<p>I got my GRE scores today and am not sure what to do with them. I'm applying for neuroscience & bioengineering PhD programs.
I scored 169 V / 166 Q, which is great. But I got a 3.5 on the writing, which I am very surprised by. I am generally an extremely good writer. The cynical part of me says I'm just not good at writing middle school-style, 5 paragraph essays with over-simplified arguments in 30 minutes.</p>
<p>But what are my options at this point? I don't really want to retake the whole thing to improve my score, especially with deadlines fast approaching. Is the 3.5 still acceptable? I'm applying for some of the top programs in my sub-field and this scored stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of my application. Is my best bet to just write a really awesome statement of purpose to show I know how to write?</p>
<p>I think you need to nail the personal statement; neuroscience and bioengineering PhD programs acknowledge that what writing you need to do in there is vastly different from a GRE AW essay,</p>
Forcing yourself to use a stilted, middle-school style, 5 paragraph essay format instead of just writing in your own natural style is probably why you got a 3.5. Regardless, I think Catria is right, and most science/engineering programs don’t tend to place a lot of importance on the AWA section in my limited experience–your SOP and/or personal statement will be far more important.</p>
<p>I didn’t write that style, but everything I’ve seen implies that that is what they are looking for, and if you try put any originality into it, too bad.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology That might explain why I got a 4.0 on AW, when the human graders I had access to gave me some hope of 5-5.5s… I am not letting my 4.0 standing in the way of an acceptance to a PhD program in physics. </p>
<p>Hm, strange. I ignored all the advice given by various prep books and just did my own thing and scored well (and “my own thing” is the antithesis of the stilted, oversimplified nonsense that is the 5-paragraph format). Who knows what they’re looking for.</p>
<p>They are looking for some version of the oversimplified 5-paragraph essay - I am an excellent writer and do not write that way, but I did for the AWA and got a 6.0.</p>
<p>But either way, few graduate programs care overmuch about the AWA. A 3.5 won’t tank an otherwise outstanding applications, so if you are a competitive applicant I wouldn’t worry much.</p>
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