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Topic: Is the GRE or MAT difficult?
| Author | Message |
| someone | Posted – 1/26/2008 3:07:23 PM | show profile I am hoping to eventually return to college to get my master's in journalism or another field. It seems like most graduate programs require the GRE or MAT, but I have not taken either of them, and I'm wondering how difficult they will be for someone who has been out of college working as a journalist for about a decade. My math skills are a bit rusty, so I'm not sure how well I will do on that part of the test. Do those in charge of graduate programs pay a lot of attention to GRE or MAT scores when reviewing the applications of potential graduate students? Are any of you aware of any graduate scholarships for journalists that are worth applying for? Also, how difficult do you think it would be to land a job as an instructor at a junior college or professor at a university with an advanced degree or doctorate? Thanks for your input. |
| Village Gal | Posted – 1/27/2008 8:34:51 AM | show profile As for landing a job at a community college or university, it depends on where you live. In NYC the competiton is fierce for f/t college teaching jobs. There are lots of qualified people with degree and work related experience Do you have any teaching experience? |
| globetrotter78 | Posted – 1/27/2008 10:26:28 AM | show profile Is the GRE difficult? I can say from personal experience: YES! |
| editordebit | Posted – 1/27/2008 6:32:38 PM | show profile As I recall the GRE was quite a lot like the SAT and I got similar scores in all areas. It's very easy to come by practice materials at the library. I wouldn't think journalism schools would care at all about a math score, though it would be nice to have it not be absolutely terrible. Also, I suspect it isn't that tough to find out what the average GRE scores are for various programs. Best of luck. |
| Upward Bound | Posted – 1/27/2008 7:54:45 PM | show profile Yes math is important. It's going to be of much lesser importance than, say, the writing section, but journalists ned to understand numbers too. What about business and economic topics? What about dealing statistics when writing about new health research or reports on crime levels? You can't ignore numbers if you want to write well-researched stories. Even if you take the numbers provided in press releases, don't you want to be comfortable enough to know if that info is a big pile of BS? So, yeah, you probably won't be too screwed if your math scores aren't top-notch, but don't discount the importance of brushing up on those skills too. |
| lenagrove | Posted – 1/28/2008 9:07:29 AM | show profile First, find out where you want to apply for your grad degree, and then see which test that institution accepts. Some don't accept the MAT; some do. I had to take the GRE, and the math part was such a pain--I was relearning geometry and all the algebra I hated in high school and college so I could pass a test to get into a master's program in English! I passed those sections but certainly didn't impress anyone with my scores. My brother, on the other hand, took the MAT to get into grad school in advertising. He shares my lack of ability in math. After his score was posted, he was immediately invited to join Mensa. So yeah, I'd go with the analogies test if I had a choice! I wish you the best of luck. |
| Suet | Posted – 1/28/2008 11:30:28 AM | show profile GRE tip I got this from Princeton Review (didn't take their course) - if you don't know the meaning of a word, guess the most obscure one from your choices. They are looking to stratify people so that they get diferent scores, and using a great proportion of words very few people know helps make this happen. |
| rozwrite55 | Posted – 1/28/2008 11:30:45 AM | show profile I'm an adjunct journalism professor at an arts college and I was a scorer for the GRE essay portion for years. The GRE is not easy but all colleges do not require it. There are lots of prep materials you can get if you do take it. It shouldn't be hard to get back up to speed. In terms of getting a teaching job, there is a lot of competition in big cities but less so in other areas. Also, if you have extensive journalism experience, a master's isn't always necessary if you want to teach part-time. I would suggest you investigate teaching, being a journalist and teaching journalism does not automatically translate. Talk to professors, observe their classes before you even go into trying to land a job. Teaching experience is usually required. |
| Suet | Posted – 1/28/2008 11:31:12 AM | show profile GRE tip I got this from Princeton Review (didn't take their course) - if you don't know the meaning of a word, guess the most obscure one from your choices. They are looking to stratify people so that they get diferent scores, and using a great proportion of words very few people know helps make this happen. |
