Sending Subject scores to schools which don't require?

[0000000000AAA]

So about half of the schools I'm applying to don't want/need GRE subject scores, however, if possible, I want my scores part of my application. Several--like Duke yesterday--say on their site that they don't require them but offer a place in the application to fill them in. Can it hurt? I know obviously not to Columbia, but otherwise?

[ecritdansleau]

Unless they say otherwise, you might as well include it if you think it strengthens your application. You worked for it, right?!

There's usually a statement on the admissions guideline page which will reveal their attitude toward the test. Chicago, for instance, states "The department does not require the GRE subject exam, and scores for this exam are not considered in the admissions process. Do not submit GRE subject exam scores in your online application." As with Columbia, you clearly shouldn't bother: in fact, if you did send them to these departments, it might make it appear as if you had not read their guidelines carefully.

But indeed, some of the departments that do not require it seem to do so more out of inclusiveness rather than a disregard for the test (UPenn for instance).

[Timshel]

I am not including mine to the schools that don't require it because I totally bombed it and I feel like it could do more harm than good.

[lolopixie]

If your scores are good, send them unless the school specifically says not to. However, if your scores might hinder your chances, I wouldn't include them.

[bdon19]

I stupidly forgot that Duke didn't require them and just filled them in on the online part of the app, though I didn't include them on the official score report. Meh, I don't think it will really matter either way, especially since my scores were within that "not stellar but not bad" range.

[Grunty DaGnome]

I think anything above a 600 you should send in.

[poeteer]

I think anything above a 600 you should send in.

I agree. Remember that the standards for the GRE Verbal and GRE Lit are different. The group taking the Lit test is self-selected; it is a group of people hoping to be English scholars, for god's sake, and it is a difficult test for many people because it asks you to read in a very particular manner and know some fairly obscure facts to get a good score. The Verbal, on the other hand, is taken by everyone, from people in China and India and Europe hoping to study in science/math fields to people in America hoping to study archaeology. That's why the bar seems set so high (fairly or not) for the GRE Verbal -- because you are competing against so many ESL and native speakers who have poor vocabularies because their fields don't require English language/reading skills (this is actually why, I think, the GRE writing exists--because too many people in, say, China could cram and memorize and generally *read* English words and passages and manage a 650+ on the Verbal without actually being able to construct a coherent, let alone competent, sentence themselves). The Lit Test is a whole 'nother beast; a 650, say, is actually considered a really high score and should give you bragging rights.

Edited December 10, 2011 by poeteer