Columbia GRE score submission: Do I *really* have to report *all* my scores??

[mwmwmw121212]

I'm applying for a political science PhD. I took the GRE multiple times, and my last score was quite a bit better than my first. I sent my official score reports for this second test administration right away. However, one school (to which I already submitted my good scores) says "you must upload a scanned copy of your score report" (see screenshot below). It also asks you to "please enter the scores from each exam separately."

I don't really want to upload my PDF score report, nor do I really want to enter all my scores. Not only would I reveal my previous (worse) score, but I'd also reveal the other schools I'm applying to. But I also want to follow the rules and not be rejected outright.

https://preview.redd.it/do-i-really-have-to-submit-unofficial-gre-score-reports-if-v0-2tojo9w47kyd1.png?width=2034&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7b752df67864f5b767f1dc279f78dbc68a17946

In addition, ETS has already said that the report date for my most recent test was 10/22, suggesting that the school already received my scores. Does anyone have advice here? I don't want to show my worse results and reveal where else I am applying. But cropping the score report to just show my most recent score feels a bit shady.

Alternatively...if I must submit all my scores, does anyone think it will negatively impact my application?

[John Watson]

I'm sorry that the reddit link cannot be opened from my end, so I will try to answer this question based on the information you gave on your original post.

Columbia University, or any school, does not have the right to force you to disclose all GRE tests that you have sat. ETS offers you an option to only report the tests that you feel relatively more comfortable with, I think it's called ScoreSelect, and, when ETS sends your GRE score reports to the schools you're applying to, ETS will not tell them whether the scores contained in the report are the students' test-taking history in its entirety. If you don't want to tell Columbia that you had some worse scores, just don't tell them, this is not an infringement of the honesty rule.

You're applying to PhD programs, and you of course want your future PhD studies to be conducted under a relatively friendly and comfortable atmosphere, given that doing a PhD is already essentially very demanding in its nature. So, if a PhD program really forces you to disclose the unnecessary information you don't really want to disclose, then that's a negative clue which may signal that this PhD program may contain mean people who will push you after you are enrolled. If they can push an applicant, then they can be more likely to push their own students.

That said, if you're still interested in this specific school, and uploading a GRE report is really a mandatory requirement, and the upload space is marked with a red asterisk, then I recommend that you print your GRE score report to PDF, and you only print the first page of the GRE score report. And you do not photoshop the printed PDF document. And you upload it. The PDF document will reveal your worse scores, but there's just no choice, there's nothing you can do. At least you should never let Columbia know what other schools you're applying to, which will usually be shown on page two of the GRE score report.

My opinions and advices are completely advisory, so you may figure out yourself how to proceed is in your best interests. Cheers!