All About GRE Prep: Should I take GRE for my

Admission?
What is GRE? Why do students need to take GRE? Who conducts the exam? Do all universities
require a GRE score? Why does university ask for the GRE scorecard? How to prepare for the
exam?
There are a lot of questions popping out of the mind of students. Relax! We are here to join all
the puzzle pieces to your unsolved GRE mystery.

To begin with, GRE basically stands for Graduate Record Examination. ETS (Educational Test
Service) which is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment
organization conducts it. A student is never bound to take the GRE. It depends on the course and
university; a student is looking for. If the student wants to pursue a university whose admission
process requires the evaluation of a GRE score, then definitely go for the exam.

If you are looking for a graduate school, masters or even for Ph.D., most universities ask for it as
part of their application process.
Now the question arises, how to check whether the university you want to get in requires the
GRE test score? So here are the basic steps to check. Search the universities to want to apply for.
Look for the course and go through the application checklist. You will find whether the
university requires a GRE score or not.

The second approach is to apply for the exam depending upon the GRE score, look for the
universities. Though, the second approach is not recommended. One should know the goal and
then start preparing on how to achieve the goal. If the university you are interested in requires a
GRE score, it makes sense to take the exam. Otherwise, it's not worth the time and effort.
Let's take an example to understand how to look for the application checklist. Suppose the
university you are interested in is Harvard and the program you are looking for is Masters in
Computer Science. So type Harvard + Computer Science masters + Application Checklist in
google search engine. We will land up on this page. We can find that the GRE test score is
required for the master's program but not for the Ph.D.

Similarly, we took another example by just changing university. For Stanford University and
computer science masters program, again GRE score is a necessary requirement, along with
other documents.

There are some universities that accept GRE General Test Score for the MBA course as well.
You can go to the ETS official website if you are interested to pursue MBA. GMAT is the exam
that allows you to take admission in Business School. But there are a number of universities that
accept the GRE scores instead.You land up to a page as shown in the figure when you open the
ETS website. There is a column where you can select the country you are interested in and a
drop-down list appears showcasing various university names that accept GRE scores for their
MBA program. You can find a similar approach to law schools as well. So plan according to the
requirements of the application checklist.
The next question arises, “why do universities need GRE score?” GRE score provides a
quantified score to distinguish applicants. It makes the process of selection much easier for the
selectors and they can compare different applicants on the basis of the scorecard. GRE score is
basically just one parameter to judge. There are other criteria to judge applicants as well. Such as
SOP, letters of recommendation, past academic performances, profile and finally the interview.
There is no fixed weight of the GRE score. It differs according to universities, courses applied
and the number of applicants.

So just prepare well for the GRE. A good score will always put you in the race to get admission
in a good university. A bad score will hamper the chance. Though there is no guarantee that a
good GRE score will definitely fetch you a seat in a good university.