latest possible time to take GRE before first school's app deadline?

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

So let's say I'm applying to 5 schools and the school with the soonest application deadline is December 15th. When is the latest possible time I need to take the GRE if I plan on only taking it one time? Basically, how long will it take to get back the results and send the results to the school?

[TakeruK]

You get your Verbal and Qual scores right after the test ends, so you can self-report this on your applications. Your writing score will take about 1 month to arrive, but there's no guarantee score arrival date (as far as I remember) like in the subject GRE tests. I wrote my general GRE months ahead of the deadline (I wanted to take the old GRE, not the new revised GRE) but I wrote my Subject GRE on Nov 12, 2011 while my first application deadline was Dec 1. ETS said the scores will be available by phone on Dec 12 and online by Dec 23. I ordered my score reports for my schools, even those with deadlines of Dec 1 and Dec 15, after Dec 23. Of course, I informed the schools ahead of time that my official scores will be coming in late, but no one seemed to mind. I did pay the extra $$ to get scores by phone so I could at least get unofficial scores for all but one application. I get the impression that most admissions committees don't even sit until January, so things like official transcripts, LORs and official GRE score reports can come after the posted deadline.

Obviously you should check to make sure your schools have the same policies! But I would say you should take your GRE no later than ~Nov 1. It might take about 6 weeks for you to get your score report (i.e. writing score) back from ETS, and it would be ideal if you could self-report unofficial scores on your application by Dec 15. At that point, you can then order official reports and they will arrive soon after. After you submit an application, most schools provide you with a way to log into your application to check the status of your supplemental documents (LORs, etc.). I noticed that it only took 2-3 days for most schools to show that they've received by GRE score (I am almost certain ETS submits them electronically). One or two school took weeks but when I checked with them, it was just a matter of them not updating the status page until after school restarted in January -- they received the scores much earlier.