GRE score for all students admitted to psychology PhD programs is about 1200 (613 Q, 593 V).

My score would also meet/exceed the average scores of accepted students at each of the social psychology PhD programs I had been interested in:

Quantitative: average 684; range 633 - 740
Verbal: average 609; range 540 - 680
Combined: average 1285; range 1178 - 1420

Most marketing PhD programs require the GMAT, so I will be taking that later. But it's interesting to see the average GRE scores at some programs that do accept the GRE and that I'm right in there:

Univ. of So. California: 786 Q, 626 V = 1412 combined

Univ. of Colorado: 1404 combined

Ohio State: 763 Q, 587 V = 1350 combined

Univ. of Florida: 1410 combined

Univ. of California - Berkeley: 800 Q, 660 V = 1460 combined

Texas A&M: 730 Q, 596 V = 1326 combined

Univ. of Minnesota: "recommends" 1380+ combined

Univ. of California - Irvine: 1300+ combined "for competitive application"

Univ. of California - Los Angeles: 790 Q, 650 V = 1440 combined

Univ. of Iowa: 793 Q, 670 V = 1463 combined

Marketing programs appear to be like economics programs in that they want to see very high Q scores and care rather less about the V score. (The average GRE scores at the top 6 US economics PhD programs are 785 Q and 575 V. I meet the Q score and exceed the V.)

This being said, I wouldn't mind getting a terrifically high score. But I'm getting comfortable with the idea that a score around 1400 - 1450 would be perfectly acceptable. That's where my scores appear to be falling (n = 3).

Fortunately I am not counting on a mega-high GRE score to compensate for other weaknesses in my profile.

Oh, by the way, masters programs typically accept people with average GRE scores around 1000, so I have no immediate worries. I just want to get a score that is both not embarrassing and that I could report to PhD programs later. (The score for not embarrassing = score for marketing PhD programs > score for psych PhD programs, probably.)

The good news for you, my readers, is that after Friday's exam, when I give my test a post-mordem, you will not have to read about GRE scores for a while (unless I bomb it so bad I have to retake it, and barring medical emergency, this seems unlikely). I know that I will enjoy not having to think about this damned test.