Should I retake the GRE?

[chuisle]

Hi All,

I took the GRE last fall and received a 170 V/161 Q/4.5 writing. That's 800 V/770 Q on the old scale.

I've heard the cutoff for top programs being discussed as 162...worth it? My gut says no...between the risk of a potentially lower Q score and the cost of time spent studying its probably not worth it. Unless, I could potentially see a real benefit from a score jump.

Thoughts? What is the "cut off" going to be moving forward? I'm applying this fall.

[aspievirgin]

Correct me if I'm wrong: There is a new GRE policy beginning in July, called ScoreSelect, which allows you to send only your best set of scores (without revealing when you've taken it or whether you've taken GRE more than once). So you shouldn't worry about a potentially lower score; you'll get to see the (expected) score on test date and decide whether to send it. In fact you can send only the new score.

[tm_member]

Hi All,

I took the GRE last fall and received a 170 V/161 Q/4.5 writing. That's 800 V/770 Q on the old scale.

I've heard the cutoff for top programs being discussed as 162...worth it? My gut says no...between the risk of a potentially lower Q score and the cost of time spent studying its probably not worth it. Unless, I could potentially see a real benefit from a score jump.

Thoughts? What is the "cut off" going to be moving forward? I'm applying this fall.

Depends on the schools you are applying to. 161 is probably acceptable outside the top 10-15, inside that, we usually think of the cut off as being 780 (with an increasing trend) except for those who have something exceptional about their profile.