Can low verbal score hurt chance for intl student?

[Drdlee]

So how low can your GRE verbal score be for top neuroscience programs when you are an international? My score is 151/170 and the verbal score constantly worries me that it may really hurt my chance for the admission. Other than GRE score I have two years of full time postbac research experience and two good letters of recommendation from famous Harvard professors (one research PI and the other course professor). By the end of this year I'll have one publication as one of middle authors which I'll mention in applications.

Do you think it is worth spending time to practice on verbal and maybe increase the number to 155 by the end of this month?

[bsharpe269]

I dont think your current score is horrible but its also not good. What are your writing and TOEFL scores? If those are good then I think you will be just fine. If one or both of those is also low then it might be worth retaking the GRE and trying to get the verbal up a few points. The main concern would be that you might struggle to communicate in English but a strong writing and TOEFL score could get rid of this worry. Having a native english speaker edit your SOP could also be helpful to show strong communication skills. Like you mention, if you decide to retake it then I think that 155 would be a good goal.

[Drdlee]

Thanks bsharpe269 for the reply. I did my UG in US and this makes me exempt from having to take TOEFL or other English proficiency test. And GRE writing score is not available yet because I took it a few days ago. What would be a compensating W score? I'll have a few of my American colleagues read my SOP for some feedbacks.  

[bsharpe269]

Thanks bsharpe269 for the reply. I did my UG in US and this makes me exempt from having to take TOEFL or other English proficiency test. And GRE writing score is not available yet because I took it a few days ago. What would be a compensating W score? I'll have a few of my American colleagues read my SOP for some feedbacks.  

 

If you did your undergrad in the US then I actually think that changes things quite a bit. If you have a decent undergrad GPA then that proves that you can excel in an english speaking environment. As long as you do average on writing (4.0 or higher) then I dont think that the verbal score will significantly lower your shot at great schools. 

Basically, if I were in your situation I would be torn too. I doubt that it will hurt your appliation that much but at the same time, increasing the score can only help. If you do decide to retake then I highly recommend memorizing vocab if you didnt the first time ( I used Magoosh's iphone flashcard app). You dont have too much time to study at this point but if you are interested in using some sort of study software, I used Magoosh and increased my verbal from 153 on the practice tests to 162 on the actual tests. To get that big of an increase, I spend a few months studying but it might be worth at least considering!

Either way, it sounds like you have a great application overall!

[Drdlee]

Thanks again for the reply and generous comments. I wouldn't say my UG gpa (a little above 3.4 overall) is decent at all among PhD applicants but my postbac record at Harvard (the most recent academic record) is pretty good (~3.9 out of 5 UG courses). I hope this can compensate my rather weak UG GPA. I don't have much time left for the next schedule for GRE test but I'll try to follow your advice on verbal practice.