How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

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AriAstronomer
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How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by AriAstronomer » Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:12 am

Hey guys,
So it just occurred to me that when I registered for the tests (GRE and PGRE) I didn't have any schools in mind that I was specifically applying to, so didn't tell them to send my scores anywhere. I'm getting an idea now of where I want to apply, but if I don't decide for ETS to send my scores anywhere, is there enough time to receive the GRE/PGRE and then send them to schools in time? I feel like yes, because this must be a common occurrence, but I also get the feeling that it's down to the wire. Should you call them x weeks after the test vs. wait for the scores in the mail? If you get your score by phone, do you just tell your scores to the school and expect them to believe you (as long as a followup/photocopy of the GRE scores you get in the mail eventually come)?

Thanks,
Ari

TheBeast
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by TheBeast » Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:21 am

Generally speaking, you don't send your scores to the schools. Schools typically want the official score reports from ETS. As such, you have to order (and pay) ETS to send the score reports to the schools that you are applying to.

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HappyQuark
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by HappyQuark » Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:39 pm

AriAstronomer wrote:Hey guys,
So it just occurred to me that when I registered for the tests (GRE and PGRE) I didn't have any schools in mind that I was specifically applying to, so didn't tell them to send my scores anywhere. I'm getting an idea now of where I want to apply, but if I don't decide for ETS to send my scores anywhere, is there enough time to receive the GRE/PGRE and then send them to schools in time? I feel like yes, because this must be a common occurrence, but I also get the feeling that it's down to the wire. Should you call them x weeks after the test vs. wait for the scores in the mail? If you get your score by phone, do you just tell your scores to the school and expect them to believe you (as long as a followup/photocopy of the GRE scores you get in the mail eventually come)?

Thanks,
Ari
When you "send in your scores" that implies that you've paid ETS the fee (if I remember correctly you get 4 free score reports for signing up for the test and it's $23 per test after that) and they send official scores to the schools you've selected. I feel comfortable in generalizing that no school will accept a GRE/PGRE score that you've submitted yourself or that you've simply indicated on a form/phone call/email. Additionally, if you opted not to select specific schools at test time, there is some time period afterwards during which you can still contact ETS and request to use your 4 free score reports. I believe the rule is that the request must be made on or before the last business day (i.e. usually a friday) before the scores are officially released.

pqortic
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by pqortic » Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:25 pm

AriAstronomer, from our post I realized that you don't know how score reporting actually works. check out the link below on ets website. as others said, you have to pay ets to send your official scores to the schools you are going to apply to.

http://www.ets.org/gre/general/scores/send

AriAstronomer
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by AriAstronomer » Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:06 am

Hey guys, thanks for the replies, I guess I could have royally screwed everything up. So I guess this means you need an idea of where you're going to apply to in advance? I mean, that sounds obvious. What I mean is, at the time I registered in march I had no idea where I wanted to apply. I'll probably know for sure by the time school starts. As long as I can still update where to send it then that's fine. If I was expected to know in march or whenever you register that's kind of cheap.

I'm on ETS right now on my account, and there's only an option "order additional score reports", and want to charge me 23$. Any idea if this is possible? It seems cheap if I was expected to know where to apply in march, I don't think anyone would be able to definitely say where they were exactly going to apply to in march. I'm emailing ETS. Is it some stupid thing like you need to request to them by email or over the phone at this point, or do you think if it's not showing up on my ETS account it's not going to work out?

Ari

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HappyQuark
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by HappyQuark » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:17 pm

AriAstronomer wrote:Hey guys, thanks for the replies, I guess I could have royally screwed everything up. So I guess this means you need an idea of where you're going to apply to in advance? I mean, that sounds obvious. What I mean is, at the time I registered in march I had no idea where I wanted to apply. I'll probably know for sure by the time school starts. As long as I can still update where to send it then that's fine. If I was expected to know in march or whenever you register that's kind of cheap.

I'm on ETS right now on my account, and there's only an option "order additional score reports", and want to charge me 23$. Any idea if this is possible? It seems cheap if I was expected to know where to apply in march, I don't think anyone would be able to definitely say where they were exactly going to apply to in march. I'm emailing ETS. Is it some stupid thing like you need to request to them by email or over the phone at this point, or do you think if it's not showing up on my ETS account it's not going to work out?

Ari
I can't find it on their website, and things certainly could have changed since they have re-designed the general GRE recently, but if I remember correctly and assuming everything works the same way it used to, you should still be able to take advantage of the 4 free exam scores even if you didn't select any the first time around. When your scores are sent to your home, there is a page (or it may have been the back side of the sheet) that has a form you can use to change the schools you asked to have your information sent to. The form also indicates that you can have the change made by sending an email to a specific ETS email address and if you provide your user-id number, the test date that you took the general gre and the schools along with their school code numbers, they are supposed to change it. I don't have my scores on hand so I can't tell you what the email address is but I'm sure you could contact one of the generic emails they have on their homepage and ask.

AriAstronomer
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by AriAstronomer » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:11 am

Thanks alot HappyQuark! You've already helped me numerous times on this forum. Probably would have been dead in the water without you.

pqortic
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by pqortic » Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:47 pm

AriAstronomer wrote:Thanks alot HappyQuark! You've already helped me numerous times on this forum. Probably would have been dead in the water without you.
yeah, he is a good lifeguard.

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HappyQuark
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by HappyQuark » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:52 pm

pqortic wrote:
AriAstronomer wrote:Thanks alot HappyQuark! You've already helped me numerous times on this forum. Probably would have been dead in the water without you.
yeah, he is a good lifeguard.
Plus I'm not too hard on the eyes, either.

pqortic
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Re: How long does it take to get scores back and send them?

Post by pqortic » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:28 am

HappyQuark wrote:
pqortic wrote:
AriAstronomer wrote:Thanks alot HappyQuark! You've already helped me numerous times on this forum. Probably would have been dead in the water without you.
yeah, he is a good lifeguard.
Plus I'm not too hard on the eyes, either.
you should keep learning some slang vocabs too.



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