Took the GRE Twice, Which Score is Best? Help Apps Are Due!

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Hey all!

I hope everyone is weathering the application storm with ease, I know first hand that it can be stressful! I know this is a GMAT site but I have been using the MBA resources and since they've been really helpful I figured I'd give a GRE question a shot! I took the GRE twice, my total scores are almost the same but the individual scores flip flop so I'm not sure which test would be the best to submit with my apps.

First Exam: 1270

580 Verbal - 82th Percentile
690 Quant - 69th Percentile

Second Exam: 1260

520 Verbal - 68th Percentile
740 Quant - 80th Percentile

I made the mistake of not studying any vocab (I was getting 640 verbals on Kaplan practice CATs, horrible indicators of real scores!) and focusing on math so while I got lucky for the first exam, my luck ran out on the second time around. Lesson learned! Nevertheless, I have to report my best scores for my apps but I'm not sure if it would be better to have a great quant score and a decent verbal or a good verbal and a decent quant.

I know business schools are more concerned with the quant score, especially if you come from a non quant background (Journalism major, B's in math, 3.3 GPA), but I'm concerned my verbal in my second exam is too low.(I come from a journalism background so the assumption would be that I can score much higher in verbal)

Most b-schools do not publish GRE averages but Harvard recently released the scores of students admitted to their 2+2 program. My first exam puts me on the lowest end of the 80% range for quant and verbal but my second exam falls short of the range for verbal.

Range of GRE Q 690-800
Range of GRE V 560-800
Average GRE Q 767
Average GRE V 679

Another concern is Columbia isn't shy about using the ETS' GMAT/GRE comparison tool and the tool is not very forgiving of GRE test takers--you need a perfect math and a 90th percentile verbal on the GRE just to get a 700. According to the tool I'd get a 620-630 on the GMAT :(

With that said, which test do you think I should use?

Thanks in advance!

KD
Source: — Research MBA Programs |

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by Bryant@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:21 pm
If it's anything like GMAT score submission, the schools will get both your scores anyway with the report, so if that's the case, you can write in your highest numerical score and let the schools interpret the splits.
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by karanrulz4ever » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:36 am
Like Bryant said, you should report only your best score.

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by KendraD » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:58 pm
Thanks everyone, I ended up putting up my second exam score in the application and sending both scores via the official score report.

@karanrulz4ever as mentioned in my original post, it was unclear what score was the best score. The totals were the same.