Bad AWA, extent of effect on application

[pradhan_123]

Colleges have started to accept GRE instead of GMAT for MBA. So I gave the GRE and scored 325/340, Quant - 170 (98 %le), Verbal - 155 (67 %le) and AWA - 3.5 (38 %le) [albeit I was expecting a 4.5+]. According to the score convertor provided by ETS it comes to 710+ in GMAT.
While I realise my Quant score is good, what I am afraid is that AWA will pull be down and would make it impossible for me to get into good B-Schools. I've an average GPA with good experience in leadership with various organizations through my school and college life. How bad is pitiful AWA score going to reflect on my application and what are my chances?
Go ahead and be blunt, because truth is what I need.

P.S: I'm a non-native english speaker, does this reduce my chances even more? I've won elocution and debate competition numerous times, so it isn't like I can't form a sentence or put it together grammatically.

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Hi pradhan_123,

The GRE AWA section is rather similar to the GMAT AWA, so the scores are comparable. Most Business Schools would expect you to score a 4.0 or better on the AWA, but your Verbal score might be enough to 'offset' it.

This is ultimately a question that is better answered by Admissions Experts, so I suggest that you ask them. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[Michael@VeritasPrep]

I don't think the poor AWA will be a total deal breaker. You'll have the opportunity to address it with some strong essays. You could even consider writing the optional essay to explain the poor performance.