Should I reschedule the GRE for earlier?

[solomonski]

Hi all,

I'm scheduled to take the GRE on November 12th. I had chosen this date on the basis of reading that it would take roughly 10 days for scores to become available, and I thought that timeframe also applied to when schools would receive my score reports. Now I'm wondering if I'm not mistaken about that? I think most of my applications would be fine, since the deadline is Dec 15th, but there are one or two programs to which I'd like to apply which have Dec 1st deadlines. Is a November 12th date too late to a December 1st deadline? I could move the test up until next week, Nov 3, but doing so would have the obvious drawback of having less time to prepare for the exam (not to mention having to pay a rescheduling fee). Any insights?

[eeee1923]

You should be fine. Most applications will let you have the self-reported scores submitted for the initial submission with the understanding that the official scores will be sent once they're available. 

[solomonski]

Hrmm, the program in question (Northwestern) does say "you may be asked to scan and submit your score report when you submit your application. This will only be used for preliminary review, and results will not be official until we receive them from ETS." Are you saying I can take this to mean that, as long as I have my scores from ETS by December 1st, I can self-report them on most apps without worrying if ETS has gotten the official scores to them yet?

[eeee1923]

Yes. As long as you've ordered your scores to be sent to x institutes from ETS as soon as they become available you should be fine (some programs I applied to also had similar statements).

[solomonski]

Thanks, I appreciate the insight. I won't worry about it too much then.

[Gvh]

Solomonski, I took the GRE November 21 and was fine for December 1 deadlines.