"Score Optional" Is a Lie: Grad School Testing Explained

February is prime time for graduate school application submissions. It’s also when many college students are thinking about next steps. If you are researching graduate programs, you might be understandably confused when it comes to the testing requirements. I want to help clear up some of the confusion and give you straight answers about “score optional” policies in graduate school.

KNOWING WHAT IS WHAT

As you target graduate school programs, it’s key to note which programs are:

Score blind (meaning they will not accept a GRE score, even if you submit it)
Score optional (typically those who are admitted DID opt to submit scores)
Scores recommended/preferred (as some programs state).

As an example, let’s take UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Admissions and their PhD program in Clinical Psychology. If you’re not careful, you might assume they’re score blind as the UCs made national news headlines when they went score blind in late 2021. But not so fast, that’s the college, not the graduate school.

UC Berkeley’s Clinical Psychology PhD program admissions website notes the GRE is not required and yet they provide the GRE institution code to use when submitting scores. This site notes average GRE scores from years past. There’s a difference between scores “not required” and “score blind” and it’s worth digging into each department’s wording and specifications on an individual basis as you prepare your applications and your overall GRE plan.

UC Berkeley also states:

Official scores must be sent directly to the Graduate Division by Educational Testing Service (ETS). UC Berkeley's institution code is 4833. A department/major code is not necessary. Scores can arrive after the application deadline but, if they arrive after our application reviews begin, they may not be considered. Graduate Record Examination: The GRE is not required for the Fall 2023 admissions cycle. Not submitting GRE scores will not be counted against an applicant. Please disregard any information that states the GRE is required for Psychology graduate admission.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

The key things to take away from the above are:

They DO have a GRE institution code and you can submit scores
Scores are “not required,” which means they are score optional
Not submitting scores will not be counted AGAINST an applicant, but a student who provides scores WILL have those scores read, AKA they are not score blind
If your scores are good, they will help you! Aim for about 90^th percentile per section (so you’re breaking 160 minimum on verbal and you hit high 160s on math).

If your transcript is not 100% where you want it to be, you want any bump in a quantitative admissions review (grades/scores) that you can get. That includes giving the graduate admissions offices GRE scores, any graduate level courses where you earned an A, etc. and using the institution code that THEY PROVIDE to submit GRE scores. It’s on their graduate admissions website for a reason.

A DEEPER DIVE INTO SCORE OPTIONAL

If a university is score optional, more students will apply (and it can boost diversity, though that’s not a given). With more applicants, the program can reject more students. As their admit rate goes down, their level of (perceived) prestige goes up, their rankings go up, they can attract more applicants for the following year, and then the cycle restarts.

That’s why top programs like Harvard and Yale are score optional —it’s a WIN for them either way and they’ll happily take more $135 app fees too (and some now have app fees of $150 or more).

If you see anything in a graduate school application that scores are “optional,” you want to them (ideally), especially if your transcript (and any other part of your application) is not 100% aligned with what they want to see. MANY graduate school programs now intentionally, or perhaps subconsciously, word their admissions website language in a confusing way to applicants. UC Berkeley notes: “scores are not required.” But hey, here’s our institution code to use when you do submit your GRE scores to us and make sure they’re in on time, as “scores can arrive after the application deadline but, if they arrive after our application reviews begin, they may not be considered.”

So yes, they might be optional in theory, but the directions are clear: submit here and submit on time.

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NEXT STEPS

Consider taking an online free official practice GRE exam from ETS to see your baseline score. We can help you navigate your next steps with GRE prep, Graduate School Admissions Counseling and more.

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Dr. Kristen Willmott

Senior Private Counselor & Graduate School Admissions Director at Top Tier Admissions

Having worked as an Admissions and Financial Aid Officer for Harvard University for four years, Kristen brings a depth of experience to Top Tier Admissions. She has over 20 years of experience working in higher education. Kristen has a PhD in Education with a concentration in Higher Education from the University of Rochester, an M.S. in Business Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and a B.A. in English from Ithaca College. Her PhD dissertation won the International Susan B. Anthony Institute Dissertation Award. In her role at Harvard, Kristen oversaw admissions for 17 departments and was also responsible for distributing funding from the National Science Foundation Fellowships Program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Student Research Fellowship Program. Kristen has previously worked as a substitute K-12 teacher, as adjunct faculty at three universities in MA and NY, and as an educational researcher having recently (Oct. 2020) published a book on faculty in academia and in academic journals such as the Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs, Academic Leadership Journal, and the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal.

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