<p>I just got back my GRE writing score which is 4.0 (34%).. even though i didnt get to finish my last sentence in one of two essays, i thought i did well. im applying to molecular biology programs and earned 550 on verbal and 790 on quant. is this still a considerable/reasonable score to pass the admission office at the top graduate programs (harvard bbs, mit bio, etc)?</p>
<p>i want to retake gre. ehh :/</p>
<p>You'll be fine.</p>
<p>i thought i got a 6, then i got a 4.5</p>
<p>...and writing is one of my fortes.</p>
<p>I too felt that I had done really well on the writing section but my score was 4.5. Oh well, that's the way the it goes sometimes. I can't believe that this would be too detrimental. I am also applying to harvard bbs. I think that Boston seems like a fun city but I am a little turned off by the fact that the health science campus for Harvard is physically separated (by a few miles) from the rest of the campus.</p>
<p>A 4.5 is not the end of the world. As long as your AW > 4.0, most graduate programs won't write you off.</p>
<p>Remember also that they'll have your Statement of Purpose to judge your writing ability.</p>
<p>The writing section on the GRE is idiotic. Your entire life, you are taught that writing is a slow, iterative process. Drafts and revisions until it sounds just right. Then they throw you in a room and you only have 45 minutes to write a thoughtful essay on something...</p>
<p>This has been said before by some pretty authoritative folks on the boards: adcoms don't pay attention to the writing score. All it measures is your ability to plug and chug into their little formula for how an essay "should" be written. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>How did Blah2009 reply to the post before it was even posted? I am not the only one who sees a reply before the OP, am I?</p>
<p>lol. If it makes you feel better I got a 3.5 / 20% and I'm applying to the same programs as you, and 530v.</p>
<p>proud to read and write at a 5th grade reading level</p>
<p>
[quote]
This has been said before by some pretty authoritative folks on the boards: adcoms don't pay attention to the writing score. All it measures is your ability to plug and chug into their little formula for how an essay "should" be written. Don't worry about it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>it depends on the program and area of study. from what has been said by graduate students and faculty on SDN, if it is close in percentile to your verbal score, it'll simply confirm the verbal score (they're closely correlated); if not, they are likely to look at your statement of purpose and/or any other writing you've submitted for clues to your writing ability. If your AWA score is extremely different from how your SOP is written, it may raise some red flags that someone else wrote your SOP for you, though.</p>
<p>Hey, noface. I understand just what you're going through. Despite the fact that I work as a journalist (an editor of a paper, in fact) and have always felt that writing was one of my strong suits, I also received a 4.0. I practiced a ton for the writing section, but somehow I still received a very low score. </p>
<p>In addition, I scored in the 93rd percentile on the verbal section, so...? I expected a similar score on the writing, or at least something slightly higher than the 34th percentile. </p>
<p>I am just hoping that what tkm256 said is correct. I did submit several decent writing samples to graduate programs and my statement of purpose seemed all right, so... here's hoping that members of the admissions committee are blown away by those things. </p>
<p>Anyway, good luck to you!</p>
<p>"it may raise some red flags that someone else wrote your SOP for you"</p>
<p>Wow. I never even considered that someone could do that. Personally, I wouldn't trust someone else to write my statements, because unless they've mastered telepathy, no one else really knows my particular passions, aspirations, and style. It might be common to have others read your SoP and edit or suggest improvements, but outright plagiarism is more than a little stupid to attempt. (a) It could land you in some serious frying pans, and (b) you'd have to spend the next five-some years living up to someone else's standard and probably be miserable for it.</p>
<p>Now I've got to look for news articles of people who were caught doing this so I can laugh at them. Schadenfreude makes my day.</p>
<p>lol...with the state of ethics and cheating in academics these days, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a lot more common than most of us would expect</p>