GRE and de Saussure

As I mentioned before, I began to study GRE in order to go to Harvard Graduate School of Education after graduation from JFKU. When I took a close look at myself, I had a lot of things to do now. For example, I’m taking four classes in JFKU, I work as an English teacher in one NPO, I engage in coaching activity, and I study GRE… But as compared to my former job, my current situation is not tough. If I say I’m busy now, most of my colleagues and managers may reprimand me: “Don’t say busy! Look at us!” In retrospect, I feel fortunate that I worked in a professional service firm for two years. By virtue of working there, I’m able to handle many things tactfully.

Anyway, I’d like to get back to my subject, de Saussure remarked about my current situation with precision: “A word doesn’t have a meaning in itself.” I completely agree with this idea. While studying GRE, I always become surprised at too many unknown words. These are jabberwocky for me…For me, these words are just “objects” like meaningless stones. Thank you for representing my inner voice, de Saussure!   

A Few Examples of Jabberwocky Words

abbey, abdicate, acidulous, jejune, jostle, afoul, lacerable, luculent, biopsy…

Ed.D and Ed.M at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Now, after graduation from JFKU, I plan to apply Ed.D (Human Development and Education) and Ed.M program (Human Development and Psychology) at Harvard Graduate School Education. Yesterday, I sent my “passionate” message about my future plan to the chair of my program. She respected my passion and plan, I believe so.

Needless to say, the admission of Harvard is really competitive. Even anyone who lives under a rock knows the fact. Especially, doctorate program is amazingly competitive.

I checked the requirements of the admission, and I found that “GRE test” was required…I thought “What is GRE?” Immediately, I checked it out on Google and took a sample test. In a word, the result was disastrous…in particular verbal section. It seems very difficult for non-native people (especially Japanese) to solve verbal problems. I suppose the hurdle to clear average score of enrolled student (2011) is really high for me.

Ed.D: verbal 670/800,quantitative (math) 720/800, AWA 5.3

Ed.M: verbal 600/800, quantitative 660/800, AWA 4.7

My sample score was: verbal 360/800, quantitative 760/800…I laughed at my score. What’s the gap of my score between verbal and quantitative? I think I don’t need to study math but I definitely have to plan a well-formulated strategy about verbal section soon. For your information, HGSE admission web page says “If your GRE scores are significantly low (i.e., below 460 V, 580 Q, and 3.5 AW), your chances for admission will be greatly reduced.” Oops, I don’t meet even the minimum score of verbal. It’s time to show my ability of type 3, 7, and 8 in the Enneagram. (achiever, enthusiast, challenger) It is said that it is almost impossible for Japanese to get over 600 about verbal section. I’m very lucky because I’m Japanese, and I can enjoy this process.