Why is the GRE so important?

When asked which graduate school admissions factor is most important to them, more admissions officers selected “the GRE” than any other.

The GRE serves as a common yardstick for admissions officers to compare you to other applicants, regardless of experience, undergraduate major, or undergraduate GPA. Designed to predict success in the first year of graduate school, the GRE serves as a critical piece of evidence to show whether you have what it takes in the classroom and beyond.

Not only a factor in your acceptance, a high GRE can qualify you for merit-based scholarships: More than 2/3 of admissions officers from top graduate school programs report that GRE scores are an important factor in deciding merit-based financial aid.

Your GRE will likely be evaluated as you apply and compete for scholarships. The higher your GRE, the more confident a funder will be in your ability to complete the program.

With the GRE being so important for getting in and getting money, you need to submit the best score you can—and that takes time and preparation. The sooner you get started, the better.

If you have questions about your GRE preparation or about how a strong GRE score can help you, post them here and we’ll respond.

Is graduate school the right next step for you?

Maybe you’re thinking a graduate degree can help you break into a new field. Or maybe you’re still in school and wondering if a graduate degree is the right next step. The decision to go to pursue your Masters or PhD is a personal one; it will depend on your goals, your motivation, your financial situation, your timeline…

No matter what your situation, there are compelling financial reasons to consider a Masters or PhD.

As you weigh your different options, here are some important statistics to consider:

• Protection against unemployment. The unemployment rate for the entire U.S. population is almost 3 times as high as the unemployment rate for the U.S. population with a Masters or higher.
• Earnings booster. Those with a Masters or PhD earn, on average, $12,000 to $26,000 more per year than those with only a Bachelors degree. Within 10 years, that’s $100,000 to $250,000+ in additional earnings.

If you’re not sure if graduate school makes sense for you, start by thinking about your long-term goals and what you need to do to get there. And if you don’t know what your long-term goals are, start by learning about different careers that graduate degrees can unlock for you.

Here’s a Quantitative Comparison question for you – which Quantity is greater?

Quantity A) Debt for all Post-secondary students

or

Quantity B) Debt for the entirety of all American consumers

The answer is: Quantity A) Debt for all Post-secondary students.

Astounding though it might seem, according to FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, the latest figures show that student debt weighs in at $850 billion and was expected to surpass $1 trillion by the end of 2011. The Federal Reserve reports that consumers currently owe $828 billion in credit card debt.

How is this possible?  Well, as our President explained in a speech in Denver back in October, “Over the past three decades, the cost  of college has nearly tripled, and that is forcing you, forcing students, to take out more loans and rack up more debt.”  Obama offered up those words as he was introducing his new “Pay as You Earn” plan. This plan is aimed at decreasing the burden of student debt on students who struggle to meet the obligations of repaying their federal college loans.  According to a White House press release, the plan proposes to cut students some slack by capping their required monthly payment at 10 percent of the borrower’s discretionary income while also taking family size into account.  Given the current high unemployment rates, many students could benefit from the program.

The plan would also allow borrowers to transfer all Federal Family Education Loans (the private loans taken before July 1st, 2010) into the current Direct Loan plan, thus giving borrowers just one payment per month and reducing their interest rate by half of one percent.

Almost all current grad school students and most undergraduate students took out student loans under the old, bank-involved system and, as such, would be advised to transfer their old loans to the new Direct Loan plan if and when the program passes legislation.

Politicians are split on whether or not the Obama plan would help the overall economy. I suspect that many students would appreciate the relief they’d feel with fewer concerns about debt while they focus on their education. As someone who may be grappling with both undergraduate and potential graduate school debt, what are your thoughts on this topic?

If you are interested in learning more about financing your graduate school education, please visit visit our YouTube channel and our Grad School Financial Aid Hub.

Remember high school when you were preparing for the SAT and/or the ACT? Almost everyone you knew was getting ready for a standardized admissions test—and when you took it, it was on a specific date when hundreds of thousands of other people your age all over the country were taking exactly the same test.  It may have been agonizing or annoying, but at least it was shared agony and annoyance. Everyone who knew you was supportive of your endeavors; no one questioned why you’d want to go to college.

But now you are getting ready to take the GRE. You may not know anyone else who is preparing for this test right now.  Even people who took this test before you probably took a much different test. Instead of having a shared test day, the responsibility for choosing a Test Date is entirely your responsibility. At the test center, you will be only one of a few people—or perhaps the only person—taking the GRE at that time, and with the huge pool of potential GRE questions, your actual test will be tailored to your performance. Your GRE experience is uniquely your own.

To keep you from procrastinating and feeling isolated and lonely, develop a GRE support system.   Identify friends and colleagues who are supportive of your efforts and are willing to help you stick with your goals. Perhaps you can find someone who is working toward another goal (Losing weight? Preparing for a different test? Finishing a knitting project? Landing a job?) and provide mutual support. If there’s someone in your life who wants to be helpful to you but instead seems to be unintentionally slowing you down, give that person something specific and affirmative to do to help you with your GRE: making you a meal on a specific day each week, going through essay assignments with you, quizzing you on vocabulary, or even just periodically reminding you that your graduate school goals are good ones.

Find virtual support communities and check into them regularly. The KaplanGradPrep Facebook page is a great place to check in, ask questions, answer daily challenges, and generally know you aren’t alone in your endeavors.  Follow @KaplanGradPrep on Twitter for tips and links. Write to us on Facebook and Twitter to help you keep going—we love sending encouragement.

Every graduate school and graduate program website that you have perused likely has one common statement: “The Perfect Graduate School (TPGS) has a diverse student body” (exact wording may vary). Then, because that statement is just sitting there, hanging out in your subconscious, it starts to haunt you as you begin to write your personal statement.

But I’m not diverse. I’m just a girl from a rural town in the South.

But I’m not diverse. I mean, I’m Greek…but I’m Greek…that’s my main identity.

But I’m not diverse. Geez, I’m not even sure how my family got to America.

At this point, writer’s block is your constant companion…and you’re suffering through an identity crisis. As if you didn’t have enough to worry about!

Let me offer some reassurance. Remember that TPGS advertises that they have a diverse student body. Then, remember that a body is a functioning entity made up of many parts, and you, as a student at TPGS, are to be one part in that functioning body.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The schools and programs you are applying to are not relying on you to embody all aspects of diversity. (Deep breath in. Hold it. Now let it out.) However, they do want you to contribute to the diversity of the student body.

As you write your personal statement, think about what you have to offer that no one else will. How has growing up in the rural South affected your view of the world? How has your strong identification with Greek culture shaped you? What is it like to be an American whose family “melted” so thoroughly that there’s no tracing your lineage?

Taking it a step further, ask yourself: What obstacles have you overcome and how have those obstacles influenced your character? What world view do you have to offer that another student may not?

Then, perhaps, your difference does not lie so much in who you are, as in what you’ve done. Do you volunteer regularly with a local charity? Are you an amateur opera singer? Do you organize annual multi-state gatherings for swing dance enthusiasts?

You personal statement comes down to YOU. What has influenced you to strive towards this next educational achievement? What do you have to offer the program that a student with equivalent academic markers and test grades may not? How will you contribute to the diversity of the mosaic that is your chosen school’s student body?