GRE and TOEFL scores

[edost]

I'd like to get into a top-10 PhD program in political science, communications or cultural studies, and I already have two Masters degrees from Israeli universities. Here are my scores:

TOEFL iBT: 110 (perfect score in all categories, except for speaking, where I got 20 out of 30).

GRE:

Verbal: 620

Quantitative: 610

Writing: 3.5

My quantitative score is not very good, but I'm not sure how important it is in the fields I'm persuing. The verbal is good, I think. The writing is horrible, though. Do I need to retake the test because of the low writing score, or will the fact that I'm a foreign student (I have US citizenship, but I've lived most my life abroad) and the fact that I have two MAs make the GRE less important?

[tt503]

For top-10 Poli Sci. programs, you would probably be better to crack 700 in both v and q on the GRE. It is a highly competitive field and two Masters degrees won't help if you don't get past the initial weeding out phase.

I'd like to get into a top-10 PhD program in political science, communications or cultural studies, and I already have two Masters degrees from Israeli universities. Here are my scores:

TOEFL iBT: 110 (perfect score in all categories, except for speaking, where I got 20 out of 30).

GRE:

Verbal: 620

Quantitative: 610

Writing: 3.5

My quantitative score is not very good, but I'm not sure how important it is in the fields I'm persuing. The verbal is good, I think. The writing is horrible, though. Do I need to retake the test because of the low writing score, or will the fact that I'm a foreign student (I have US citizenship, but I've lived most my life abroad) and the fact that I have two MAs make the GRE less important?

[Purled]

For top-10 Poli Sci. programs, you would probably be better to crack 700 in both v and q on the GRE. It is a highly competitive field and two Masters degrees won't help if you don't get past the initial weeding out phase.

Your verbal GRE should really break 700.

At most top tens, the initial application culling happens somewhere between 650 and 700. Depending on your subfield, your quant also needs to go up, unless you're aiming at theory, in which case you're okay.

[Kathiza]

For Communications, I had a look at the average test scores for successful applicants at my schools. It was mostly around 650. For AWA, most schools want at least 4.5 or 5 in Communications. TOEFL: This varies a lot. Some schools want 100 on the ibT, some want 110, Columbia wants 115, Stanford 116 etc.

My verbal score is far from 700. I hope I have a chance despite this. For us international students, it's REALLY hard to get a high score. I prepared for the GRE for almost a year (only for the verbal part) and my score was still not really good :-(

[potbellypete]

I dont know -- seems like the verbal is "fine" since its still about 90th percentile, right? General Consensus is that Q should be 700+ but again its just getting past the initial hurdle.

[EastCoasting]

I think these days the Gre gives you the option to only send out your highest score, so because of that alone it may be with while to retake it. It seems like you took the old version. In my opinion it seems that the new version is friendlier to those who English is not their mother tongue (I grew up abroad with American parents so my English is pretty decent even though my vocabulary is lacking. When I took the exam I studied for both, but did awful on the old version so I took the new one. I did really well). That being said if you have done a lot of research and you did well in school I think you could have a chance. I think it would mostly depend on whether there were specific professor who you wanted tO work with, and your work was informed by theirs. I think if you could establish a relationship with them by demonstrating you knowledge of their work (and how it relates to yours) you could have a real chance.