dogs

I just accepted MIT! I've declined offers from Rutgers, UT Austin, USC, Yale, and Oxford (for the BPhil). My AOIs are language, logic, and metaphysics.

To revisit this conversation from yesterday (I know the discussion has likely been exhausted, I'd just like to add some anecdotal evidence in case it helps anyone): I did very poorly in my GREs - I got into the 43rd percentile in the math section (and I'm looking to go into more formal areas) and I got a 4.5 in analytic writing. Though even with those scores, I've been offered admission at 5/6 of the programs I applied to, each of which are in the PGR top 10 (I was rejected by Berkeley). If I'd applied to more schools, I might have a better idea of whether they typically use GREs for any kind of initial screening. But I am thoroughly skeptical, after this process, that GREs bear much weight at all, if any. I actually can't think of any reason why the admissions committees might have initially separated my application into a smaller set based on any superficial data - my GPA, for example, is strong but it's from an international school, and isn't easily translated in terms of the US grading system. Similarly, my undergrad is at a relatively good university but not the best or most well-known by any means. The only conclusion I can draw from all of that is that it really is your writing sample, letters, and personal statement which matters to the admissions committee, even at very preliminary stages of the process. I think if it wouldn't harm your application for you to work on re-taking the GRE, you should certainly go for it. But if your scores don't improve substantially this time, I wouldn't feel disheartened about that. Moreover, I think that if it is time that could be spent working to improve your writing sample, maybe it's not worth it. This is all only speculative and of course it's up to your judgement, but I thought I'd add my experience to the discussion since I do think it might indicate something about GREs. (One qualification on all of this: I wonder if they might focus less on GRE scores if the applicant is international? Also, I do recognise that your experience with Georgetown might be at odds with everything I've just speculated here. You're right that there seems to be very little consensus.)