BlueGrassBob

Why not take them again? You have plenty of time to do so, and the GRE verbal is pretty much a vocabulary test--something that I feel anyone hoping to study Lit. at an advanced level is capable of doing very well on. If you schedule a test for September or October, you could pick away at it and probably improve your score significantly. I was accepted as a doctoral student at the type of mid-level program you described, but I had a 740 verbal (99% [i was never quite sure why a 740 was 99% rather than 98 or 97, but I wasn't going to complain]). There were certain weaknesses in my application (language skills, luke-warm undergrad GPA with no MA) that probably kept me out of higher ranked programs, but they weren't things I could change at the last minute. You're able to give the GRE another shot; I couldn't go back and bump up my GPA. I guess my question is that since the rest of your application seems pretty strong, why would you be OK with having something that could be perceived as a weakness on there? You mentioned that you think you could do much better, so where's the downside? Yeah, you'll have to pony up for another testing fee and set aside time to study, but it's really a drop in the bucket when you add it to the rest of the application costs. Either way, good luck! and try not to stress too much about any of it.

Like you said, don't make a fuss out of your writing abilities. Anyone looking to get a PhD in English should be a stellar writer. It's far better to give them a well-written sample and SOP than it is to say you're a great writer in your SOP. Use the search function on the forums here and over at the Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/forums/), and you'll come up plenty of SOP advice. Be program-specific in regards to your research interests. When describing your previous work, make it clear that you're ready for graduate-level study. Be sure to make reference to your teaching experience. Many people applying with a BA won't have that much experience teaching full courses (I came from a small liberal arts school--no TAs, except maybe for the really large intro science courses--so the best I had was plenty of tutoring experience; I imagine quite a few are in a similar situation). Get someone familiar with the admissions process to take a look at it. Good luck with the GRE. If you think you're prepared, might as well go for it. If you don't score all that well, you have plenty of time to take it again (but that won't happen, of course). Do take a minute to look at what they want for the writing section. They aren't grading you on the writing; they're grading you on your ability to construct an argument according to their rules. Did you get the CD that ETS sends with practice tests? On that there should be multiple examples of essays sorted by the score they received. Just take a look at the 5, 5.5, and 6 ones and note the differences between them. You'll see pretty quickly what you need to do to score well.

I'm finally done with this process (into an English PhD program that fits me nicely), so it's nice to be giving advice to someone else for the first time. Unless there's a compelling reason for you to take the GREs now, wait until the fall. As others have said, you're verbal score should be above 700. It's really just a vocabulary test, so the more time you spend with flashcards, the better you'll end up. If you have plenty of time, take the subject test. It takes an enormous amount of studying to do well on that exam, so if you don't have the time, don't bother. I did very little studying for it, and guess what? Didn't exactly ace it, but it didn't hurt me too much in the end (good verbal scores made up for it, I think). Also keep in mind that many professors recognize the difficulty of the test and some even call it what it is--an expensive trivia test. It helps if you do well, but don't panic if you don't. Apply broadly. You may love Vanderbilt, but you need to keep in mind that in some sense this whole process is a crapshoot. You may be an exceptional candidate, but it might not be in the cards for this admissions season. I'd recommend coming up with at least 10 schools. I applied to only five and one was an (MA), mostly because I kept psyching myself out or coming up with reasons not to apply or why the program wasn't a good fit. Guess how many admits I got? One. Luckily it was to a school that I liked, with good funding. It could have turned out quite differently. You mentioned that you "believe" your writing sample is good. Why not try to get a little more input? If I had to do the process over, I'd definitely ask a professor to look over my sample. Page limits often mean you can't submit a complete undergraduate thesis (limits were often 20 or 25 pgs for my apps). Just having someone to talk to about what portions are the strongest would have been a great help for me. Also, am I the only one who thinks that the GRE writing score doesn't (or shouldn't) matter? These programs usually end up with 25+ pages of writing from each applicant; why do they need ETS telling them how good an applicant's writing is? Have fun with it all. Drink plenty of beer. It helps.