Argh!

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Lavabug
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:19 pm

Argh!

Post by Lavabug » Wed Nov 14, 2012 3:59 am

Just had a look at the ETS site and I noticed they are sending my November scores to the wrong places! I changed my recipient list months ago and the changes (I swapped one uni and added department codes on 2 others) did show up on the site, but after taking the exam they're back to the old ones. Is there any way to convince ETS to change the recipients now or am I going to have to shell out additional money for their mistake? It might be because I used my old ticket which I got in the mail...

How important is specifying the department code? I was going to send scores to two departments in the same university (actually 2 of them) but maybe I could save costs by just sending it without a department number, anyone have experience doing this with universities with both physics and astronomy grad programs?

TakeruK
Posts: 941
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:05 pm

Re: Argh!

Post by TakeruK » Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:12 pm

When I wrote the General GRE (computer), I chose my schools by picking through the list on the computer in the pre-test section of the GRE. However, when I did this, I did not know the specific department I was applying to counted as a different institution and thus had a completely different institution code. I picked "University X" instead of "Institution Name at University X".

Months later, I submitted my application to University X and they said they could not access my score report! I told them what might have happened and they asked me to scan the score report I got in the mail (which isn't technically an official score report). A few weeks later, they accepted me, so I'm not sure if they were able to contact the University's Graduate School (which is where I suppose the scores went by mistake) and get my real score report, or if they were just happy with my self-reported score. I didn't end up at this school though!

In addition, there are some schools that said please send your score to institution code AAAA and department code BBBB while others just told me to submit to institution code AAAA. I would imagine schools that have more efficient organization would have the Graduate School keep all GRE score reports so that e.g. the Physics and Astro departments can both access the same report. If you're not sure, it's worth it to ask them. And, sometimes you don't even submit two separate applications if applying to two departments in the same university. Some schools asked "If we can't take you in our department, is there any other department on campus you'd like us to forward your application to?".

Lavabug
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:19 pm

Re: Argh!

Post by Lavabug » Wed Nov 14, 2012 2:25 pm

TakeruK wrote:When I wrote the General GRE (computer), I chose my schools by picking through the list on the computer in the pre-test section of the GRE. However, when I did this, I did not know the specific department I was applying to counted as a different institution and thus had a completely different institution code. I picked "University X" instead of "Institution Name at University X".

Months later, I submitted my application to University X and they said they could not access my score report! I told them what might have happened and they asked me to scan the score report I got in the mail (which isn't technically an official score report). A few weeks later, they accepted me, so I'm not sure if they were able to contact the University's Graduate School (which is where I suppose the scores went by mistake) and get my real score report, or if they were just happy with my self-reported score. I didn't end up at this school though!

In addition, there are some schools that said please send your score to institution code AAAA and department code BBBB while others just told me to submit to institution code AAAA. I would imagine schools that have more efficient organization would have the Graduate School keep all GRE score reports so that e.g. the Physics and Astro departments can both access the same report. If you're not sure, it's worth it to ask them. And, sometimes you don't even submit two separate applications if applying to two departments in the same university. Some schools asked "If we can't take you in our department, is there any other department on campus you'd like us to forward your application to?".
Thanks for the reply. As a matter of fact I have asked this question to both astro and phy departments at three of the universities (applying to 2 of them) and NONE of them could give me a definitive answer, and these are top 20-30 schools. In one case they just forwarded me to a graduate school assistant who was even more clueless on GRE reporting.

I know I'm going to have to send and pay for separate applications at the schools but it would be nice if they could give me a straight answer on the GRE's. Guess I'll have to pay up and have it sent to both departments to be sure my app at least gets seen, even if I get a dismal pgre score.

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Argh!

Post by bfollinprm » Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:51 am

Most schools make it clear on the application that they don't actually need the reports until you're accepted and you need to 'finalize' your application for admission. This isn't every school, but it's a majority; the rationale being it saves students money sending paperwork to schools they aren't going to go to anyway, and if you lie on your application by reporting a false score, they can just void your acceptance.



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