<p>If you’ve got published research don’t you have a professor or two you’ve worked closely with and knows you outside of class? You really want your statement of purpose to show they know you and understand your abilities to do research. Grad school doesn’t care about your abilities to get an A, they want to know you’re smart enough to get a B in your classes while spending the rest of your time producing good research.</p>
<p>Also, as to GREs, I got a 720 on the math section and feel it hindered me a bit during grad applications. I still got into a few top 10 schools, but I was waitlisted at a number of others and wonder if I had actually taken the thirty minutes to study if I’d have gotten into one or two more places.</p>