Low verbal and AW GRE score for top grad schools. Should I retake?

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Striker
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 3:28 am

Low verbal and AW GRE score for top grad schools. Should I retake?

Post by Striker » Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:40 pm

(I feel like there should be some stickied thread for this topic, but I didn't see it immediately)

Hey! I'm a domestic hispanic/black male that just took the general GRE. My unofficial scores were Q: 168/170 and V: 156/170. Should I retake it? I took it quite sleep deprived, and I think with some vocab review I could bring verbal to like 160, maybe 163-ish. I don't know my writing score yet, but I'll say probably anywhere between 3 and 4.5.

I know talking about applying to schools rather than labs is naive, but talking about schools helps me check if my opportunities are limited. So if I were applying to MIT, Stanford, Princeton, etc. physics programs, would I be helped by better GRE verbal and writing scores? Or are they irrelevant after a certain point? I've seen in the applicant profile thread some people get admitted to top programs with V: ~156/170 scores, but those were generally international students who deserve a bit more leeway imo.

jabennett2194
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:54 pm

Re: Low verbal and AW GRE score for top grad schools. Should I retake?

Post by jabennett2194 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 5:45 pm

Just got my scores back and i wanna swap with you hahah i got 164 (94 %) verbal, 163 (83% quant), 5 (92%) AW. WTF hahaha

Striker
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 3:28 am

Re: Low verbal and AW GRE score for top grad schools. Should I retake?

Post by Striker » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:57 pm

Really? It's hard for me to weigh which is better, since my verbal and writing scores are so bad even though my quant is good

jabennett2194
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:54 pm

Re: Low verbal and AW GRE score for top grad schools. Should I retake?

Post by jabennett2194 » Sun Sep 16, 2018 12:47 pm

My advice would be to wait for your AW percentile score. If both Verbal and AW are above 75% i would stay with your scores :)



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