I’ve received a lot of reaction on the ‘Graduate Admissions’ post. Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the e-mailers have urged me to take on the contentious topic of the role of standardized tests in graduate admissions.

Now, my brother and I might disagree on this topic, because he got perfect scores on the GREs (triple 800s), and I, er, did not. But despite the fact that my thesis advisor’s father founded ETS, I myself am personally committed to a disconnect between philosophical aptitude and GRE scores. I think I did manage to top 600 on two of the three categories, but not by much. Most embarrassingly, the subject I did the worst on was the GRE analytic section (now I think defunct), where I scored somewhere in the mid 500s (out of 800). Fortunately for me, MIT (at least when I applied) did not consider standardized test scores.

I do get the sense that the great majority of my fellow philosophers are outstanding at standardized tests. So I’m probably a statistical anomaly (I’ve always suspected that they are mainly a good guide to being able to sit still for several hours). And now that I’ve outed myself as a standardized-test loser, perhaps my work will be viewed with (even) greater caution. But at least my case is some evidence that one can (if given the opportunity) have a successful career in philosophy while being utterly hopeless at the GRE. Another thing to keep in mind during graduate admissions season.

-Jason Stanley