GRE versus other qualifiers

[Oldmuscle]

Hello,

This is a great forum, I've gleaned much information from it.

I've been studying for the GRE off and on for about 4 weeks. Today I took my first practice test and scored a 900 (430 quant, 470 verbal). I have several months to continue studying for the exam so am not too concerned about increasing the score, but I was wondering how all the other qualifiers are weighed when combined with the GRE score? Here's why I ask.

I'm in my early 50s and want to pursue an assistantship. The graduate degree will be in communication theory. Aside from my GRE results, here's what I'll have to offer...

--4.0 GPA in my undergrad school, 3.9 GPA at another college.

--Almost my entire adult life spent in advertising and marketing communication management.

--Stellar written recommendations from at least 5 professors.

--My strength is in communication and two of the professors giving me recommendations teach communication classes; one received his MA in communications from the university I'm applying.

I recognize it's tough to offer solid advice here, but was just wondering about general experience from others. I guess the question is this: in a worse case scenario, if I was unable to raise the GRE score by much, would my other qualifications help in "selling" myself into the program?

Again, recognize it's a tough question, but I'm quite disappointed at my low first-test scores. One last thing that might offer more insight. I am medicated for a learning disability and will take steps to have special arrangements made for the actual test. To this end, I took the practice test and didn't complete 6 of the verbal questions. This should be cared for with the special arrangements. Thanks for any thoughts!