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There is no reason for anyone who is not in high school to be worried about their SAT scores.

More important that your actual scores/percentiles is how they compare to average scores for your programs of interest. If you were applying for a heavily quantitative program, the Q score would be a major problem, but for your program, it may not be (I don't know, but you should have a sense of this).

Isn't there a subject test that most literature applicants take? Are you likely to take that, and, if so, do you think you will do well on that? Would that be more important than the GRE V score? Sorry -- not my field, so I don't know the answers to these questions... Also, I have heard the writing sample is extremely important, perhaps that could help make up for a lower GRE V score. Perhaps if your GRE V is "good enough," it won't hurt your chances if the other parts of your application are strong.

You really cannot get chances...the process is not completely predictable, and you have provided very little information (not even stating your GRE Q score, which is important for and science/math applicant). Work experience may or may not be helpful, depending on how well it demonstrates your ability to do research, and on how good your letters of recommendation will be (and even who writes them for you). If you are unable to apply to all five schools, perhaps you should pick the three you'd most like to go to. In any case, you should (and may already have done) research the work being done at each school to see how it matches your interests.

I had a tough time trying to force myself to study for the GRE, so I finally signed up for it during the spring of the year I wanted to apply. I figured if I got scores I was not satisfied with, I would then have the motivation I needed to make myself prepare. As it was, I was pleased with my scores and did not retake. So, it is possible to do well without much prep. As background, I generally do OK on standardized tests, and I was finding the review books not very helpful (i.e. I knew most of the vocabulary...). If you are seriously concerned about bombing the exam, taking at least one full practice test is a good idea to see where you stand.

Can you change an elective to P/F grading or audit? That way, it might be a little less overwhelming. But dropping a course right now and taking it later is nothing to feel bad about -- it actually sounds sensible. There is a lot to adjust to when you enter a new program, and you want to position yourself for success. Overloading is probably not a great idea right now when you don't have a sense of the demands/workload. Be patient!

Are you applying to enough schools? Do you need to be more flexible regarding what you are willing to research? It is competitive, so it is possible that you just have not had much luck with admissions, but maybe you are not looking at enough possible programs?

It depends -- if you are a native English speaker, a really low score would look kind of bad, especially if your verbal is way below average for the other English-speaking applicants they have. If you are an international student, there is more "wiggle room," as they realize that it's a second language and the main concern is that you will be able to understand and communicate adequately. Again, however, if you are competing with students who, on average, are scoring much better, you could be at a disadvantage unless the rest of your application is enough to distinguish you from the rest.

Accountability to whom? Most of these programs have many more qualified applicants than available spots. They can justify anyone they select -- and then they just don't have more spots--sorry. It's not as though the applicant with the family is way better than all the other applicants, so that it is obvious that the only reason for rejection is the family. Admissions committees already have a tough time deciding among good applicants. So any reason could make someone less attractive than someone else. Honestly, I think they focus much more on academic and research criteria, and not who does/doesn't have a family (which can always change, anyway).

3 months of research experience is pretty low -- you can try this year, but if it doesn't work out, an extra year of research experience will make your application much stronger. Good luck!

Looks fine to me, considering your field and the fact that you are international.

I doubt you will bomb, but grad school is a lot of work, and everyone struggles with imposter syndrome at times. Don't worry about not knowing anyone -- you probably won't have time for a social life (just kidding, but especially first year, it may be more true than not...).

For an international student, that score seems fine. In general, I doubt the AWA would offset anything -- some schools don't even use the AWA. However, I think your Verbal score is good enough for your purposes.

Sure they could if they wanted to...they don't have to come out and say this was why a student was rejected. However, I don't think it will be a problem. Grad students with families are not all THAT uncommon...

I think auditing is a mistake -- you should commit to the class and take it for a grade. That will provide proof to the admissions committee that you can actually still perform in an academic setting. Auditing does not really do this, as you are risking nothing and need not do any work. I was out of school for over 15 years, and went back and took a number of classes. Once I got admitted to grad school, I took some classes as an auditing student, just for the pleasure of learning the material. I wanted to have fun and not feel burnt out before grad school started. However, at that point, I'd already taken 6 or more (lost count) classes relevant to my field for grades.

I second the advice to retake -- that score seems really low given your background.

How important is the Quant score for your program? Do you need a good score for admission or for funding? It's a silly test, but some places consider it important -- others less so. It's really hard to give you a definite answer...

UW makes these stats available on their website: http://www.grad.washington.edu/about/statistics/summaries/2011/rptGsisAnnualDept2011.pdf Duke U also posts info: http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/admiteng.htm I was surprised the verbal scores for English were not higher...

For UW, the admissions are posted online: http://www.grad.washington.edu/about/statistics/summaries/2011/rptGsisAnnualDept2011.pdf You can see how your numbers measure up to those of the typical admitted student for the stats program.

All I can tell you is that admissions, especially to top schools, is extremely competitive right now. The schools are getting so many applicants that they can be as picky as they want. I would imagine that the competition is even worse for international students. Try to find less popular programs -- for example, in my part of the country, UW is super-competitive, while WSU, also an excellent school, but more geographically isolated, is not as crazy. If you are willing to search out these programs, and if you have people who will rave about you in recommendation letters (or even better, make personal contacts for you), you could have a shot.

I think it also depends on the program. From what I have heard, grading in my department tends to be on the stingy side -- no automatic As for acceptable work. I have heard that as long as the overall average is higher than 3.2, we're considered to be doing OK. It can be frustrating at times, such as when all work handed back is graded higher than 95%, and the final grade given ends up being an A- (I have heard of this happening to people). In my experience, often there is not enough feedback during the term for me to predict my final grades, which leaves me a bit in the dark at times with respect to what I should be trying to improve...

I agree -- it makes you look sloppy/lazy/insecure.

List all scores if you want them to see all your BEST scores -- let them do the cherry picking.

You can apply to both PhD and MS programs at the same time, and I'd recommend applying to more schools. As you discovered, it's really competitive right now...

I think the low grades initially could be overlooked given your strong grades in your major.I'm hoping you took some other writing classes and did well in them. If you can get good letters, that would also help.1 summer of research seems a bit minimal. CS is not my field, so hopefully you'll get more advice from people with experience in your area.