Official GRE Score Reports

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Tom Joad
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Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Tom Joad » Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:45 pm

Is it assumed that official score reports are required to be mailed to graduate schools? I know that most don't require official transcripts until an offer is made, but does the same rule apply for the GRE scores? I've looked thoroughly for a statement on admissions websites, but mostly I've just found mailing addresses, departmental codes, and FAQs about November test scores. I also realize I could email the question to each school myself, but I expect the reply will be either slow or nonexistent.


I ask because saving $150 is in my interest.

TakeruK
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by TakeruK » Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:54 pm

Almost all schools want official GRE score reports when you apply. You CANNOT mail them the copy you received in the mail. Instead, you have to order "Additional Score Reports" either online or by phone. You will need to provide the Institution Code and/or Department Code for your programs (see application info). It costs about $23 per score report.

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Tom Joad
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Tom Joad » Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:01 pm

TakeruK wrote:Almost all schools want official GRE score reports when you apply. You CANNOT mail them the copy you received in the mail. Instead, you have to order "Additional Score Reports" either online or by phone. You will need to provide the Institution Code and/or Department Code for your programs (see application info). It costs about $23 per score report.

Thanks, that's what I figured, unfortunately. Time to add to the ETS's profit margin!

Meteorshower
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Meteorshower » Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:45 pm

Yeah it's ridiculous, I don't understand how each place can cost $25

bfollinprm
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by bfollinprm » Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:28 pm

I disagree with TakeruK; I self-reported GRE's at tons of schools and they only needed my official score reports once I was accepted.

Lavabug
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Lavabug » Sat Dec 01, 2012 1:26 pm

bfollinprm wrote:I disagree with TakeruK; I self-reported GRE's at tons of schools and they only needed my official score reports once I was accepted.
Same here, and I'm applying at 10 schools. The official ETS report is required at the end of the day, but almost all departments request a scan of the transcripts, GRE, and TOEFL score reports you get in the mail to consider you for admission.

The annoying bit is that I'm probably going to receive my scores in the mail after the ETS scores arrive, but I still need to report it at most places. Some just let you update your online app with your scores, the rest I hope will be understanding if I just call near the deadline and let them know.

TakeruK
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by TakeruK » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:30 pm

I guess I was just unlucky and my programs all wanted official ETS reports! Sorry for the confusion!

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Tom Joad
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Tom Joad » Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:16 pm

bfollinprm wrote:I disagree with TakeruK; I self-reported GRE's at tons of schools and they only needed my official score reports once I was accepted.
Lavabug wrote: Same here, and I'm applying at 10 schools. The official ETS report is required at the end of the day, but almost all departments request a scan of the transcripts, GRE, and TOEFL score reports you get in the mail to consider you for admission.

The annoying bit is that I'm probably going to receive my scores in the mail after the ETS scores arrive, but I still need to report it at most places. Some just let you update your online app with your scores, the rest I hope will be understanding if I just call near the deadline and let them know.
Did you find official statements on the admission websites about this, or did you ask/gamble about it? Now that I think about it I've never actually seen the official score report as a requirement.....

bfollinprm
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by bfollinprm » Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:02 am

Tom Joad wrote:
bfollinprm wrote:I disagree with TakeruK; I self-reported GRE's at tons of schools and they only needed my official score reports once I was accepted.
Did you find official statements on the admission websites about this, or did you ask/gamble about it? Now that I think about it I've never actually seen the official score report as a requirement.....
I saw official statements at some places, and in others I asked. Anywhere that tells you to put in the PGRE score manually into the application is likely to accept that until they are about to make an offer, at which point they'll ask for your official score report to be sent to them. If you've lied, they just rescind your acceptance. I think only one school asked me to send in official score reports, and I believe it was one which took well into April to tell me the result of my application (thus categorizing the admission committee as jerks).

microacg
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by microacg » Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:49 pm

Related question so I don't want to create a new thread...

