How much do elementary ed. programs care about the GRE?

[LizJayne]

Compared to other grad programs, is the GRE that big of a deciding factor for ed schools?

I just took mine and got mediocre/average scores (verbal 158, quant. 151) and now I'm anxious. I have a 3.9 GPA, though, which I hope will count for more. I have my heart set on the Boston College Lynch School of Education, and im crossing my fingers that the GRE isn't all that important.

But hopefully, some of you out there have a better idea than I do...

[cunninlynguist]

According to the concordance table, your score would be approximately 1210 - 1230 on the old scale. To put that in context, the average scores of admitted Harvard GSE students for their master's program in the last two years have been 1251 and 1260. For BC, I'd hazard a guess that you've got absolutely nothing to worry about.

It's not a mediocre performance, BTW -- everyone here is pursuing something different. There are many PhD applicants who need high scores for funding and guaranteed consideration, and many international students in saturated fields that also need a near-perfect result.