How to make sure your GRE scores were sent

[samman1994]

Hello everyone,

So I recently took the GRE, and chose to send my scores for free (to 4 schools). I had previously looked up the school codes, but was not allowed to take anything in with me, so I had to search the schools up using their search system. I was able to find every school, but there are a couple questions I have. 

1) Does each department have a different code? If so, if I just sent it in general to the school, will they forward it to the appropriate department (based on the major I stated I was applying to before I took the exam)? Or can I call graduate studies and tell them which department to send them?

2) How can I check if the code is correct? I.E. is there somewhere on the GRE site that will show which schools I picked to send them too? Since I already have all the codes, if I check and see all the codes are right, there won't be any reason for me to call the school. 

3) How long does it take to send? They told me the scores are sent immediately, but what about the AW? Are the scores sent one by one (first Q/V then AW)? Or are they all sent at once (so once they have AW scored then they send everything)? Based of the answer, how long should I wait before I call to make sure the school has received my scores?

4)Finally, will the scores automatically fill in my application, or will I still have to enter them manually for my application (and the school just verifies I didn't lie based off the scores they received from the ETS)?

Thank you ahead of time!

[cowgirlsdontcry]

22 minutes ago, samman1994 said:

Hello everyone,

So I recently took the GRE, and chose to send my scores for free (to 4 schools). I had previously looked up the school codes, but was not allowed to take anything in with me, so I had to search the schools up using their search system. I was able to find every school, but there are a couple questions I have. 

1) Does each department have a different code? If so, if I just sent it in general to the school, will they forward it to the appropriate department (based on the major I stated I was applying to before I took the exam)? Or can I call graduate studies and tell them which department to send them?

2) How can I check if the code is correct? I.E. is there somewhere on the GRE site that will show which schools I picked to send them too? Since I already have all the codes, if I check and see all the codes are right, there won't be any reason for me to call the school. 

3) How long does it take to send? They told me the scores are sent immediately, but what about the AW? Are the scores sent one by one (first Q/V then AW)? Or are they all sent at once (so once they have AW scored then they send everything)? Based of the answer, how long should I wait before I call to make sure the school has received my scores?

4)Finally, will the scores automatically fill in my application, or will I still have to enter them manually for my application (and the school just verifies I didn't lie based off the scores they received from the ETS)?

Thank you ahead of time!

1. Some depts. have their own number, but most want scores sent to grad school; 

2. In your account at ETS, you can see where your scores were sent;

3. Everything goes together; since it takes about a week for your AW score to show up, they will send shortly after that. If there is a problem and school can't find your GRE scores, ETS will tell you what batch your scores were sent in and you can give that to the grad school.

4. The employees will enter your scores, unless you were asked as part of your application. In that case, they will check. 

[samman1994]

Thank you for the reply!

Interesting enough, it seems the test center companies know very little about anything outside the test itself. For example they said my scores are sent immediately (as in right after I clicked send scores) and that I wouldn't be able to see where I sent them online.

But another thing that has come up. So I checked online to see my score, and they're not up. Now I know the AW takes about 2 weeks to get graded, but the Quant and Verbal are graded immediately, so why are they not up on ETS?

[TakeruK]

30 minutes ago, samman1994 said:

Thank you for the reply!

Interesting enough, it seems the test center companies know very little about anything outside the test itself. For example they said my scores are sent immediately (as in right after I clicked send scores) and that I wouldn't be able to see where I sent them online.

But another thing that has come up. So I checked online to see my score, and they're not up. Now I know the AW takes about 2 weeks to get graded, but the Quant and Verbal are graded immediately, so why are they not up on ETS?

Yeah, the test company only runs the test center and they are contracted by ETS to administer the test. They don't necessarily know anything beyond that and you should contact ETS directly with questions.

Although you get your "unofficial" Q and V scores right away and these scores are pretty much set, they are not officially scored yet. ETS consider a score report as a set of Q/V/AW scores from the same date, so you will not get your finalized scores until it's all done. They don't work with partial score sets (e.g. you can't send the Q and V scores from different test dates, for example).

[samman1994]

I assumed the "percentile" will only be different compared to what I saw. I.E. I got a 156Q but that could be the 50% or 60%, or maybe lower depending on how well everyone else did. 

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, samman1994 said:

I assumed the "percentile" will only be different compared to what I saw. I.E. I got a 156Q but that could be the 50% or 60%, or maybe lower depending on how well everyone else did. 

Maybe they have changed what that final screen shows but I didn't see percentile ranks there, only the score.

Unless there was a mistake in the grading system, your score should not change. 

You can already look up your percentile rank in the tables provided by ETS. The percentile rank that will appear on your report is relative to the test takers in the last 5 complete testing years. In this case, that's July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2017, inclusive. The tables are updated once a year. So for your applications this year, the scores of everyone testing after July 1 2017 does not matter. Also note that if you reapply next year with the same test score, your percentile rank may be different since it's now calculated with respect to the scores from July 1 2013 thru June 30 2018. This is probably why they don't show percentile rank on that screen, since they don't know when you will be submitting your score.

[cowgirlsdontcry]

6 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Maybe they have changed what that final screen shows but I didn't see percentile ranks there, only the score.

Unless there was a mistake in the grading system, your score should not change. 

You can already look up your percentile rank in the tables provided by ETS. The percentile rank that will appear on your report is relative to the test takers in the last 5 complete testing years. In this case, that's July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2017, inclusive. The tables are updated once a year. So for your applications this year, the scores of everyone testing after July 1 2017 does not matter. Also note that if you reapply next year with the same test score, your percentile rank may be different since it's now calculated with respect to the scores from July 1 2013 thru June 30 2018. This is probably why they don't show percentile rank on that screen, since they don't know when you will be submitting your score.

Only scores are posted and that is what is sent. TakeruK is correct in that percentiles change from year-to-year. I took the GRE once as an undergrad before getting my MA and every year my percentile changes slightly (up or down depending on the scores deleted and added to the composite).

[samman1994]

Ah I understand. Thank you.