Cutoff Verbal for Top engineering programs

[brahmin]

Hey,

So I will be applying to like the top 5 mechanical engineering programs in the U.S this winter. Everything in my resume is pretty good. I haven't taken the GRE yet but I took like a trial one without starting to study. I got 400/700 (v/q). I know I need to get very close to 800 for q.

But for verbal, I wanted to know what is the least I need to get. I want a benchmark because my english and vocab is not that strong. Isn't GRE more like a cutoff requirement. Would 550 for verbal be enough? Thanks

[<3Brains]

When I applied last fall, I found that average scores for top 10 engineering schools were around 550-600 verbal (for phd, slightly lower for masters) and nearly 800 quant. Seems like 550 would be ok if you're just trying to get a score that won't keep your app from being considered. I've heard that a very high verbal score can make you stand out, though....and standing out is definitely a good thing with such large and talented applicant pools!

Studying for verbal isn't too hard, even if your english isn't great, because your score can go up hundreds of points just by memorizing tons of vocab. There are free lists online of thousands of words.

Good luck!