Whar are my odds?

[raduan]

Hi!

I have done the GRE last Friday (I got 163V/156Q , I don’t know the AWA yet, but I think that I made some strong writing) and I just found out about grad café. I know that must have a lot of topics with similar matters, but I didn’t find one that answer all my doubts.

I’m an international student (Brazilian) applying for the Ph.D. in some top universities (I think the lowest ranked is Vanderbilt). I already have a Masters that I did it here in Brazil (therefore an unknown university to 99% of the American scholars).

My questions are:

1 – My GRE grade are competitive or do I need to take it again?

2 – Being from Brazil (a developing country) and have made all my academic career here is an asset or a problem?

3 – The fact that my academic interest is Latin American politics and being a latino, know Portuguese and Spanish is something that is going to take into account or is irrelevant?

Thanks in advance for any answer.

[Determinedandnervous]

Being from a Brazilian university should not hurt you and your language skills should help you. However, you should try to retake your GRE. Your verbal score is great for a non-native speaker, but your quant score should be 160+ to be safe.

[Wanumman]

Those stringent GRE requirements are depressing. I have 170 Verbal/5.5 AWA, which is astronomically high for a Russian, but 158 on Quantitative, so I should be re-taking GRE because it compromises my chances. If only I had two or three more points, like on PowerPrep. Curiously, the average Quant for students admitted to top PhD programmes is slightly below my score, yet no doubt those students with 155Q were otherwise somehow exceptional. I don't even plan to do a lot of quantitative analysis, it's not like I strive to be another Nate Silver. *long doleful sigh* And I need to translate 20+ pages of a writing sample. 

So, dear reader, do not feel alone in your despondency.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Wanumman

[Determinedandnervous]

If you have 170/158/5.5, then your high verbal makes up for the 158 quant score. However, if your verbal is lower (which is understandable if you're international) the quant has to make up for it. You're fine, @Wanumman.