GRE Verbal Score Concern

[itscontrary]

Hello all! First post here! Nice to meet all of you! I didn't expect my first post to be about my GRE, but I'm a little nervous right now.

I took my GRE on 9/20/14 and my scores were 152 V (54th percentile), 166 Q (92nd percentile), and 4.5 AW (80th percentile). I realize this is probably similar to another post, but I'm feeling pretty nervous about verbal.

I've already improved on verbal since I took my first diagnostic test (146 V). I took the two powerprep tests prior to my actual GRE test and scored 152 V on one and 155 V on the other. I've used Magoosh (both for their online prep in addition to their flashcards) and they predicted a range of 151-156 V. I feel like taking it again won't help my verbal score all that much. 

 

I'll be applying this fall to analytical chemistry programs at UNC - Chapel Hill, Purdue, University of Illinois - Urbana, University of Wisconsin - Madison, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and perhaps a trickle of other schools. I'm not sure if my GRE will hinder me too much, especially since I'm not sure how low scores can get before it constitutes a "red flag" or if they will disregard my other parts of the application just because of a poor verbal score.

 

Some stats about me: I'm a chemistry major with a math minor. Currently, I have a cumulative GPA of 3.93 with a major GPA of 3.98. Up to this point, I've had 2.5 years of research experience and submitted two papers earlier this summer (not sure if it'll be published by the time I apply - second author on one paper and first author on another). I took part in IRES (International Research Experience for Undergraduates) one summer where I was in a microfluidics research lab in Sao Carlos, Brazil, for 8 weeks. I've presented a number of oral and poster presentations, including two local ACS presentations (one oral, one poster) and one national ACS presentation (poster session in Sci-Mix). I'm a Goldwater Honorable Mention and a Sally Cassanova Pre-Doctoral Honorable Mention (fell short on both, gahh!). I've been involved around campus with president/vice president positions in a number of organizations (i.e. Golden Key International Honor Society, Chemistry/Biochemistry club), but I figure this wouldn't be as important. 

 

As for letters of rec, I'm guessing I'll receiving strong letters of rec from my PIs both at my home institution and Brazil and perhaps a good letter of rec from one of my former chemistry professors. 

 

I'm just so nervous about the verbal portion of my GRE. I just can't imagine my application being thrown out just because my verbal score wasn't up to par. Some of my friends have mentioned taking it again to raise my verbal score, but as stated earlier, I don't think taking it again would help my score too much. 

I'll be taking the GRE Chem test very soon, and I should be scoring pretty well on that. Sorry for this relatively long post, but I'm overly stressed out about it. :/ Advice?

[ghostar]

3.93 GPA, Goldwater Honorable Mention, 2 manuscripts submitted for publication, ACS presentations, diverse research experiences.. I'm a little (*sarcasm*) confused as to why you are concerned. Assuming that all your personal statements & recommendation letters are superb (which seems valid), an admission committee would have to be real dicks to reject you because of GRE Verbal score. Are you international? If not, I wouldn't worry and focus on the rest of your apps instead. Good luck on Chem GRE!

[buddyman]

I would not worry at all with the strong stats you have. Research experience is one of the most important aspects most schools look at and you have plenty of it. Combined with everything else being very strong the weak verbal gre wont matter.

[itscontrary]

I'm a domestic applicant. I've perhaps been reading too much about how anything in the 50th or so percentile for verbal could cause some worry.

 

Thank you ghostar and buddyman!