Repeating the GRE

[gurumaster8899]

If i redo the GRE three or four times but still end up with the same score on all of them (500 V, 790-800 Q)

Would this be conceived as a negative thing by admission committees?

[fuzzylogician]

I'm only guessing here, but if I were on an adcom and saw an applicant who took the exam four times and got the same (low-ish) scores in all of them, I'd think they had faulty study skills. That would make me worry about their ability to study in an intensive PhD program.

[frankdux]

If i redo the GRE three or four times but still end up with the same score on all of them (500 V, 790-800 Q)

Would this be conceived as a negative thing by admission committees?

that score is totally fine and not really worth doing over if you are going into the physical sciences, unless you are dead set on MIT or CalTech. in which case, a higher verbal score may come in handy on your app.

if you are going into the humanities or social sciences than your verbal score is on the low side.

also, be aware that schools treat the GRE differently. some take your best scores, some average the scores. some schools use the GRE as a stronger part of the application than others. some scores just treat it as a formality. some departments may only look at one part of the GRE as being important while others look at the whole thing. sometimes the GRE is used to determine funding awards as well.

[noojens]

Ya, just get one score with an 800, or very near, on the quantitative part and leave it at that. For engineering the verbal and writing sections don't really matter. Certainly not worth spending $500 on retakes, that's just silly.