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October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:41 am
by blackmass
According to ets, if you take the October 25 Subject exam, the "approximate score report mailing date" is December 5.

Harvard's website explicitly says,

"You must take the GRE in sufficient time for score reports to reach us by the application deadline."

Their deadline being December 16th. And it looks like most other schools have similar deadlines. I'd hate to have to take the test a whole month earlier, just to play it safe, but am I really facing potentially incomplete applications otherwise?

It seems pretty ridiculous to even offer a test like that when the scores may not reach schools on time. I'm sure some schools are probably somewhat lenient on this? It sounds like Harvard is pretty strict, though. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:53 pm
by TakeruK
December 6 mailing date should be fine, but check with the school? In 2011, the fall test dates were Oct and Nov, so I took my exam on Nov 11 and the scores did not get to schools until approx. Dec 12 or so. This was past the deadline for a couple of programs but they did not really care (I emailed them all ahead of time to let them know my Nov score might be a few days late). However, I did have a Apr 2009 score at that time so maybe they were less worried about getting an updated score?

Check with your schools to be certain! But generally a score a few days late is not a big deal.

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:24 am
by blackmass
Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll just have to e-mail them..

I was just worried that Harvard's statement is rather explicit, and e-mailing them would result in essentially a copy and paste of the line I posted above, ha.

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 7:06 pm
by astroprof
Although the only definitive response to your question can come from Harvard directly, you should not worry about this in regards to the October Physics GRE. The warning is really in reference to students who do not plan ahead and so they request score reports on the day of the application deadline. ETS is aware of the typical application deadlines and, in part due to these concerns, has been steadily moving the date of the subject tests forward so that scores can reach the Universities in time. Specifically, this was an issue the first year that ETS introduced the concept of ScoreSelect since students who took the subject test in November did not receive their scores in time to choose which scores (test dates) to send in as part of their application (prior to this, all scores were reported, so there was no benefit in waiting to see the scores before sending them in). Because of this, the subject test dates are now in September and October. For either of these dates, you should receive your scores sufficiently in advance of the application deadlines so that you can use the ScoreSelect option if you choose to do so.

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 2:48 pm
by blackmass
astroprof wrote:Although the only definitive response to your question can come from Harvard directly, you should not worry about this in regards to the October Physics GRE. The warning is really in reference to students who do not plan ahead and so they request score reports on the day of the application deadline. ETS is aware of the typical application deadlines and, in part due to these concerns, has been steadily moving the date of the subject tests forward so that scores can reach the Universities in time. Specifically, this was an issue the first year that ETS introduced the concept of ScoreSelect since students who took the subject test in November did not receive their scores in time to choose which scores (test dates) to send in as part of their application (prior to this, all scores were reported, so there was no benefit in waiting to see the scores before sending them in). Because of this, the subject test dates are now in September and October. For either of these dates, you should receive your scores sufficiently in advance of the application deadlines so that you can use the ScoreSelect option if you choose to do so.
Thank you for the reply! I was moments away from registering for the September test, but after your message, I think I may take advantage of the extra month and take the test in October.

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:52 am
by blackmass
I heard back from Harvard, and evidently the scores must arrive before the deadline in order to be considered for admission. Many other schools, however, state explicitly that it's ok if GRE scores arrive some time after the application deadline (just so anyone interested is aware -- it's worth looking into).

It seems that out of all of the schools I'll be applying to, Harvard is the only one that's strict about this policy. I don't think I want to take the exam a whole month early just to play it safe for one school, seeing as it is a reach school, anyway. I'm going to go ahead and apply and cross my fingers that the scores arrive on time. And if not, there goes 100 bucks...

Re: October test too late to report scores?

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:07 pm
by omannion
Thank you for the info I was worried about this aswell.