Do programs reach out on the basis of GREs?

[gughok]

Many of you will have had the experience, in high school, of receiving flyers and brochures in the mail from universities trying to attract you for undergraduate study. These institutions will often choose who to send their advertisements to on the basis of high school average, SAT or ACT scores, et cetera.

My question is whether something analogous happens with GREs - especially with the four free score reports. I did well enough that I think I'd stand out, as far as GREs are concerned, in those four departments to which I sent my scores when I took the test. Is this something they might take notice of, or will it simply be that they'll have my scores already on record when I actually apply to their graduate programs?

[TakeruK]

Yes, the same thing happens with GREs, however, they won't even look at your score. If you checked off (or forgot to uncheck, don't remember which) a box in your GRE signup, you will get a bunch of mail from schools asking you to apply to them. These schools are just random schools that want students and will come from all fields. All of my solicitations this way came from MBA programs, or other business schools (my field is planetary science). It's basically just spam/ad/junk mail and after doing it wrong the first time, I made sure to never do that again in future test signups!

The schools you actually send your scores to will not look at your GRE scores until you apply and they link them with your application. 

[Bioenchilada]

What kind of schols have you been getting emails from?

[gughok]

Yes, the same thing happens with GREs, however, they won't even look at your score. If you checked off (or forgot to uncheck, don't remember which) a box in your GRE signup, you will get a bunch of mail from schools asking you to apply to them. These schools are just random schools that want students and will come from all fields. All of my solicitations this way came from MBA programs, or other business schools (my field is planetary science). It's basically just spam/ad/junk mail and after doing it wrong the first time, I made sure to never do that again in future test signups!

The schools you actually send your scores to will not look at your GRE scores until you apply and they link them with your application. 

Oh. Uh. Well then. Thanks for the answer. I sure hope I unchecked that option but I can't remember whether I did. I guess I'll find out if I get the same flood of ads.

Thanks again!