GRE Verbal Scores?

[rjd150]

How much will ad comms care about the writing and verbal sections on the GRE for engineering? I'm applying to Ph.D. programs and am retaking the GRE in 2 weeks. I've been studying for the Quant section but have given up memorizing vocab for the verbal. Will it even matter if I get say a 470 verbal (I'm not familiar with the new scoring yet) but an 800 on quant?

[emmm]

It depends -- if you are a native English speaker, a really low score would look kind of bad, especially if your verbal is way below average for the other English-speaking applicants they have. If you are an international student, there is more "wiggle room," as they realize that it's a second language and the main concern is that you will be able to understand and communicate adequately. Again, however, if you are competing with students who, on average, are scoring much better, you could be at a disadvantage unless the rest of your application is enough to distinguish you from the rest.