Currently an undergrad applying to a PHD Program, Low GRE score

[micromajor2011]

I just took the GRE today and score pretty poorly despite memorizing all 500 words of the pratice and doing numerous practice tests. my GPA is 3.23 for my major (Microbiology) and I scored a 810 on the GRE. I have reserach experience and even have manuscript pending to be published. I am still currently working in lab. I'm wondering if it is even worth my time to take it again, or if I will still have a chance to get into schools such as Vanderbilt/ UT houston Graduate school of Biomedical science.

Just wondering if anyone else has some adivce or has had a similar experience.

[fuzzylogician]

I don't know anything about the particular schools you asked about, but 810 is pretty low and there is a real chance that it won't get you past initial cutoffs. Only if you get past those is there a chance that someone might see your research experience, get interested and make an exception on your behalf; and even then there are sometimes sweeping cutoffs that the grad school poses and you could get disqualified even if the department does want you. Bottom line: if you have the time, study hard and retake the test. Concentrate first on getting your math score up, that should be easier for a microbiology major. The verbal section is harder but there are strategies for getting a higher score there as well.