rusty_hooks

The hyper-competitive schools -- and I would place Chicago and Northwestern in that category -- have so many applicants for each available slot that I doubt you will be competitive without a verbal GRE of, say, at least 640 and preferably higher. That said, it is true that the most important parts of your application are your SOP and your Writing Sample. It's just that with extremely competitive schools like Chicago and Northwestern any area of weakness in your overall application just gives the ad. com. a reason to toss your file into the reject pile. They have to be very picky or they'll never winnow the 600+ applications they receive down to the 15-20 that they are seriously interested in pursuing.