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GRE search service...bunkum?

Steven McGrawSteven McGraw Registered User Posts: 20 New Member
edited April 2008 in Graduate School
I signed up for the GRE search service on test day, did really well on the GRE, and now that scores have gone out I just got an email from something called "pace university." I don't know much about this school but they don't have any programs I am interested in, and I get the impression that some schools are mass-mailing every single student who signs up for the test.

Does anyone have information re: the GRE search service and the uses to which it is put?

Thanks,
Post edited by Steven McGraw on
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Replies to: GRE search service...bunkum?

  • happyentropyhappyentropy Registered User Posts: 162 Junior Member
    The principal purpose of the GRE search service is to make it easier for various institutions to mass-mail promotional material. After taking the math subject GRE I got 6 "recruitment" letters from accountancy master's programs...
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  • Professor XProfessor X Registered User Posts: 893 Member
    ^ yep. that's it.
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  • naurunauru Registered User Posts: 1,158 Senior Member
    ETS charges a small fortune for the 4 hour test, and then proceeds to make money off you a 2nd time by selling your contact information to 3rd parties and 4th tier universities, who mass-email ads about their mediocre graduate programs. That's essentially what the "GRE Search Service" is; it's only a service for organisations you've never heard of that want to send you their spam. *shrug*
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  • Steven McGrawSteven McGraw Registered User Posts: 20 New Member
    ok, pretty much what I had assumed. Apparently the average GRE/ SAT score at Pace is around 1100. That's just sad.
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  • messagermessager Registered User Posts: 17 New Member
    So sad that students don't realize that GRE scores is not everything when it comes to grad school.

    Remember that the ETS service doesn't based the search only on your GRE scores but also GPA and field of interest and make it available to schools!!!
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  • naurunauru Registered User Posts: 1,158 Senior Member
    ETS doesn't know your GPA...
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  • sydneyasydneya Registered User Posts: 71 Junior Member
    ^ I think you can report your general GPA when you take the exam.
    I wouldn't say that all the schools that use the ETS list are terrible, some are just trying to bring attention to particular programs. Tufts is a good school that kept sending me a brochure on plant biology.
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  • Steven McGrawSteven McGraw Registered User Posts: 20 New Member
    I have yet to get anything from a school other than pace, and it's nearly 3 days since the scores were mailed. Looks like my crappy GPA is screwing things up yet again. On second thought, I shouldn't be arrogant about Pace, since it looks like my GRE score isn't going to rescue me from third tier schools after all.
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  • cm85cm85 Registered User Posts: 23 New Member
    over the next number of months (especially in the fall) you'll get email after email from schools with totally unrelated disciplines.

    I've gotten a few from good schools, eg Notre Dame or Duke, but always in departments I have no interest in, and they do base it off of the reported GPA and such.
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  • Steven McGrawSteven McGraw Registered User Posts: 20 New Member
    The thing is, I would be perfectly happy to go somewhere like Ohio State. It's not like I'm holding out for harvard over here.
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  • messagermessager Registered User Posts: 17 New Member
    Why don't you just try... apply to the schools you like. one will give you a chance.
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  • xnormajeanxxnormajeanx Registered User Posts: 93 Junior Member
    Actually some of the schools I got e-mails from were really good. I got an e-mail from MIT! But it was some program I had absolutely no interest in... I was also bombarded every second day by RIT.
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