Retake the GRE? I'm getting conflicting advice

[caprette]

Hi all,

 

I'm applying for interdisciplinary environmental Ph.D. programs to start Fall 2014. I'm applying to Berkeley, Yale, Duke, UCSB, Michigan... pretty much all the schools with the most prestigious environmental programs.  I took the GRE in July and I've been going back and forth on whether to take them again. (My boss, an anthropologist, thinks it's a bad idea to take them again, but my mother has started nagging me about signing up to take them again every time I call her.)

 

My scores are 164V/161Q/4.5 writing.  Not sure what happened there with the writing score, since I'm a good enough writer to be currently writing research papers for a living. Also, are the verbal and quantitative scores good enough? They are in the 93rd and 81st percentiles, respectively.

 

If I take them again, I guess it will be sometime in mid-late October.  I assume that will be enough time for programs with early December deadlines?

Edited September 30, 2013 by caprette

[Cesare]

Your V and Q score are far more important than your writing score. I had a writing score of 5.5, but retook and got a 4.5. However, I have a much higher V and Q score now. As much as I would like to retake (the AW score is killing me because I know I can do much better), I won't because I don't want to risk lowering my V and Q score. I am sure admissions committees will assess your SOP and writing sample more than the AW score as an indicator of your ability to write. 

[Scarf in the wind]

Hello caprette, you don't need to retake. Your scores are great, splendid even.

 

Work on your personal statement and application.