(no subject)

[katekat]

It's over.  The belief that I can do math unaided.   I had faint hope - but it was dashed today. [ side note - dashed was not in my online dictionary... it is now, but how weird is that? ]

On the up side, apparently I'm not half bad at this lit/language stuff.  Thank god.  Otherwise I would have had to drop this whole academic endeavor (and give up my pretensions to some kind of brainy-ness).


Quantitative:  560  (Tyler, DON'T LAUGH)
Verbal:  720
The "written" portion I won't find out about for a couple of weeks.


I drove outside Austin today for the first time.  Of course it was for the GRE so I didn't really get to look around San Antonio.  But hey, I made it outside of the city!  San Antonio looks like every other major city that has freeways. I didn't drive through any of the pretty parts, or so I've been given to understand.   Luckily I had a fantastic phone conversation with D. on my way back when I got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.  Had a belated breakfast once I got there and generally ignored most of my scholastic duties until 8ish, when I assembled my packets for Grad School references.  It's all beginning.  GAH!

Comments

[sonder.livejournal.com]

sil took the GRE's last week.

[katekat]

i know! she probably rocked them much harder than i.

[sonder.livejournal.com]

She scored average on math and above average on everything else. She was really concerned about the math.

She actually took a couple week long refresher course.

I told her (in my useful helpful way) "I don't know the answer to those questions, and I'm an ENGINEER. So don't sweat it."

[sonder.livejournal.com]

Plus, no one can do advanced math unaided. That's a myth.

This si why we invented calculators. Unless you are some kind of crazy idiot savant, we made machines TO DO IT FOR US.

[katekat]

it wasn't advanced math, it was figuring out area and crap. i just get impatient and annoyed and don't work things out properly.

but yes, this is why we invented calculators. And seriously, it's not like I've used these kinds of math in the last 10 years, so that whole "you'll use it when you get older" thing is utter crap.

[gray-ghost.livejournal.com]

The 560 is fine I think for someone in the liberal arts. If you score TOO high - they might start to be suspicious of you.

[katekat]

well, Duke's median scores for the last 10 years of admissions to their lit department averages quantative at 631, so I don't think I'm that crazy to be worried. Course their verbal average is only 634, and I knocked that out of the park....

[that_mireille]

A 560 is *not* a bad score on the quantitative, hon. *hugs you* You did extremely well on the verbal, you're applying to liberal arts/humanities-type programs, and you did acceptably on the math. (When was the last time you took a mathematics class? Not GRE review, but an actual math course?)

*hugs you* As long as your math scores are reasonable (which they are), it's your quantitative, your written (which you'll do fine on) and your application package that will make the difference. *hugs you more*

(Why am I up at 2 AM? Blame my cats. *g*)

[katekat]

I started to worry, but I'm feeling a little better now. It didn't help that my only frame of reference for scores was my friend Tyler who is BRILLIANT at math & english and i think got over 700 on both, and my friend who's at Berkeley now and i think did the same thing and is also brilliant, but in languages and stuff.

I went and checked out Duke's lit program averages and although the math scores are generally higher, I so kicked their applications verbal scores out of the water.

And you're right, it's been ... probably almost 15 years since I took a real math class. I'm just glad it's over and I can move on from it, you know?

oh, and i know that 2 am thing, although i'm sorry it's because of the cats. hopefully they made it up to you in a cute fluffy kind of way.

*hugs*

[that_mireille]

The math scores may generally be higher, but most of those people are probably traditional undergrads when they take the GRE general--which means they're probably only a few years away from a math class.

*hugs* You will be fine, and your composite score is over 1200, which is nothing to be ashamed of. And you have so much to offer to any program!