School "Advertisements" Via Mail/Email

[samman1994]

Hello everyone,

So I've recently been getting a lot of emails and mail through the door regarding various school across the country. Now I'm almost positive this is because I told the ETS (for the GRE) that they could put my information in their database for schools to find me, but do they even look at your GRE scores when they send you their advertisements? I just got an email from Cornell telling me to check them out for their Biochem program but I got a 150 on my Quant. I thought initially this would be cool, since schools can see my score and consider whether they would still like me to try and apply to their school despite my shitty score, but now I'm wondering whether they don't even care and just send mass emails to anyone they can find. 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

That could depend on the school (you're right, it's definitely from ETS and the GRE). Some schools may have specific percentage/score cutoffs for sending information, but it's most likely all automated and no one is actually seeing your scores.

[TakeruK]

Here is the ETS page that describes their "Service" (which I feel is just advertisements): https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/tools/search_service/?WT.ac=grehome_gresearchservice_150213

No human at any program individually views each ETS test taker profile and decides "yes" or "no" on sending them the information about the school. Instead, according to ETS, they just allow programs to set filters based on the criteria listed on that page. For example, Cornell may choose to send invites to everyone with a declared interest in biochemistry.

Despite what ETS says about this service, this whole thing feels very much like a marketing campaign rather than a service that accurately matches up students and programs that would be great for them. It's a way for schools to advertise their programs but also a way for ETS to advertise itself. The first time I took an ETS test, I signed up for it and got tons of spam mail, e.g. ads for MBA programs (nothing wrong with those, just that I specifically put physics/related fields in my profile).

Most programs are not going to employ stringent cutoffs at the recruitment/advertisement stage. I would guess that programs will only use the GPA and score-band filters set to the minimum acceptable for admission to the school based on school policies, or not use those cutoffs at all. Most top programs I know of will very rarely have published minimum scores/GPAs because admission is a holistic process and exceptions can be made. However, this doesn't mean that everyone has an equal chance no matter what their scores are.

Therefore, it is not a good idea to read much into a generic informational email from a source like this. If you are especially interested in this program and have concerns over whether they would even consider your application, first check out their website. For any school where you were planning to not apply but then see something that sparks your interest, I would say it's okay to email the people in the dept that are in charge of processing admissions if you can't find the info on their website. You can say that you are interested in their program but have limited resources to submit applications. Then you can ask whether or not there are any formal cutoffs in GPAs or scores. Most likely, they will say that there are no formal cutoffs but that their programs are competitive, which doesn't give you more info but you haven't lost anything either. But if they give you a cutoff and it's not favourable to you, then at least you know not to apply there and focus elsewhere. (This is also not a necessary thing to do, just emphasizing that you should only make decisions based on actual direct communication with the program rather than through these ad mailings).

So, if you don't mind the extra email, I'd use the service as a way to be alerted to programs you might not have heard about before. Although doing your homework and seeking out programs should already alert you to any program you really might like, even the most astute researchers can overlook something by mistake. However, if you just unsubscribe from these mailings, it is also unlikely you will miss out on anything either.