If a student knows that she wants to go to grad school a few years after she finishes college, but isn’t sure exactly when or where, is there any benefit to taking the GRE before she graduates instead of waiting? The answer is an unequivocal “yes”.
We meet many students who aren’t sure of their future plans. They know that they want to go to grad school relatively soon, but they don’t know how many years they want to work for before beginning an advanced degree, where they’ll want to live, or many of the other things that will help them choose the best program for their needs. As a result, a lot of students don’t think about anything related to grad school – including the GRE – until they are ready to apply. This is a mistake, for a few reasons:
1) GRE test-takers aged 23 and under score the highest on multiple sections of the test. Younger test-takers are still in “school” mode, and are generally adept at creating study schedules and learning material. Older test-takers are certainly able to be very successful on the GRE, but it requires much more time and effort than taking the test at a time in their lives when the process of preparing for a test was more honed.
2) By taking the GRE now, students won’t have to prepare for the test while they’re working on the other components of their application. Many, many grad school applicants try to complete all of their applications, along with preparing for and taking the GRE, in the span of just a couple of months. This is a recipe for both less-than-stellar applications and GRE scores that don’t reflect what the applicant could achieve if he had more time. GRE scores are good for 5 years, so by taking the test while still in school, students are giving themselves a big edge against their future competition for grad school seats.
3) Using GRE scores as an indicator of aptitude to potential employers is happening with increasing frequency. Though ETS is still conducting its pilot program to determine how useful scores are to employers, the trend of adding scores to one’s resume is becoming commonplace. So acing the test before graduation might just help students land that perfect first post-college job, which in turn will make their grad school applications that much stronger.
By testing early, students are putting themselves in the best possible position when they apply for advanced degrees. A little investment up front will yield big returns!
