<p>i plan on applying to the top mechanical engineering grad schools this fall, such as stanford and berkeley, for a MS or phD</p>
<p>i heard that for the top schools, the average GRE verbal is in the 500-600 range, while its near 800 for GRE math. BUt what about the GRE writing??!!</p>
<p>in my practice tests, i got in the low 500 range for the verbal, and 780 on average for the math. but i havent taken it for the writing yet. My gpa (3.85) and letters of rec will only be about average compared to other applicants</p>
<p>how much time and effort should i focus for the writing part? i take it in 2 weeks</p>
<p>More important than the verbal scores and less important than the math scores. The short version is, you will have to write papers in grad school, even as an engineer, so it helps if you can show that you know how to write via your GRE scores, but it is not as important as showing that you can think quantitatively. You should probably shoot for a 4.5 or 5.</p>
<p>from my practice exams, based on the scoring guide and scores for sample essays, I’m getting in the 4-4.5 range. since i’m taking the exam in a week from now, i’m starting to panic a little</p>
<p>I’d spend some time learning about what criteria the graders use when evaluating the writing section. That could make the difference between a 4 and 4.5. If your overall app is strong, a mediocre writing grade (4 - 4.5) won’t hurt you too much. I only scored a 4 and got into good schools.</p>
<p>i didnt want to create a new thread, but i just took the GRE today, and must say… i BOMBed it badlyyyy</p>
<p>got a 710 math, and 490 verbal, but havent seen my essay scores yet, though i’m sure i got at least a 4.5 on that. but the math score is bugging me like hell since its so bad. i was getting 770+ on the practice tests… do i need to retake the test?</p>
<p>“i plan on applying to the top mechanical engineering grad schools this fall, such as stanford and berkeley, for a MS or phD”</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be rude, but with a combined GRE score of 1200, I don’t see this happening. I would recommend taking the test again.
With adequate preparation, you should be able to get an 800 in the quantitative section (or very close to it), and <em>at least</em> a 600 in the verbal section.
As for the writing section, I wouldn’t worry too much. Practice, do the best you can, but take once you get a good V+Q, forget about it.</p>
<p>Agreed…your GRE-scores are not competitive with other applicants for top ME grad programs, especially at the schools you named (Stanford and Berkeley.)</p>
<p>Practice and re-take the exam. And realistically, you should pick some less competitive “backup” schools, that are acceptable to you, in case you don’t get admitted to your top choices. </p>
<p>Besides good GPA and test-scores, the top PhD grad-programs like to see prior research experience. This is a differentiating factor since many top applicants are already in the top bracket of the GPA/GRE range. If you don’t have ugrad research experience, you will be at a significant disadvantage.</p>
<p>Applying to backup schools is a blanket recommendation for everyone, even applicants with top scores and a good shot at making it into the top programs.</p>
<p>That is absolutely not true. They want a competitive Q score (so generally in the 760-800 range) and then use that as the primary indicator, then generally like a good writing score more than a good V score since you have to write a ton of papers as a grad student that get published and reflect on the university. A good V score helps, but isn’t necessary. The only important thing to do on the GRE is nearly ace the Q section, and get competitive scores on the V and W sections. In fact, prior research and internships and recommendation letters are all more important than the V and W scores.</p>
<p>Right, and the verbal score is still nowhere near being the differentiator that you implied. They look at a lot of things before verbal. Letters, previous experience, GPA, and even the writing score. GRE verbal scores are like the last thing you can have to try to slightly set you ahead. So long as your verbal scores are competitive (aka not like a 300), you are fine.</p>
<p>According to my schools provost the opposite was true, verbal was just about the most important thing second to quant scores… want his email? you can ask him yourself.</p>
<p>You don’t suppose that some schools might do it differently do you? Every professor at every school that I talked to, including the head of graduate studies at several, said that GPA, Letters, and experience are the 3 most important things and that the GRE as a whole was more of a supplementary sort of gauge, and as long as you don’t bomb it, it generally won’t keep you out of most schools, while great scores would be used to push you over the edge.</p>
<p>The problem is most candidates are the same people. The majority of candidates have high gpa’s, have had successful internships and have good letters of rec from great professors.</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t think there is as much parity in applicants as you think I guess. Personally, I had a slightly below average GPA, great recs and experience, an 800 on GRE Q, and a VERY average 550 on GRE V and still got into a bunch of top schools, mostly on the strength of my recommendations. I mean, my overall GPA was only 3.25-ish at the time of applying, and 3.4-ish in my department, so that certainly didn’t help.</p>
<p>I know this is anecdotal, but my verbal was certainly not special, and neither was my GPA, but the other things outweighed it fairly easily.</p>
<p>@boneh3ad: 3 questions if you don’t mind me asking. What undergraduate school did you go to? What top grad schools did you get accepted into? (MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Caltech)? and is it Ph.D or master?</p>