What is the preferred GRE Writing score for MS/CS student?

Question

I am planing to apply to study in graduate school, major in computer science/engineering. I just took a GRE test, this is my 1st time, and the result is pretty...not so good :(

Most schools, the science or engineering related program, reveals the average or preferred GRE scores for quantitative and verbal sections for admitted students. But it seems they don't care about the score of Analytic Writing section. Really?

To be honest, my writing score really bumped this time. I want to know if there's a preferred score range for this section.

Answer 1

There's a reason it's not listed--there is no preferred score, it doesn't really matter. I am not an expert, but I feel like the writing score is something that can only hurt you, not something that can help you, at least with respect to science or engineering graduate programs.

More concretely, I can see a very low score preventing you from getting into a program, but I highly doubt the admissions committee saying: "Well, he got a great score on the writing section, that really differentiates him from other applicants; let's admit him."

For a foreign student or non-native speaker, doing well in the writing section probably carries a little more weight than it does for native speakers; nonetheless, I believe that the above still holds.

Answer 2

According to my experience:

The GRE scores are just initial cut-offs.

Analytical writing usually requires a minimum score of 3 that's it. But this is true for most of the universities there may be some exceptions to the rule obviously.

Scores 3 and 2.5
Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.