Nervous about the GRE's effect on my app

Graduate School
1

<p>I took the GRE a month ago and got 660V and 560Q. Not satisfied at all, I studied and retook it today and my quant score went up to 630 but somehow my verbal went down to 620?! However, I was a little glad that my overall score rose to 1250, though I still expected to do a lot better than this.</p>

<p>But the question is: How much will this affect my application to schools? I'm applying to history grad programs with a 3.8 gpa from a top LAC, excellent recs, tons of research/field experience and advanced language prep in 4 languages essential for my subfield. And I talked to profs from the schools that seemed enthusiastic about my research topics. I'm also pretty confident about my SOP and writing sample. </p>

<p>SO does all this offset a lackluster GRE score? Or rather, is my GRE good enough to make the cut-off? Or should I be gearing up for another round with Mr. GRE?</p>

2

<p>Move on. Relax. You’ve done your best. History programs don’t look too closely at the GRE unless it’s unusually low and if they’re looking to rank applicants for university-wide fellowships.</p>

<p>More importantly, you’ve already nailed the 94th percentile (I think?) the first time around that I’m surprised that you plopped down another $160 just to raise a math score, a score that history programs don’t even care about.</p>