is my verbal too low?

[scofield24]

I want to apply to top 20 grad school ( mostly phd) in civil engineering.

I got a 150 on verbal and 167 on math.

Is the verbal too low? should I retake it?

[1Q84]

That's pretty low. I don't know if verbal factors hugely into initial selection in your program but a score that low can certainly take you out of the running when it comes down to the wire or for certain types of funding.

If you have the time and money, do it.

[edgirl]

I believe that in most engineering programs verbal isn't weighed as heavily. If you're nervous about asking professors/grad coordinators, at least try checking folks who shared their stats on the results forum here -- I imagine you'll find plenty of people with average verbal scores who were admitted to quant-heavy progams.

As many people would no doubt add, the one caveat to this is that graduate schools as a whole tend to have GRE requirements you need to meet for admission and/or funding purposes, so that if your scores are too low -- even if a department doesn't care and wants to take you -- the school won't allow you in. You might want to check this more general question ("Are there GRE cutoffs for admission to the graduate school or for funding?") since it doesn't give away your scores and allows you to retake with your first scores hidden if you choose to.