Columbia MFE Unexpected GRE results

[santino]

I just sat my GRE. I was aiming at a very high quant score and a not too dismal verbal. Instead, what I got was 170V / 166Q. I was pleasantly surprised by the verbal score, but a bit dejected by the quant score.

According to Magoosh this quant score is the 92nd percentile which doesn't sound too bad, however the VAST majority of people accepted at Columbia have 170Q, at least according to the tracker.https://www.quantnet.com/tracker/

I have a couple of questions.

1) This may sound silly but: do the admissions people frown upon a GRE with a higher V than Q score? I checked the tracker and I did not see a single application with scores like this. Or could this be turned into an asset?

2) Should I retake the GRE to try and get the 170Q? I would need to wait 22 days per ETS rules, and would be getting the results very near the application deadlines. Not to mention that there is no guarantee that I’ll improve the quant score and indeed verbal may get worse. Also $200 is not a trivial sum of money for me at the moment.

Thanks for any input/advice.

 

[bigbadwolf]

The Q score matters and the V score not so much after a certain threshold. Your V score, incidentally, is phenomenal. You are right that your V score may suffer -- some of the questions seem to admit more than one correct answer (among the choices presented) and choosing which one is supposed to be correct in the eyes of ETS is dicey. On the other hand, it doesn't really matter for MFE programs as long as your V score is above 155 or thereabouts. The Q score does matter and 166 is a bit on the low side for the strong programs.

 

[IntoDarkness]

166q is good enough if you are a domestic student with mathy background

 

[santino]

The Q score does matter and 166 is a bit on the low side for the strong programs.

Thanks for the response. Do you think it is on the low side that would still make the cut? Or in the "we never actually read your application because the Q score was too low for this cohort" low side?

 

[lmaonade]

Thanks for the response. Do you think it is on the low side that would still make the cut? Or in the "we never actually read your application because the Q score was too low for this cohort" low side?

I got into 2 top programs with a quant score lower than yours. I wouldn't lose any sleep over a 166. That 170V may even be a small boost for you, given that quants stereotypically have less-than-stellar communication abilities.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Thanks for the response. Do you think it is on the low side that would still make the cut? Or in the "we never actually read your application because the Q score was too low for this cohort" low side?

I think you should be okay. The comment of IntoDarkness above is correct. And the 170V has to count for something --some of quant work is about moving back and forth between math and ordinary language.

 

[santino]

166q is good enough if you are a domestic student with mathy background

Thanks for the reply. I am not a domestic student. I do have a respectable math background though.

I got into 2 top programs with a quant score lower than yours. I wouldn't lose any sleep over a 166. That 170V may even be a small boost for you, given that quants stereotypically have less-than-stellar communication abilities.

That is reassuring. Thanks.

I think you should be okay. The comment of IntoDarkness above is correct. And the 170V has to count for something --some of quant work is about moving back and forth between math and ordinary language.

I hope it does. Thanks bigbadwolf. Great username by the way.