english PhD programs & new GRE scores

[pim]

So I just took the GRE and scored 160 on verbal, 159 on quantitative, and 5.0 on the analytical writing.

I'm looking to apply to English departments at U. Penn, Brown, U. Chicago, Columbia, and Berkeley (Rhetoric)... and possibly NYU as well.

I'm finishing up my Comp. Lit and English degrees (at an Ivy league school, won't say for anonymity) at the moment, with 3.9 GPA, a solid writing sample, and good recs.

Are my scores passable or will they hinder me from getting into these programs?

I can't seem to find gre admission statistics for any lit/humanities programs out there.

Please help!

[edgirl]

You won't say which school for anonymity, but you list your current city as Ithaca, NY? That's a good one.

More to the point: your quant score is certainly high enough for English programs. The verbal seems a little low to me (though, as is obvious from my signature, I'm an ed person, not an English one anymore), but the best people to answer this question for you are really your current professors. If the other parts of your application are indeed quite strong, I would think those scores would be just fine.

Edited August 25, 2012 by edgirl

[emmm]

UW makes these stats available on their website: http://www.grad.washington.edu/about/statistics/summaries/2011/rptGsisAnnualDept2011.pdf

Duke U also posts info: http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/admiteng.htm

I was surprised the verbal scores for English were not higher...