<p>I just took the GRE and got a 600 on verbal and a 700 on math. This is rather surprising to me as I expected to get quite a bit lower on math and somewhat higher on the verbal section (I took several sort of diagnostic tests that predict your results). My question is, if I am applying to international relations type MA programs at the following schools - Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, George Washington, American, etc.... how good/bad of a score is this? I am just considering whether I should bother taking it again.</p>
<p>I wouldn't retake. They'll average the scores anyway, so any gains would have to be substantial to overcome the averaging. I scored exactly the same (700/600/6.0) and I'm not too worried about applying to top schools.</p>
<p>Daniel,</p>
<p>I think you're fine. Your verbal is easily in the 75th to 25th percentile range of most top programs, and your verbal is just about in that range as well. </p>
<p>What area are you interested in studying?</p>
<p>enviroman,</p>
<p>It's not the raw score that matters, per se, it's the percentile. A 600 on verbal is a much better score than a 700 on quantitative.</p>
<p>I know. But a 700 Q seems to fall in line with most top IR programs, as well, even though it's only about ~70th%. A 600 V is about 83rd-85th% (mine was an 84) and that generally fell within the 25-75th% of most IR programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. I am interested in pursuing a foreign service-oriented IR masters program. I am currently a Politics major at NYU. 4 years ago, I took the SAT and received a 770 verbal score (99th percentile). So, I was expecting a higher score this time around on the GRE. I suppose that I am bit anxious as to my prospects being that I will be just out of undergrad with no work experience (although I do speak two languages and have three years overseas experience before college). As regards the GRE, I suppose I also have to realize that the "competition" is, in general, much better qualified than it was coming out of highschool.</p>
<p>enviroman,</p>
<p>Ah...good. Just wanted to clarify.</p>
<p>Daniel,</p>
<p>You're fine. I would still recommend you get some work experience anyway, though...</p>
<p>Yeah, GRE verbal =/= SAT verbal. I scored a 710 on the SAT verbal and a 700 on the SAT math. My math stayed the same while my verbal dropped 110 points. This seems to be pretty normal.</p>