I scored a 760 overall on the GMAT, but on the AWA I only scored a 3.5. I was a political science major and my GMAT verbal score was very high so this doesn't make much sense to me. Do I need to retake the test just to get my AWA to something higher than 15% percentile??
It really depends on which schools you're applying to; some schools don't look at the essay score at all. I'd suggest calling the admissions offices at your target schools and explaining the situation to them; there may be some way to finesse the situation. I think that a 760 goes a long way toward making up for that essay score, in general, but requirements will vary from school to school.
Unfortunately, the skill set tested in the Verbal section of the test isn't necessarily the same one they're looking for on the essays (although the Critical Reasoning approaches can be very helpful in the AOA). Essay scorers are looking for structure and logic as well as good writing, and if you're not approaching the organization and support of your ideas the way they want you to, your score will suffer for it. If you do end up having to retake the test (which really would be a shame, so I hope there's some way around it), I'd suggest spending some time working on some of the essay templates and incorporating those into your writing.
Good luck, and congrats on that 760!
