GRE Writing Score

[Whodatis]

Hi Everyone,

I took my GRE a couple weeks ago and was satisfied with my Verbal and Quantitative scores, but when I got my Writing grade yesterday I was pretty disheartened (V: 161, Q: 164, W:4). I didn't necessarily think I deserved anything higher since I put virtually no prep time into that section, but after seeing such a low percentile, I was pretty upset with myself. I know that GRE scores don't make or break an applicant, but does anyone know if schools really care about that grade?

Other stats:
College: Private Midwest University
Major: Finance
GPA: 3.54
Work Experience: 3 years of financial and litigation consulting (nothing related to healthcare)
Research: none

My top three schools are Michigan, JHU and U of Washington-Seattle (family reasons), and I know those are all ranked very high, so I'd like to be as competitive as possible. I also work a lot and don't really want to spend time (not to mention an extra $200!) preparing again for this test if you guys don't think it's necessary. Any advice is much appreciated

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[Pdesai8]

Don't worry, schools don't really care about your writing score in the GRE. They can see from your essays your ability to write. I didn't go scare well on the writing portion either but did really well on Math, Verbal and had great essays - and I got into all the top schools.

The only problem I see with your background is your lack of healthcare experience. Do you have any internships or volunteer work you can draw on for your personal statement? It's going to be hard to talk about your passion for going in to healthcare if you haven't worked in it at all.

 

[Whodatis]

Thanks for the input

Don't worry, schools don't really care about your writing score in the GRE. They can see from your essays your ability to write. I didn't go scare well on the writing portion either but did really well on Math, Verbal and had great essays - and I got into all the top schools.

The only problem I see with your background is your lack of healthcare experience. Do you have any internships or volunteer work you can draw on for your personal statement? It's going to be hard to talk about your passion for going in to healthcare if you haven't worked in it at all.

Thanks for the input. I've talked to several people in the field and they've told me that as long as I can articulate how my litigation consulting experience ties to working in healthcare, I should be fine. But you're right, I do wish I had some experience in the field. Everyone has to start somewhere!