Another "Should I retake the GRE?" thread

[eso233]

I got a 315 (159V + 156Q), I don't have my AWA score yet, but I expect it to be really high 5.5+ like in practice, which is the average or median scores of the current students for the schools I'm applying to for a Master's of Public Health or Public Policy, that is, Harvard, Columbia, and WUSTL. It's not the score I wanted, but after taking the real GRE for the first time I can't imagine doing much better than +- 1-3 points. I was, and still am terrible in quant, and my score of 156 on GRE Quant was the highest I've ever received outside of a practice exam, meanwhile my GRE verbal was slightly lower than my practice GRE verbal of 160-162. I studied both the Kaplan Premier and Math Course books, took 3 or 4 practice exams, and a Kaplan GRE course about a year before I took the real thing. My real score is around the average of my practice exams. Should I retake on score alone? Especially since I probably won't be able to test into a scholarship?

Holistically I'm a well-rounded student, a GPA of 3.5 in Natural Sciences( Pre-Med degree)  & Africana Studies with minors in Global Health (Graduate Epi and Public Health intro courses) and Chemistry. I have four years of Public Health Research and professional experience, with paid work at the CDC, at a local health department, a National Human Rights Organization, a children's hospital and on a USAID project and volunteering experience as the Head Bio UTA for my school, Diversity committee chair for my school, a tutor to refugees locally, and Americorps for a year. Lastly, I got a partial fulbright to go do research in Tanzania, apart of two honors organization, and I am a FLASF receipient. Lastly, I have demonstrated skills in Qualitative Analysis, and Kiswahili language, and I'm currently learningfrench. Does the rest of my application round out my GRE scores?

[Hamb]

>It's not the score I wanted, but after taking the real GRE for the first time I can't imagine doing much better than +- 1-3 points.

Would a 162 V/159 Q (3 points higher than your scores) change the schools you would be comfortable applying to? If yes, retake. If no, enjoy the fact you were above the median score in both departments and find programs that fit your scores.