If you take the gre/pgre before you start the application process, should you use your four free sends to send your scores to four of the schools you are most likely going to apply to? Can you send the scores even before you have submitted any application materials? This is assuming you haven't determined that none of the schools you are interested in want an official score report up front.

TakeruK
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by TakeruK » Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:01 pm

microacg wrote:Related question so I don't want to create a new thread...

If you take the gre/pgre before you start the application process, should you use your four free sends to send your scores to four of the schools you are most likely going to apply to? Can you send the scores even before you have submitted any application materials? This is assuming you haven't determined that none of the schools you are interested in want an official score report up front.
Yes.

I took the General GRE in June 2011. When I started my application process in Nov/Dec 2011, the online form asks you for the GRE Test Registration Number. For most schools, my scores popped up immediately after I entered that registration number. I am not 100% sure but I don't think ETS actually physically "sends" test scores very often anymore. I suspect that all schools have online access to the ETS database of scores, but they can only see/access your specific scores if you have given them permission (either by one of the four free schools or paying a $23-ish fee). So it's okay to submit your scores before you started an application -- it's not like the score report is going to get lost on a desk somewhere etc. I also suspect that the score reporting from ETS to each school is not physical because when my November 2011 PGRE scores were available online, I paid for additional score reports one evening and the next morning, the scores appeared on my online application! I guess it is possible that ETS is sending scores by overnight courier and that everyone at all these university offices are super duper efficient......:P

quantum_fan
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by quantum_fan » Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:04 pm

Also, you should definitely take advantage of the 4 free reports, even if you're not 100% sure that you'll be applying to those schools. Unfortunately, you can't hold onto the 4 free reports indefinitely - you have to use them before the test (or immediately after in the case of the regular GRE).

AprilMay4
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by AprilMay4 » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:35 pm

I have a more cautious opinion on the question of using the 4 free score reports. I did BAD the first time I took the PGRE. And at that point I was only certain that I was going to apply to Princeton, Stanford, Michigan, and Wisconsin, so I just blindly sent the scores there for free. I seriously regret that decision because even though those schools also received my second score (which was far better than the first), the only four schools I was rejected from were the four schools that got the first score. (I didn't send the first score to any of the other schools I eventually applied to.)

Now I'm not saying that the only reason I didn't get into those schools was because they got the first score, because they were all highly ranked schools and there could have been other reasons. But I was also accepted at schools that I think are very similar in rank and such... And it just seems like too much of a coincidence to me. Princeton and Stanford and even Michigan I could see not getting into.. but I definitely should have gotten into Wisconsin (in my opinion!).

I'm not saying don't use the free sends, I mean... it's FREE! I would just recommend using them to send the scores to schools that aren't your top choices. That way, you can decide what scores to send to your top choices once you see the scores just in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong the first time you take the test.

jigsaw
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by jigsaw » Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:27 am

AprilMay4 wrote:I have a more cautious opinion on the question of using the 4 free score reports. I did BAD the first time I took the PGRE. And at that point I was only certain that I was going to apply to Princeton, Stanford, Michigan, and Wisconsin, so I just blindly sent the scores there for free. I seriously regret that decision because even though those schools also received my second score (which was far better than the first), the only four schools I was rejected from were the four schools that got the first score. (I didn't send the first score to any of the other schools I eventually applied to.)

Now I'm not saying that the only reason I didn't get into those schools was because they got the first score, because they were all highly ranked schools and there could have been other reasons. But I was also accepted at schools that I think are very similar in rank and such... And it just seems like too much of a coincidence to me. Princeton and Stanford and even Michigan I could see not getting into.. but I definitely should have gotten into Wisconsin (in my opinion!).

