Should I panic?

[Loimographia]

I'm applying to history programs and just got my first GRE scores from the new test. I'm not terribly disappointed with my V and Q (96th percentile and 79th respectively). *But* I got a rather pathetic 4.5 on the AW. Should I retake it? Panic and cry? Slap myself for being ridiculous for considering 4.5 a mediocre score? I honestly have no idea

[LLajax]

Great job on the V and Q! I would say don't worry about the AW- as far as I've heard, adcomms don't really look at it (and some of my apps don't even ask for it), because they already have your writing sample, which is a better judge of your writing ability than the GRE anyways.

I think you're set, so don't worry!

[eco_env]

I got a 4 and got accepted to 1/5 programs I applied to, with interviews at 3/5. But this is in science.

[evilone]

No you should not panic, because the AWA has only a small impact on your graduate admissions prospects, and graduate school has a minor impact on your life satisfaction, and your life is only one of 7 billion humans, among like 5 million species on just one average sized (on a geometric scale) planet out of millions of potentially inhabitable worlds in this one galaxy - and there are at least 100 billion galaxies out there.

So in 700000 years, nobody will really care that your AWA shows a lower percentile ranking than your other two scores.

Just taking the humans, how many of those 7 billion would love to have the AWA as one of their major problems? Most people are born into circumstances that make higher education nearly unattainable, and a fair fraction of the lucky 2 billion are too stupid for college. Your life is already pretty good - even without graduate school, simply having a bachelor's degree will probably put you into the top half of income wherever you are, and give you more opportunities than those without.

I hope this makes you reconsider the panic; I probably shouldn't be saying this since I'm a part-time standardized test tutor.