<p>Just saw my GRE writing score....a sad 3.0, lower than my last time, have no idea why
But I've already send the score to several school because of approaching deadlines</p>
<p>Me:
Applying to Master in Financial Engineering and some other computation related program
GRE: Q: 170, V: 159
Senior in top 3 public schools , B.S in Computer Science and Mathematics
3.75 GPA, </p>
<p>I know that a great SoP would help my low writing score.
But What are some other things I can do to overcome the Low AW score?
Submitting an supplement writing sample?</p>
<p>I don’t know why so many people on these boards think a great sop will overset low writing scores. The two are unrelated and play completely different roles in admissions. The AWA is meant to test analytical thinking skills which is why some engineerjng schools puts high emphasis on that section (e.g.,MIT and Cornell), but the test itself really fails to do that.</p>
<p>You can offset weak areas by being strong in others, but you can’t fill the void left by one component with a nonrelated component.</p>
<p>You can retake if you think it’ll be detrimental to your apps. Honestly that section is stupid, I just made up a bunch of BS and got a 5.5. You can score much higher very easily. People who gets 3s are usually not following the prompt or really just cannot write and by write, I mean constructing pretty simple sentences. If the latter, then that would be a big problem for not just the GRE.</p>
<p>I highly doubt any engineering adcom will read writing samples. The applications I’ve filled explicitly stated not to include published papers as they will not be read. Writing samples would certainly be inferior to publications so it’s logical to think it wouldn’t be read.</p>
<p>I don’t think the analytical writing section is very important overall. A 3.0 is neither low nor high; it’s just mediocre. A 3.0 does not necessarily mean that you “really just cannot write,” as one can get a 3 with solid mechanics but a poor argument or bad structure.</p>
<p>I do think that an excellent SoP can call into question low AW sections, if not completely invalidate/offset them. If you show evidence of sophisticated writing ability in your SoP and you’ve gotten a very low score on the GRE, professors may wonder about the disconnect - in either direction. But I do agree that the SoP and AW section have very different goals and roles, and the low score doesn’t disappear from their minds just because you wrote something good (with the assistance of professors and others who helped you revise).</p>
<p>Basically, you’ll have to do the same thing that anyone with a low score or unremarkable achievement in any of the required grad school sections would do - hope for the best. Nobody’s application package is perfect in every way.</p>