OK verbal, High Quant, horrible AW..what should I do?

[berniceys]

Hello.

I took GRE a year ago and got 620V, 780Q. I wasn't too thrilled with my verbal, but what was worse was my AW score-3.5.

I'm currently doing a master in public policy and my GPA is so far good(4.0) and have some work experience in NGOs and private companies.

I'm planning to take some methodology courses this summer to improve my research skills, so that I could start working on my papers, hopefully for publication or at least conference presentation in this fall. I have two semesters remaining and I'll be applying for a PhD in international security/regional studies(political science) next fall.

Being very ambitious at this point, I'm thinking about applying to some top 20 schools and very much concerned with my GRE score stopping me from getting in.

If I retake GRE this summer, I won't be able to take the seminar courses, which could hinder my paper prep. Plus I'm not too sure if I could improve my AW score much with just one month of preparation. Any thoughts or if I should retake the test, any advice for studying AW?

Thanks.

[DrFaustus666]

Hello.

I took GRE a year ago and got 620V, 780Q. I wasn't too thrilled with my verbal, but what was worse was my AW score-3.5.

I'm currently doing a master in public policy and my GPA is so far good(4.0) and have some work experience in NGOs and private companies.

I'm planning to take some methodology courses this summer to improve my research skills, so that I could start working on my papers, hopefully for publication or at least conference presentation in this fall. I have two semesters remaining and I'll be applying for a PhD in international security/regional studies(political science) next fall.

Being very ambitious at this point, I'm thinking about applying to some top 20 schools and very much concerned with my GRE score stopping me from getting in.

If I retake GRE this summer, I won't be able to take the seminar courses, which could hinder my paper prep. Plus I'm not too sure if I could improve my AW score much with just one month of preparation. Any thoughts or if I should retake the test, any advice for studying AW?

Thanks.

There are many posts concerning the AW score. Almost everyone agrees that the AW score is not highly regarded by most universities. Or rather, the AW score carries much less weight than your "writing sample" and your Statement of Purpose.

There are a few people who assert that the AW score is a good representation of your ability to write to a particular format, in a time-limited setting. But this begs the question of what is useful for a graduate student. Most of us almost never write about subjects with which we're not familiar and within a tight deadline (measured in minutes, not days!). True, we do have essay questions on exams, but we have plenty of time to prepare for the exam, and, if the grading is at all fair, our essays are judged by their content, not their correspondence with ETS's model of a "good" essay.

Bottom line: you might re-take the GRE for the AW score, IF the universities you apply to have cutoffs. But I'd not worry too much about it, your other qualifications seem good, to me at least.

[Krissy]

Wow, you ROCKED the quantitative!!!

Sorry this wasn't a more helpful/insightful comment but I was so impressed I had to reply!!