Jerric

From experience, I can tell you that I was recently accepted to a top ten Geography program focusing on Environmental History, and I myself had an F and a D in a pair of calc classes (although the F was just a 1-hour class). So, it doesn't help to get those grades. But in the grand scheme of non-math centric Geography foci, it really doesn't hurt a whole heck of a lot. At least in my experience anyway.

I was absolutely flabbergasted to see a 4.0 as my GRE writing score, but after reviewing I realize that I simply did not follow the formulaic, SAT style they look for, and there's no one to blame for that but myself. Two English professors reviewed my S's OP and gave me some areas to improve on them, but ultimately gave them overwhelming praise. In addition, I did pretty well on the verbal section (91st pctile). I guess there's no reason to make this post more verbose than it needs to be; if my writing in a SOP impresses grad school counselors, is there a chance the writing score is--not necessarily dismissed, but close to it? For what it's worth, I have no idea how important or unimportant the score is to them. I'm applying for programs in Urban & Regional Planning, Environmental Resources, Sustainable Development, and several programs within geography departments.