JackofSpeed

A 650 verbal is definitely not low and is, generally, an excellent score...but it's true it's not a selling point for an application in a humanities programs as those on the committee seem to be eyeballing that verbal score in particular. What's often bandied about from professors in Humanities dept's to those students who've not done as well as they would have liked on the GRE is: "if you feel you can score 700+ (97%ile) I would suggest retaking the test." (I've not taken the GRE yet myself but I have heard others who've gotten this advice). If there's a magic number for verbal score to be taken seriously at the very top programs, it seems 700 is it...and while definitely not a cut-off, it seems to be "preferred" level to reach to be given serious consideration by extremely competitve programs. Trying to get this thread back to its original question...but I think the poster who went over the application process did a good job of explaining where GRE's have their greatest value -- at the outset of the sift and discard process.

Minnestan wrote: Isn't that why the devil invented the subject test? I seriously doubt in the humanities Q is used as a tiebreaker for fellowships...I think they would look at the subject test or something else, anything else other than math...I think quant scores between 600-800 are looked at all the same, but if you dip too low, it can raise eyebrows that they're dealing with someone lazy. A 780 verbal 400 Quant, say, looks odd and some schools might question this discrepancy -- and could be a problem if the university (especially at state schools) have thresh-holds that need to be met. However, if you go on their site and read their material, ETS seems adamant about having schools judge verbal and quant as disparate scales and are not to be viewed as a conflated lump of of ability, the way the SAT often is.

I like your chances based on your superior verbal and writing score and above average math. Your GPA indicates you're one of the best students from your undergrad so I don't see why you would need to replace your undergrad with a masters program to make you a better candidate. I don't think a master from even a name school would help you. In your case, I think letters of rec are what will be decisive and you need to have profs really singing you up. You need to be the star of your program to get into a competitive PhD (which you may very well be). Words like "one of the most brilliant students I've taught" are hopefully spouted from the mouths of your recs...that, along with your excellent stats, statement, writing sample, should put you in the running. Good luck.

Nothing is skewed except your own attempts at justifying your scores. First step would be to get outside of yourself as an example and try to look at things objectively. People score high on the verbal who hate words. Conversely, people also score fairly low on the verbal who love words and speak 5 languages. It's been set into people's minds that the verbal test is a test of how many words you know, when in fact it's a measure of verbal abstract thinking that requires a strong vocabulary. It measures both memory for English vocabulary and reasoning skills -- both of which are important mental abilities. The same is true with the math. You need to have a certain set of knowledge going in, but the test is also set out to measure how one problem solves. It is often the case that people with very fine intellects do not do well on standardized tests, but that is because they do slipshod preparation out of arrogance or laziness. For most people the GRE requires preparation. I think people who consider themselves intelligent but use "I hate tests" or "I don't test well" as an excuse are in the weakest positions to justify their own desirability because there is just something tiring about endlessly subjective explanations/justifications (the lady doth protest too much). The best strategy is to shut up and show (not just GRE's but all aspects of the application you have control over); this speaks much louder to admission committees. To have to justify low score on a statement of purpose, for instance, takes away from the more interesting things one could be talking about, such as love of Homer or Shakespeare, QED, or whatever it is that one enjoys and wants to study.