Hi Wilmotters,I was just curious as to what kind of Verbal GRE score these Masters programs are looking for. Assumuing a perfect or near perfect quant score (which is no problem for me), what do you really need to be competitive? Right now it looks like I'm batting around the 600 range, though I suspect this can be raised by studying a ton of vocab (which is how I got my SAT verbal score above 700).--Rrolack

I'm not sure what score will make you competitive with everyone else, but I scored much lower than 600 and am currently at Columbia's MAFN. If I remember correctly a 600 in the verbal is pretty good, because of the way its scaled. They are obviously much more concerned with the quantitative score, so I don't think you have too much to worry about. Good luck on the test and with the admission process.

Funny, I would have thought they'd be more concerned with the verbal score. The logic for this would be that most applicants should have 800 or very near that in the quant section, and that a high verbal score is really the only way to differentiate yourself.

The schools aren't really looking for people with amazing vocabularies. I think the quantitative score is important, but you're right it will not do you too much good, since most if not all qualified applicants will have the top score. You need to differentiate yourself through your recomendations, past academic performance, and any possible experience. Once again good luck.

One could always apply to a school which doesn't use the GRE test. Even a perfect score, 800, is only a 92nd percentile. The ranking degrades quickly below 800. Just a thought.. perhaps a marginal verbal score could be buried using the GRE math subject test. Unlike the sissy quantitative section, the math subject test is pretty hard, IMO.

Verbal GRE not important. If you are a foreigner, forget about it, focus on math.I know one kid with below 500 verbal GRE...he got into a PhD program at Stanford, but decided to go to Harvard. Seriously.Another one scored mid 500, got into Chicago Finmath. Yet another scored low 500, got into Berkeley MFE. Who cares about verbal...as long as the quant skills are there.

Yep, that’s what I heard too. They will look at your Quant GRE score only, and ignore the rest.However, for people planning to take the test (including myself), we will also put in some effort to study for the verbal GRE as well. After all, the cost of taking the GRE test is not cheap and we will try our best not to jeopardise any chances of admitting into good universities.Gmike2000: “Verbal GRE not important. If you are a foreigner, forget about it, focus on math.” What do you mean by this? Why foreigners?

QuoteOriginally posted by: Gmike2000Verbal GRE not important. If you are a foreigner, forget about it, focus on math.I know one kid with below 500 verbal GRE...he got into a PhD program at Stanford, but decided to go to Harvard. Seriously.Another one scored mid 500, got into Chicago Finmath. Yet another scored low 500, got into Berkeley MFE. Who cares about verbal...as long as the quant skills are there.Verbal skills are certainly important, and I'll guess your ivy league examples had good essays to make up for their test scores. Test scores, quant or verbal, are a very poor indicator useful only for sorting large numbers of applicants and weeding out those who didn't even bother to study. Admissions groups should be smart enough to look past that at your experience, referrences, and how well you sell why you want to study there.A common problem I see is that too many graduating quants are still considered verbally soft (or are they just too "hard"), and so are stereotyped to be back-office researchers and semi-academics rather than 7-figure bonus sales engineers. What you want to do, how you spend your time, and how you sell your story is the key to getting it.

What I meant with "foreigners" are those whose first language is not English. The verbal GRE is so hard that even natives have a tough time with it. Foreigners just cannot do well on it. Admissions people know this and they look at the TOEFL instead. Certainly, a good verbal score is always a plus. And I agree with exotiq that verbal skills are very important in general, even for quants. But do not worry too much about your scores. I think the math GRE is easier than the math SAT, so any high school graduate could do well on it. Plus, the admissions rates to quant masters programs are higher than you think. It really isnt like applying to top notch MBA programs or to law/medical school. Much much easier to get in...

Verbal 600 is more than fine. I was in the same range .... very good in quant and analytical and 600 on Verbal. At that time, 600 corresponded to 84%-tile. So, I was not worried at all. Better than 84% of all people who intend to go to grad school. This includes all those who are interested in programs where verbal is more of a concern (English depts, History, etc.).It didn't keep me out of any schools. And, I know the school where I ended up gave it practically zero weight. If English is your first language and you score a 400, they may wonder.

Well, I am from Singapore and my language medium in university is English. As such, I do not need to take the TOEFL. I can safely say I am competent to write fluently in English. However, the GRE Verbal tests candidates on “big” words (some of which I have not even seen before!! haha), and I think I do have to spend some time to study for them. Somehow, I do think Verbal and Analytical GRE do play a part in the admission process.How do you guys prepare for the Verbal and Analytical GRE tests??

QuoteOriginally posted by: skimpWell, I am from Singapore and my language medium in university is English. As such, I do not need to take the TOEFL. I can safely say I am competent to write fluently in English. However, the GRE Verbal tests candidates on “big” words (some of which I have not even seen before!! haha), and I think I do have to spend some time to study for them. Somehow, I do think Verbal and Analytical GRE do play a part in the admission process.How do you guys prepare for the Verbal and Analytical GRE tests??You seem to think the fact that there are words you haven't seen before is surprising ... interesting.Anyway, just do a few sample analytical tests to get used to the pace. It's not hard, but the tests are pretty long so you'll need to get used to it.I didn't prepare for my verbal at all.