Wasr

I just got my scores today and my aw score is a 4, which isn't too terribly awful. So at this point I'm thinking I'll just focus on the rest of my application and let the GRE be. I would hate to retake and end up with a lower verbal or quant score...

Thanks for the response! I guess I really just have to wait and see how the scores come back...

Hello everyone, First post here so I guess I'll get straight to the point. I took the GRE for the first time on Friday and felt pretty good about my scores. I received a 166 Verbal and 152 Quant. I'm a current history major finishing my undergrad this year and I am planning on applying to phd programs this coming application season. In the few days since taking the test I've started to worry more and more about the writing portion of the exam, I think that I am a pretty good writer but the time constraints on the essay portion left me flustered and I am starting to worry that I wont get the AW score I want. So I guess the question(s) I am asking is how important is the AW score to the admissions committees? Will my relatively strong verbal score help to make up for a lower writing score? What about the writing sample that i will submit with my application? It seems to me that the writing sample will be a much more accurate representation of my writing abilities than the rather random essays that I churned out at the beginning of the GRE. If it matters at all my two top choice programs are at UNC Chapel hill and the University of Virginia. I'm hoping I won't need to re take the test because I was planning to use my remaining time to work on the rest of my application, and it would take a fair amount of time and money to prepare for and retake the GRE. (Not to mention that it would be a real bummer to retake since I am pretty happy with my other scores) Thanks for any help or advice!