When to contact about unmatched GREs?

[gughok]

I've got an irritating problem: my legal name, my GRE name, and the name I actually use are all subtly different. My full legal name is X Y Z where my first name is X Y and my last name is Z (yes, the two are together in my first name. I don't have a middle initial). My GRE name is X Z. The name I use is Y Z. I've applied using X Y Z, but since my GRE is under X Z (I screwed up, I know), there have been matching problems.

Some places, e.g. Princeton and NYU, make pretty clear when the scores should be received and whether they actually have been, so it's straightforward enough to check.

Rutgers, on the other hand, states in its FAQ that I should just be patient if my score isn't showing, and that if there's a slight mismatch of names it might take them longer. So how long should I wait to see if they can resolve this?

What about applications which don't indicate whether they've matched my scores at all, i.e. Harvard, Yale, UCLA, and MIT? Should I email someone to check, or assume it's been done? Since the two names I've used aren't completely different, I figure if they care enough they can match the scores, but I don't want to assume.

[nonexistententity]

Yes, email them explaining which name is indicated on which document. It might be true that 'if they care enough they can match the scores', but if that's a pretty difficult job if you have 300 applications to match it with. Contacting them will make it easier for them to match the scores.

[toxicdevil]

@gughok Just email the graduate admissions office or whatever the relevant department is with the details and tell me that due to mismatch in the name you are sending the email. I have had instances where I got email replies that my scores have been received but no update on online portal still.

- Your application number

- The name on your GRE

- Your GRE applicant number

- GRE test date

[TakeruK]

Yes, send them an email to be sure. I would wait until either: 1) It's been 5 business days since the score report was sent or 2) It's the last business day before the deadline, whatever is earlier. I have a similar problem, but with my middle name: I have a two-word middle name (it's not two middle names, just one that's two words long!) and this got my transcripts matching confused at some schools. I emailed and checked and learned that a human did properly match it, but the online system won't show that since it was manually matched.

[gughok]

Well damn, thanks everyone. I just sent emails to all the remaining places that either showed my scores as absent, or didn't show their status at all. Is it a problem that I'm doing this so late, or is the GRE largely superfluous enough that they shouldn't mind terribly?

Secondary query: what's the etiquette for acknowledging replies from admissions? I already got an email back from Harvard confirming that my scores have been matched. Do I thank them for this? Do I just send "Thank you.", or do I preface it with a "Dear Dr. X", or...?

I'm not very good at emails.

[smwinterfeldt]

I'm having this problem with U Memphis right now, too. All of the other schools that I applied to show that my GRE scores have been received. The deadline has since passed. I've already called the office of admissions once, the day before the deadline, when my application showed that neither of my transcripts nor my GRE scores had been received. I was told to just be patient. But a couple of days ago I received another email saying my GRE scores were still missing, though my transcripts had been received. I'm wondering if it would be appropriate to call again.

I know when I sent my scores, I did not select a department code (because Memphis wants you to send your scores directly to graduate admissions rather than the department). When I called last time, I was told that should not be a problem.

[philosophe]

On 1/18/2016 at 0:42 PM, gughok said:

Well damn, thanks everyone. I just sent emails to all the remaining places that either showed my scores as absent, or didn't show their status at all. Is it a problem that I'm doing this so late, or is the GRE largely superfluous enough that they shouldn't mind terribly?

Secondary query: what's the etiquette for acknowledging replies from admissions? I already got an email back from Harvard confirming that my scores have been matched. Do I thank them for this? Do I just send "Thank you.", or do I preface it with a "Dear Dr. X", or...?

I'm not very good at emails.

I wouldn't worry about responding, they're probably not even expecting a reply. A simple thank you is enough.