Regarding the GRE, I'd suggest looking at
the tracker to compare your scores. To be honest, Q169 V161 is amazing. Aiming for 170 when you have 169 is a waste of time in my opinion, you're 1 point away from a perfect score and we all know how silly this test can be. I believe we tend to over emphasize the importance of the GRE in the application. That being said, it is still remotely useful to show that you have "math" abilities, especially when your math background is lackluster. But you won't get rejected because you have 169 and not 170 on the quantitative part of the GRE...