I'm not saying don't use the free sends, I mean... it's FREE! I would just recommend using them to send the scores to schools that aren't your top choices. That way, you can decide what scores to send to your top choices once you see the scores just in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong the first time you take the test.
Do you really think GRE scores are such a big deal? Because in my experience, it doesn't seem so. Last year I didn't take GREs (neither General nor Physics) and applied for Harvard & Caltech only (I applied for mostly british schools), and I was rejected. I thought the absence of GRE scores was the main factor, so I took GREs and reapplied again this year. I had perfect scores this time in Physics GRE & GRE Quantitative, but it made no difference whatsoever, I got rejected at Harvard & Caltech again (and a bunch of other schools). I'm getting the impression that as long as you have 850+ (for theorist) or 750+ (for experimentalists), exactly how much you scored no longer matters! And IMHO 850 in Physics GRE is rather easy to obtain, I read somewhere that GRE Physics question papers lack originality, so if you can comfortably solve the 500 questions of the 5 available tests, you can also comfortably solve the 100 questions you will be asked in the actual test. So just take those 5 tests at home and figure out the problems you couldn't solve and you are all set for the actual test, just make sure that you don't end up solving all the problems only to find out that you don't have any time left to darken the bubbles. I don't know about others, but the trick worked for me, my raw scores improved from one test to the next, although the scaled score remained the same. And yes, I sent my FREE scores to the schools I considered my top choices back then (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley as score recipients; and MIT as Undergrad Institution).

actrask
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by actrask » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:44 am

jigsaw wrote: Do you really think GRE scores are such a big deal? Because in my experience, it doesn't seem so. Last year I didn't take GREs (neither General nor Physics) and applied for Harvard & Caltech only (I applied for mostly british schools), and I was rejected. I thought the absence of GRE scores was the main factor, so I took GREs and reapplied again this year. I had perfect scores this time in Physics GRE & GRE Quantitative, but it made no difference whatsoever, I got rejected at Harvard & Caltech again (and a bunch of other schools). I'm getting the impression that as long as you have 850+ (for theorist) or 750+ (for experimentalists), exactly how much you scored no longer matters! And IMHO 850 in Physics GRE is rather easy to obtain, I read somewhere that GRE Physics question papers lack originality, so if you can comfortably solve the 500 questions of the 5 available tests, you can also comfortably solve the 100 questions you will be asked in the actual test. So just take those 5 tests at home and figure out the problems you couldn't solve and you are all set for the actual test, just make sure that you don't end up solving all the problems only to find out that you don't have any time left to darken the bubbles. I don't know about others, but the trick worked for me, my raw scores improved from one test to the next, although the scaled score remained the same. And yes, I sent my FREE scores to the schools I considered my top choices back then (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley as score recipients; and MIT as Undergrad Institution).
People on this forum have looked at the profiles for the past several years and found a very strong correlation between pgre and admission statistics.

http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5004
http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5008

The general exam is probably more of a 'ticked box' but there is certainly strong evidence that your pgre score matters quite a bit. Physics departments may claim to look at the candidate's whole application and can sometimes overlook poor test scores if they are stronger in other areas but it's pretty evident from those links that you'll have a much easier time in admissions if you score highly on the pgre.

blighter
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by blighter » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:24 am

jigsaw wrote:
AprilMay4 wrote:I have a more cautious opinion on the question of using the 4 free score reports. I did BAD the first time I took the PGRE. And at that point I was only certain that I was going to apply to Princeton, Stanford, Michigan, and Wisconsin, so I just blindly sent the scores there for free. I seriously regret that decision because even though those schools also received my second score (which was far better than the first), the only four schools I was rejected from were the four schools that got the first score. (I didn't send the first score to any of the other schools I eventually applied to.)

Now I'm not saying that the only reason I didn't get into those schools was because they got the first score, because they were all highly ranked schools and there could have been other reasons. But I was also accepted at schools that I think are very similar in rank and such... And it just seems like too much of a coincidence to me. Princeton and Stanford and even Michigan I could see not getting into.. but I definitely should have gotten into Wisconsin (in my opinion!).

