Low GRE score options

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QUESTION:

Hi,

      I am Kumar (Name Changed) and I am applying for MS in Electrical Engineering in Fall 2013.

My profile :

Gre : 305 Verbal : 147 Quant : 158 A.W. : 3.0
Toefl : 95
acads : 60% Pune University ENTC
10th : 80%
12% : 70%

Projects : 3rd yr Minor project
Electronic peddle shifter for college BAJA team
Final yr major project

Co-curricular : Winner of a college event 'circuit debugging'
participation in various other events and workshops on robotics and embedded systems

Extra-curricular : Represented India for table soccer (during my 12th)
district level in badminton and karate(till 10th)

Applying for MS in Electrical Engg.
Interested in Embedded systems

I have shortlisted some universities .

1. UT Dallas
2. UFL
3. University of Colorado-Boulder
4. UNCC
5. UMass, Amherst
6. Syracuse
7. Virgina Tech
8. University of Virginia

Now I feel that my gre score is is low and I am thinking of retaking the exam again .

But it is already late to apply to most of universities so I am confused over 

weather to apply this year or to wait till Fall 2014(retaking gre again).

Will it be worth to wait for one year.?

Thanking you in advance.

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ANSWER:

Hello, 

Congratulations on your decision to study in the US. Your background shows that you are a very talented person. Also I am glad that you have selected decent universities for Masters.  Although I am surprised that you have not listed any universities in California—Hub for Electronics companies.

University of Pune is known to be conservative in giving scores, so 60% is a good score. But keep in mind all the Universities you mentioned above attracts students from many other Universities located in many different countries. So, say a student from Osmania University—A University known for giving high scores—will have an advantage over you. So under this condition your low GRE is a cause of concern. I believe you can do much better and so I recommend you giving GRE again.

However you still have time for Fall-2013. Apply to couple of other Universities like SDSU, SJSU, NYU-Poly, NJIT, Stevens, UTA for being on safe side. Come to the US in Fall 2013 and based on your first semester performance  you can easily take transfer in any of above University. That is what even I did and it did wonders for me.

Advantage will be that you will not waste a complete academic year + save on cheaper tuition in above college compared to more expensive universities you mentioned earlier.

Wish you best luck.

--Chirag Shah