Not sure whether I should take my GRE test again.

[nobodyhere]

Hi everyone,

I am in a great dilemma whether I should take the GRE test again, and looking forward to your very precious advice.

First, my background:

I am currently pursuing my master degree in English Literature, and I would like to apply for comparative literature programs in the top 20s or so. My undergraduate GPA is ok , though perhaps not very remarkable; the master GPA is higher, something like 3.7.

I have recently taken the GRE General test, and got both 170s for the V and Q. However, what is very troubling is that my AWA was only 4.0, as I did not have much time to prepare for it.

Therefore, I am trying to figure out which is a better choice, to keep the V&Q but accept the somewhat poor AWA, or to give another shot, given all the uncertainties? 

Could any one kindly inform me what role the AWA plays in the application process? Or maybe I could save the time to write a better Writing Sample to make up for the AWA?

Really looking forward to your precious input. Thanks a lot in advance.

Eric

[rising_star]

Is English your first language? My sense is that a strong writing sample is far more valuable than a higher AWA score.

[ExponentialDecay]

Nobody cares about the AWA.

The MA GPA is pretty low, though.

[nobodyhere]

1 hour ago, rising_star said:

Is English your first language? My sense is that a strong writing sample is far more valuable than a higher AWA score.

Dear rising_star,

No, I am Chinese and I majored in English Literature for both undergraduate and graduate…

Thank you very much for your suggestion. Maybe it's really time to let it go and focus on writing the sample.

Eric

[nobodyhere]

56 minutes ago, ExponentialDecay said:

Nobody cares about the AWA.

The MA GPA is pretty low, though.

Dear ExponentialDecay,

Yeah I know, that's why I am somewhat freaked out because I did expect GRE to help me out a bit…

Well basically the grades are all 3.8+ except for one terrible professor who literally did not care about teaching and gave very random scores…Wondering whether I should mention this when I submit the application materials.

Looking forward to your precious input, and many thanks in advance.

Eric

[ExponentialDecay]

How do you get a 3.8 grade? Aren't you graded on a letter system, so an A is 4.0 and an A- is 3.7?

If your transcript isn't mostly (by which I mean all but one) As, yeah, I'd mention it. That said, I think you need to be about 50% more chill. You can't change the GPA, your GRE is stellar, and they both don't matter that much. Two degrees with unremarkable GPAs may shut you out of some elite programs, but, with a good writing sample, it's not impossible. Good luck!

[nobodyhere]

23 minutes ago, ExponentialDecay said:

How do you get a 3.8 grade? Aren't you graded on a letter system, so an A is 4.0 and an A- is 3.7?

If your transcript isn't mostly (by which I mean all but one) As, yeah, I'd mention it. That said, I think you need to be about 50% more chill. You can't change the GPA, your GRE is stellar, and they both don't matter that much. Two degrees with unremarkable GPAs may shut you out of some elite programs, but, with a good writing sample, it's not impossible. Good luck!

Thank you for your patience!

Well we still use the 100 points system and the GPA is calculated with a complicated formula so that 100 is 4, 98 is 3.99, 93 would be something like is 3.91 etc. All courses except that one are 90+ so I assume it would have been 3.8+ even including that shitty one.

I know it would be difficult to be admitted given that the elite complit programs are very strict (7% I guess?), while my profile may not be very competitive…yet I will still give it my best try to see how things turn out.

Sorry for troubling you that much, and time to get back to reading theses! Again, thanks a lot!

Best,

Eric