Hey all. I know this board isn't too busy right now, but I thought maybe I could get something going (for all of our own morbid curiosity).
GRE scores? How many times have you taken it? How did you prepare? Are you taking it again?
And, since we all clamor for information, what have you heard at your undergrad institution and elsewhere about the role(s) GRE scores play in graduate admissions?
My own experience:
[redacted]
I'm disappointed in the AW (really thought I hit that 5.5, at least) but pleased with the percentile I received on the verbal. I include percentiles because I've heard that in some admissions committees, it is not the scores but the percentages that are calculated into a function with GPA to rank applicants or to place applicants above or below a cutoff line.
Any thoughts on whether I should retake the test? I'm stratifying my applications, applying to (in Leiteriffic terms) one top-10 school, one-two 10-20 schools, one higher-20s school, a few schools clustered in the lower-20/upper-30 area, etc. I know that for at least the higher-tier schools, the low AW places more pressure on the other areas of my app. Will it prevent them from giving it a serious look, do you think?