I'm not saying don't use the free sends, I mean... it's FREE! I would just recommend using them to send the scores to schools that aren't your top choices. That way, you can decide what scores to send to your top choices once you see the scores just in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong the first time you take the test.
Do you really think GRE scores are such a big deal? Because in my experience, it doesn't seem so. Last year I didn't take GREs (neither General nor Physics) and applied for Harvard & Caltech only (I applied for mostly british schools), and I was rejected. I thought the absence of GRE scores was the main factor, so I took GREs and reapplied again this year. I had perfect scores this time in Physics GRE & GRE Quantitative, but it made no difference whatsoever, I got rejected at Harvard & Caltech again (and a bunch of other schools). I'm getting the impression that as long as you have 850+ (for theorist) or 750+ (for experimentalists), exactly how much you scored no longer matters! And IMHO 850 in Physics GRE is rather easy to obtain, I read somewhere that GRE Physics question papers lack originality, so if you can comfortably solve the 500 questions of the 5 available tests, you can also comfortably solve the 100 questions you will be asked in the actual test. So just take those 5 tests at home and figure out the problems you couldn't solve and you are all set for the actual test, just make sure that you don't end up solving all the problems only to find out that you don't have any time left to darken the bubbles. I don't know about others, but the trick worked for me, my raw scores improved from one test to the next, although the scaled score remained the same. And yes, I sent my FREE scores to the schools I considered my top choices back then (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley as score recipients; and MIT as Undergrad Institution).
If you look at her profile, it very much seems to be the case that she got rejected from those schools because of her earlier PGRE scores. She got accepted everywhere except those four places. It's much too unlikely to have been a coincidence.

TakeruK
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by TakeruK » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:34 am

AprilMay4 wrote: I'm not saying don't use the free sends, I mean... it's FREE! I would just recommend using them to send the scores to schools that aren't your top choices. That way, you can decide what scores to send to your top choices once you see the scores just in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong the first time you take the test.
I agree with AprilMay4! In the past, (Fall 2012 application season and prior years), I would have recommended choosing the four schools you'll apply to for sure with your four free score reports! However, back then, there was no "ScoreSelect", so no matter if it was a paid score report or a free score report, all schools will see all scores from the last 5 years! But now that ScoreSelect exists, AprilMay4 is right.

If you are only planning to apply to like 4 to 6 schools anyways, I would still use up all four free score reports (and thus potentially sending a "bad" score to a top choice). But if you know there is a long list of schools you'll be applying to, then why not select four schools where it might not be as competitive to get in!

Personally, I still think ScoreSelect is a way for ETS to encourage students to take the tests more than once (before, there was a risk that you'll score the same or lower) and thus making the average level of scores submitted in applications rise! I'm just glad I will never have to take it again :P

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Tom Joad
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Re: Official GRE Score Reports

Post by Tom Joad » Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:53 pm

jigsaw wrote: Do you really think GRE scores are such a big deal? Because in my experience, it doesn't seem so. Last year I didn't take GREs (neither General nor Physics) and applied for Harvard & Caltech only (I applied for mostly british schools), and I was rejected. I thought the absence of GRE scores was the main factor, so I took GREs and reapplied again this year. I had perfect scores this time in Physics GRE & GRE Quantitative, but it made no difference whatsoever, I got rejected at Harvard & Caltech again (and a bunch of other schools). I'm getting the impression that as long as you have 850+ (for theorist) or 750+ (for experimentalists), exactly how much you scored no longer matters! And IMHO 850 in Physics GRE is rather easy to obtain, I read somewhere that GRE Physics question papers lack originality, so if you can comfortably solve the 500 questions of the 5 available tests, you can also comfortably solve the 100 questions you will be asked in the actual test. So just take those 5 tests at home and figure out the problems you couldn't solve and you are all set for the actual test, just make sure that you don't end up solving all the problems only to find out that you don't have any time left to darken the bubbles. I don't know about others, but the trick worked for me, my raw scores improved from one test to the next, although the scaled score remained the same. And yes, I sent my FREE scores to the schools I considered my top choices back then (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley as score recipients; and MIT as Undergrad Institution).
The first time your applications probably weren't even considered, as they were incomplete. Also, GRE scores are obviously important (see any profile thread), but being very important doesn't mean their the only important thing.



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