<p>Hi everyone,
I know a couple of people have posted about the importance of the AW score for grad programs in general, but I was wondering if adcoms for top biosciences programs (Stanford, Harvard, John Hopkins, etc.) in particular will pay much attention to this component of the GRE score. I got 1550 for V+Q, but 4.5 for AW, and I'm wondering if my low AW score will have an impact on my chances of admission. I know these programs are quite competitive and any weaknesses will be taken into account, but I'd like your input on whether the AW is significant enough that I should retake the exam. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Do NOT worry - a 4.5 for those schools is fine (I applied to all of them last cycle, but with a 5). Most of the stuff about how AW scores don’t matter that much (if at all) apply to biosci too. Your combined V+Q sounds great. Worry about the rest of your app.</p>
<p>AW is something that helps if it is high (5.5 and above) but doesn’t really hurt if it is at least a 4. Many programs post their averages and you can check for specifics on their web site.</p>
<p>A 4.5 is not going to hurt your application at all.</p>
<p>“Many programs post their averages” - not exactly true - many of the top places (similar to the ones the OP listed) do not list their averages, but usually say you should be around the “80th percentile” or higher and won’t get any more specific than that. Only a few schools will post actual numbers.</p>
<p>^ yeah, that’s what I found to. And since a 4.5 is only 67th percentile, I thought it might be a problem. I think UW Madison posts their AW average as 5.5 for one of their bio programs =S I’m not applying there, but I would assume that other top schools will have similar averages.</p>
<p>I scored a 4.0 AW and got into nearly every top science school I applied to (including some schools that had a stated minimum of 4.5). Don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>^ was that for biomedical science, or more engineering/physics etc.?</p>
<p>More engineering/physics. Do you think biomed requires better writing?</p>
<p>It’s not that I think biomed grad students require better writing skills. However, I think many strong engineering/physics applicants generally have lower writing scores, so the programs will pay less attention to this aspect. On the other hand, most strong biomed applicants I’ve seen on this forum who were interviewed/accepted by top schools had 5+ for their AW scores. What I was wondering was if that’s because these schools tend to screen out people with lower than a 5 first (because it’s lower than 80th percentile) or if it’s just that most biomed applicants with high GPAs, good research experience and LORs, etc. often score above 5 anyway.</p>
<p>I would go with the latter of your explanations (good applicants tend to score well) and not bec. they screen out lower than 5s (I don’t think this would be a useful screen and would HIGHLY doubt the schools your are applying to would do that)</p>
<p>No school screens out by an AW score of 5. Probably not even by an AW score of 3, as one bioscience student I know got exactly that AW score and got into every school she applied to.</p>
<p>A student with excellent research experience and strong academics will never be turned down because of an AW score. Your verbal score is extraordinarily strong (at least 750), and that will impress them, albeit briefly. </p>
<p>If you look at the stats, biomedical science students tend to score slightly lower on the Q and higher on the AW and V than engineering students. This probably has more to do with the kind of thinking and writing needed for undergraduate training than with innate abilities. </p>
<p>BTW, I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: if a program lists the average GRE scores for their students, then chances are that they weigh GRE scores more than other programs. Some programs list minimum scores by saying something like "successful applicants generally have GRE scores above . . . "</p>