| rhino writer | Posted – 1/28/2008 11:31:58 AM | show profile When I took the GRE, I found a class that taught math for the GRE. It was great, and I did waaay better on the math than I ever would have imagined. That was 10+ years ago. Last year, I tried re-teaching myself math for the GREs again, and was completely unable to. If you're a disaster in math, take a class. If you're okay and just rusty, get a book and see if you can do it yourself. Like someone else said, it's very similar to the SATs. |
| pholiday | Posted – 1/28/2008 12:20:49 PM | show profile Funny Story about that A few years back I got the grad school itch and decided to apply (hence needing to take my GRE.) I did not take a refresher course and barely studied. When I took the test it was absolutely ridiculous .... I knew NONE of the math Q's ... and I executed the writing portion like it was one of the columns I had been writing over the prior year and a half. I did bad. Real Bad. With that said ... grad school costs a lot of money. Think about it long and hard before you go. 100K in loans must not be very fun. I did not get into grad school and I consider it a blessing almost daily:) |
| skootch | Posted – 3/24/2008 3:24:28 PM | show profile | email poster Taking the GRE I just entered grad school and debated the decision for about three years. During my selection process I visited my school of choice to gather information from the admission's counselor. I asked about the GRE requirements and wether a specific score was needed to be accepted. He told me what the average score of accepted applicants was and what scores help you get considered for scholarships. That was really helpful to know before taking the GRE because I could then practice and work toward a minimun scoring goal. During my campus visit I had the opportunity to meet with the department head of the program I was applying to enter. Luckily I just happened to bring my resume with me on a lark because during my visit the department head asked to see it. Upon reviewing my resume (which showcased my nearly 10 years in journalism and public relations) he offered to wave the GRE requirement based on my resume if I wanted to enroll starting the upcoming semester. Having no math skills other than balancing my check book to speak of, that was a very tempting offer. However, I learned from the admission's counselor that the only way I would be considered for the school's grants or scholarships would be with a GRE score. So I passed on the offer and decided to take the GRE. I knew what I had to score but it didn't matter how I arrived at that number as long as the sum of each section resulted in that number. The GRE website will send you a free CD Rom with practice tests that simulate the actual computerized timed test as soon as you register for a test date. I was unable to use this because I have a mac and the CD is for PC only. I ended up taking the test twice, the first time I rushed through the last portion because my timing was off, I did much better managing my time the second test session because I was more familiar with the pacing...I think the CD rom would have helped me get a feel for this had I been able to use it. The thing that helped me tremendously was the Barron's How To Prepare for the GRE test book. There are a lot of books availabe and I don't know how I finally ended up choosing this one, maybe it was the least expensive, but I'm glad I did. I started studying section by section so by the time my test date approached I hadn't fully made it through the math sections and thought that the verbal skills would carry me through (reviewing the word lists actually was more beneficial than I thought it would be). BUt I failed the math section so badly that I missed my mark. I decided to retake the test once more. I had a perfect score on the essay portion so the test administrator told me that I could opt not to retake the essay section and only retake the verbal & Math sections, which is what I did so that my essay score wouldn't end up going down. In preparation for the second test instead of doing the mathmatics review chapters and trying to relearn all the math formulas I focused on the chapters that prestented tactics for analyzing a problem to make the best reasonable guess. learning how to narrow down the selection pool of answers and arrive at a logical guess made a huge difference ? one that raised my math score more than 100 points with only a short period of time between tests, and put me in the scoring range for scholarship candidates. The price of the book was well worth learning how to solve the math problems without actually knowing how to do the math. And I found this approach had me a little less stressed out than trying to remember the math formulas. It was my saving grace. I'm happy to (freely) pass along my book to anyone who wants it. just email me: skootch@tampabay.rr.com with GRE book in the subject line. |
