Should I retake?

[Loseric]

I'm applying to education schools, and my program is higher education administration.

My scores are as follows:

V: 163 (91%ile)

Q: 157 (71%ile)

AW: 5.0

The average scores for my #1 choice school are V: 83%ile, Q: 66%ile, and AW: 4.7, and their averages are the highest out of all the programs I'm applying to (for example, one of the programs only wants a minimum of 300 combined). However, my GPA is very poor (2.9 from a top 5 school) and I had been hoping to get a very high score to help to offset that low GPA. If the rest of my application was great, I'd feel a little more comfortable with my scores, considering they're above average, but I doubt my scores are high enough to even start compensating for that GPA. I'm also not thrilled with the AW score, but programs vary greatly in how seriously they consider that component, so I don't know if I should worry or not.

So, should I re-take? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[midnight]

Your scores are more than fine (and no, you don't have to worry about a 5.0 AW--many schools don't give much weight to AW, and a 5.0 is a good score).

A compelling SOP and strong LORs are more important to your app than adding a few more points to your already solid GRE scores.

And what was your major GPA? You may want to emphasize it on your CV.

Edited November 12, 2012 by midnight streetlight

[Loseric]

Thanks for the input, midnight streetlight. Based on your advice and that from my professors, I'll be concentrating more on my SOP and LORs instead of worrying about the GRE.