Poor AW score for Econ PhD - need to retake?

[Egg_R]

Hi everyone,

 

I took the GRE two weeks ago for the first time and scored  V: 164 Q: 170 AW: 3.5. My TOEFL score is 113/120 (I am an international student from Europe, but study in S.Korea).

I am double majoring in Econ and Math, so I took quite a lot of both econ (including graduate level Micro) and math (Multivar.Calculus, Differential Equations, Analysis I & II, Abstract Algebra, Stat, etc.), with GPA 3.85/4 (as of now).

Can the poor writing score prevent me from getting into a program? Retaking the GRE is quite expensive and I am not at all sure that I will score much higher next time. On the other hand, I heard the adcom pays close attention to international students' test scores.

Any ideas about how much Writing Section matters for Econ PhD?

And if it does, any advice on how to improve my score?

Thank you in advance!

[jane111]

Usually, in a field of Econ, most schools require and prefer higher Q score, not a Writing. 

In my opinion, you do not need to retake the test, rather focus on preparing your sop or writing samples. 

thanks. 

[ExponentialDecay]

Like, honestly, the AW is only going to matter if the person reviewing your application has some weird AW fetish, which you cannot prepare for in advance and is therefore a negligible factor. It is possibly the least important part of your application. Your Q/V are competitive for an Econ PhD and the V shows you know English. Spend your time and money working on more important aspects of your app, which is literally every other aspect.

[Egg_R]

Thank you for your replies! I got really apprehensive when I read that AWA score matters more for international students.

Probably, concentrating on a writing sample and SOP will pay off more.