retake GRE or focus on research

[coffeemachine]

Hello all,

 

I have took the GRE in 2013 and got 165 V / 158 Q / 4.0 W. I am finishing my master's in linguistics and have been focusing on my coursework and doing research. I am applying to North American programs in a couple months now. Should I retake the GRE or do keep focusing on linguistics?

[GeoDUDE!]

Why not both?

[fuzzylogician]

I am not familiar with the new scores so I had to look the percentiles up. Unless things have changed a lot since I applied (which is possible, it's been a while), 95% and 72% aren't bad at all, and I think should get you past any cutoffs. 4.0 isn't great, but that alone is not a good enough reason to retake the exam, in my opinion. Are there universities you are applying to that have officially posted cutoffs that you do not meet? If not, I would choose to concentrate on other aspects of the application, as well as on your research and/or thesis. What will determine your outcomes is not so much the GRE but the SOP, writing sample, and LORs. 

[coffeemachine]

Thanks for the input, you two. It seems sensible to concentrate on the other aspects of my application, considering that it still needs some work. I've got a lot on my plate, and adding a serious amount of study time to the GRE might be counterproductive.